Here is rather mundane prayer request but something we have to deal with.

My laptop has a bad hard drive. Fellow missionaries had one of their teams bring us a replacement hard drive. I’m not installing it until I buy a UPS. Surge suppressors just don’t do enough! I’ve lost a hard drive, a 7-port USB hub, and the Internet wire connection (ethernet port) all due to electrical issues here in Guatemala. Last week a utility crew told us to “call the electric company” since a wire was snapped–a week later we found out it was a our primary grounding wire. As teachers, the computer has become an essential tool we not only use but have to show our students how to use in this age of technology. The laborious process of rebuilding a hard drive to useful condition is a 3-day process of installations and updates. Hmmm, no homework for students this weekend? Maybe I won’t get too far behind… You can pray for teams that come to Guatemala–praise God for them! Pray for the relationships of missionaries amongst fellow missionaries–praise God for them! Know that we love you and pray for you–praise God!

–
Greg & Gail Malczewski
CTEN Missionaries Serving Missionary Families at CAG
Phi 1:9-11

Most Friday nights at the naval station in Bermuda, we would assemble at the officer’s club after work. One Friday, Rick, a newly married ensign, insisted he had to leave at 6 p.m. We all tried to talk him into staying, but he’d promised his bride he’d be home by six. I offered to call home for Rick.

When his wife answered the phone, I said, “Rick has been kidnapped. Put five dollars in small, unmarked bills in a plain brown paper bag and throw it in the door of the officer’s club.” Then I hung up.

A short time later, a waiter brought a grocery bag to our table. In it were Rick’s baseball glove, a tennis racket, and a teddy bear. Attached to the bear was a note: “Rick can play kidnapped until 7 p.m. Then he must come home.”

Received from Thomas Ellsworth. via GCFL

They Praise God for sending two new couples to help on the UIM team. They ask for prayers as they challenge local churches to get more involved in native ministries and share opportunities with UIM. They also are looking forward to new leadership to help teach and disciple adults and children at Kayah.

The child of God knows his good works do not make him acceptable to God, for he was acceptable to God by Jesus Christ long before he had any good works. –Charles Spurgeon

We humans want to do things our way. Forget the easy way.  Forget the common way. Forget the best way. Forget God’s way. We want to do things *our* way. And according to the Bible, that’s precisely our problem. “We all have wandered away like sheep; each of us has gone his own way” (Isa. 53:6).

Couldn’t David (in Psalm 23) have thought of a better metaphor? Surely he could have. After all, he outran Saul and outgunned Goliath. Why didn’t he choose something other than sheep?  How about: “The Lord is my commander in chief, and I am his warrior.” There. We like that better. A warrior gets a uniform and a weapon, maybe even a medal. Or, “The Lord is my inspiration, and I am his singer.” We are in God’s choir; what a flattering assignment. Or, “The Lord is my king, and I am his ambassador.” Who wouldn’t like to be a spokesperson for God? Everyone stops when the ambassador speaks. Everyone listens when God’s minstrel sings. Everyone applauds when God’s warrior passes.

But who notices when God’s sheep show up? Who notices when the sheep sing or speak or act? Only one person notices; the shepherd. And that is precisely David’s point.

When David, who was a warrior, minstrel, and ambassador for God, searched for an illustration of God, he remembered his days as a shepherd. He remembered how he lavished attention on the sheep day and night. How he slept with them and watched over them. And the way he cared for the sheep reminded him of the way God cares for us. David rejoiced to say, “The Lord is my shepherd,“ and in doing so he proudly implied, "I am his sheep.”

Many of us are uncomfortable with this idea because we see ourselves as self-reliant. Who are we fooling? The Twenty-third Psalm for the Self-Reliant might look like this:

“I am my own shepherd, I am always in need. I stumble from mall to mall and shrink to shrink, seeking relief but never finding it.

I creep through the valley of the shadow of death and fall apart. I fear everything from pesticides to power lines, and I’m starting to act like my mother. I go down to the weekly staff meeting and am surrounded by enemies. I go home, and even my goldfish scowls at me.

I anoint my headache with extra-strength Tylenol. My Jack Daniel’s runneth over. Surely misery and misfortune will follow me, and I will live in self-doubt for the rest of my lonely life.”

Why is it that the ones who most need a shepherd resist him so…? Scripture says, “Do it God’s way.” Experience says, “Do it God’s way.” Every Scot in heaven begs. “Aye, laddie, do it God’s way.”

– MAX LUCADO – in his book “Traveling Light”  (edited for space)