“And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord” (Exodus 14:4).

These are recurrent themes that keep jumping out of the pages as I have been reading through the book of Exodus this summer. It centers on the theme of God gaining glory for himself and people coming to know the Lord through God’s people encountering fierce and ongoing opposition to the mission they were trying to perform on God’s behalf.

The principle is clear: Try to perform some difficult task for the glory of Jesus Christ and the enemy will predictably bring opposition to block it. But then God will get glory for himself and spread the knowledge of himself through his miraculous power shown in the perseverance of his people. The apostle Peter says the same thing in the New Testament, “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith-of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (I Peter 1: 6, 7).

What trials are we facing? Always traveling, being away from our home in Kenya, raising support in the current economic climate, being as Peter says, “strangers in the world and scattered…” (I Peter 1:1). Since our main mission during this home assignment is to erase our deficit and secure more support, you can believe we are encountering opposition. For example, I was scheduled to speak at a church on the West Coast and now my host has a suspicious confluence of illnesses in his family that mitigate his hosting me after I booked air tickets well in advance. Coincidence? I doubt it but now I am waiting to see how God will get glory for himself by opening up some other door or healing the sick so that his glory and fame can spread through his intervention! Stay posted- we will see what God will do!

Here are more evidences of God love and power in our lives:

1. The day after we announced our need for a saxophone for Andrew, we had the offer of three! Andrew is now playing with the worship band at school. We are so blessed to see how God has provided cars, bicycles and places to live since we have been home. Thank you church and thank you Jesus!

Andrew’s school – Atlantic Christian
2. Since we have arrived in June we have spoken at over 22 church functions (including eight new churches), traveled over 13,000 miles, sent 93 letters, and talked to more than 65 people on the phone in our attempt to share our vision for training church planters and caring for children in Kenya.
3. num_item
4. We praise God that our deficit is now down to $5,300 (from as high as 30k!) and our monthly need is down to $1,400 additional to raise.

Typical display while visiting churches
5. We are thankful for the therapeutic sound of the ocean during walks in the morning and afternoon here at Ventnor. We thank God for the Furlough Missionary Cottages in Ventnor, NJ.
6. We just learned that we may be receiving some used playground equipment and a container in which to ship it to Kenya! Please stay tuned as we may be sending you a ‘wish-list’ of items you can help us collect for sending in this container.
7. We continue to see several people interested in joining us for short-term service in Kenya, including one church that is serious about sending a team next summer.

Praying for rain where pastors like Pethuel live

More prayer needed…

1. Pray for God to send rain to Kenya and have mercy on many who suffer in the midst of one the country’s worst droughts in history.
2. Please pray for more individuals to step up in faith during these hard times to join our support team. In spite of my many efforts of sending letters and calling, we have seen little fruit so far.
3. Pray that we will see at least five of these new churches with which we have spoken become part of our support team.
4. Pray for Lois and I as we travel to Chattanooga, TN next week (Oct 16-18) to speak at one of our supporting churches.
5. Pray for our personal rest and renewal as we attend World Harvest’s “Sonship Week” in Ashville, N.C. October 18-23.

Making His Glory Known,
Robert & Lois

Updated Itinerary for the Carrs, September 2009-January 2010
October 18	Hixson PCA, Chattanooga TN
October 18-24	Sonship Week, North Carolina
October 25	New Life Glenside, PA
November 1	Bay PCA, FL
November 8	Columbia OPC, MD
November 12-8	Seattle WA
November 18-24	San Diego CA
November 29	Open
December 4	New Life Community Church, Stafford VA
January 5 2010	Return to Kenya

Tags: Family News, Financial Need, Prayer Requests, Short-Term Teams
Posted in Category: Changed Lives, Family News, Prayer Requests, Short-Term Teams
Posted by Robert Carr