Thursday, April 29, 2010

Two Big Milestones for Kevin

This past week I (Kevin) have had two big milestones.  I completed my Master's Degree, pending a good grade on my paper and the $4 library overdue fee I garnered.  And I will be recommended for the next stage in the ordination process to happen in the first weekend of June.  These two things have been very encouraging and I wanted to thank everybody who has been there supporting me through it.  A number of people have been involved in my 6-year education venture and others have been involved in my ordination process.  Thanks for the support!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

The "Swing" of Following the Call

Leah and I just watched a Bones episode where my favorite character - Hodgins - takes another character - Angela - out on a date to the park for a swing ride.  How fun.  Swings are fun.  They get less exhilerating as I get older, but there is still some silly fun to be had.  Up and down and up.  Momentum is built by a push and others by sheer work of pumping your legs.

The time of support-raising is like a lengthy swing ride.  We have our ups and our downs.  At times we feel like we are soaring, not even having to move our legs and other times it seems that the hinges of our knees don't create enough momentum to pump.  Sometimes it feels like we have an incredible cosmic push and other times like a cosmic weight teathered by a cosmic force of gravity.

Some days it feels like both!

No matter how much you are swinging, however, the view remains.  Sometimes its a view from 10 feet up in the air, which you catch for a momentary gleam and others it is the view from below.

The swing is the beat of life with its starts, stops and ups and downs.  Life is full of ups and downs and weights and freedom.  We have the opportunity sit in the swing and see the view from whatever angle.  We are called, and whether swinging at the top or sitting low at the bottom, we see the Kingdom we've been called to and we gain experiencing in trusting God in the incredible ride, and trusting God even more in patience as we sit and wait at the bottom of the swing.

So God has taken us on a date to the swing.  And like in Bones, a swing for a date is just a very fine date indeed.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Happy Easter from the Book-Satterlees

The life, death, resurrection and God's sending of the disciples is why we go to Spain.  We've been called to vocational ministry as missionaries.  While we're not yet in Spain we got to enjoy Easter Sunday with family here.

I, (Kevin), was thinking that every Sunday is an Easter celebration.  What a great thing to be a part of week after week.  And we have been charged to go into the world and make disciples.  For many that charge is within their local work environement.  For us that is in Spain and we are ever mindful of that call as we hope and pray and watch God bring us closer and closer.

An increasing agnosticism in Spain means that Easter is increasingly irrelevant there.  I'm reminded again today, however, that Easter is not irrelevant.  And we look with great anticipation to be working alongside believers in Spain to show that what a resurrection people look like.

He is Risen...The Lord is Risen indeed!

On a related note, our friends in Spain have finally gotten their gas turned on 6 weeks after having moved into their apartment.  6 weeks!  That is normal from what I've seen.  Madrid winters aren't harsh, but they definitely require heat.  That said, we are reminded, even from this little anecdote, it is best to move in the summer.  We of course are ready to go as soon as possible.

Please join us in prayer this month to see the support come in abounding and that relationships on the other end of the pond (the Atlantic) would be formed and solidified that we could go in enough time to where if we have to wait for the gas to come on, that we wouldn't freeze and Eliana would not have to take frozen baths.

Happy Easter!