Beauty For Ashes

"To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for his own glory."

~Isaiah 61:3

About 7 and a half weeks ago, a really close friend of the family was in a horrible motorcycle accident, and wasn't expected to make it.  He fought strong and held on, and many of you joined me in praying constantly for him and his family, and I cannot thank you enough for that.  It is with a heavy and much saddened heart that I tell you that Jeremy passed away this morning (June 5).

I am at a loss for words.  I don't even know how I currently feel.  I know I am sad, and so confused, and upset that I am not even in the country right now to be with my family, and to be there for the Taylor family.  I can't even begin to imagine what they are going through right now.  I know that Jeremy is in the presence of our Lord right now, and that he is getting to celebrate and rejoice with the One who created it all, but it doesn't change the fact that there is sadness and mourning happening here in his absence.

So my prayer is that there will be beauty for these ashes.  That the mourning would be turned to rejoicing and that God will make the Taylor family like those great oaks that He has planted for His Glory as it says in Isaiah 61.  I pray that God's glory and goodness would become evident to all.  That even when it seems there is no purpose in this, that God's mercy and kindness will become evident.  And as Jeremy literally rests in God's eternal embrace, that our souls would feel that same embrace and know we are His and He is ours!

Please keep the Taylor Family in your prayers through this tough time, and thank you again for all of your support and prayers over the last couple of months, keep them coming!

As far as Ecuador goes, things are gearing up for the teams that are coming down in about a week and a half.  There is a lot to do and we have another outreach this Saturday.  There will be plenty to talk about in the coming weeks for now I will leave you with a picture of the clouds rolling in off of the mountains.  One of my favorite things so far about Quito is seeing God's Beauty unfold right in front of me.  I love getting to watch clouds develop and move in off of the moutains.  One second it's sunny and the next second clouds are swarming in from nowhere..... Hmm, that's kind of like life... Funny thing is, no matter how many clouds are out you know the sun is still there.  You can feel it in the warmth of the air, you can see it through the breaks in the clouds, and even if the clouds completely block it out, it seems to be able to make its way through and still shed light on the Earth.  God is the same way with us.  He's always there, always reaching out, and always wanting to shed His light on us.  His love is there for the taking, we just have to be willing to reach out and grab it!