Praise During the Hard Times: Reflections for Easter 2011

 This Easter season I've been thinking about the "cloth of life"... the chinks in our armor/the holes in our cheese. Not that I am bent on a depressive series of naval-gazing, but on the hope of giving glory to God as He who is All in All. Scripture tells us we are but a mist, a tent to be folded up, passing through this life, and one Resurrection morning we will look back upon it as one waking from a dream. We travel/travail through life feeling we have not arrived yet for a reason: We. don't. belong. here.
St. Paul said, "To live is Christ, to die is gain...."   The cloth of life...

We have an uncle with leukemia, an uncle with mental illness; a young friend lost to leukemia, a young friend lost to brain cancer; Christian friends divorced, Christian friends doing all they can to avoid divorce. We are not exempt from the struggle: chronic pain and depression are dragons we have personally fought... There are greater beasts in the human story. It doesn't take a long meditation on the sufferings of the world (New Orleans, Haiti, Japan, 30,000 people dying/day from preventable illnesses)... for one's faith to feel it...the fading, the torn...the cloth of life...
A song by one of my favorite artists, Bill Mallonee (who I just regrettably missed in concert!) tells it pretty well:

"You can count on your charm or revel in your wealth
Improve your appearance or hope in your health
 But houses of cards tumble, and reputations fail
Marriages crumble, and interest rates sale
And there are no more heroes, and there are no rules of thumb
Criminals are pardoned 'cos there's no place to put them
Babies are torn because nobody wants them
And whales, canonized by some government program
We're blind men, sad men, dreamers with wishes.
Paralytics, lunatics and the back-street fringes
All find a place in Your home, at Your table
And You make them well 'cos You're willing and able

Still, in the darkness there's a candle you will see
And who knows when the sunrise will be?"   

 There is an answer in The Resurrected One. The answer is the Resurrected One. Through his rising, the cloth of life will be transfigured into the Garment of Praise. This is the miracle of all miracles and the bedrock of our Christian faith... We must believe in this Resurrection...not with our heads alone, but with our hearts.

We read an encouraging word this morning from our devotional Reflections for Ragamuffins. An excellent daily sampler of writings from Brennan Manning:

"Bizarre as it sounds, the ministry of praising God's goodness, wisdom, and love during times of pain and heartache is a beautiful expression of faith in action, a living expression of trust that "God makes all things work together for the good of those who have been called according to his decree." In his moving little book, Our Heavenly Father, Dr. Robert Frost writes, “There is nothing more precious to God than our praise during affliction. Not praise for what the devil has done, but praise for the redeeming power of our loving heavenly Father. What he does not protect us from, He will perfect us through. There is indeed a special blessing for those who do not become offended at God during adversity. Furthermore, we become a special blessing to Him!”

Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
          Psalm 43:5

Love and Garments of Praise for the Resurrected One this Easter season,
Joey and Christy Rauwolf

Colorado!

Hello! It has been a good couple of weeks. We got to visit with our friend Andrew in Seattle who is also planning to be in Northern Ireland soon - it was great to catch up, play some tunes and dream about what God has in store as we all prepare to head across the sea.

Joey spent a week with his brother and family in Anacortes, Washington (too bad he didn't have a camera with him to take pictures of our cute nephew Liam and the beautiful walks in that area). 

Now we're both in Georgetown, Colorado, a beautiful little mountain town. We are spending our days as nannies, house-cleaners and cooks at our friend Kashia & Pete's house! We are just getting adjusted to being at 8500 feet - a big adjustment from being at sea level.   It has been great to see the Lord working here. Kashia is recovering from a spinal fusion back surgery very well and is so glad to be able to have her son Charley at home. Charley has adjusted to us quickly and is a joy to be around! 

Charley loves it when Joey plays his guitar 

Our niece Maya with Uncle Joey

The car we were using broke down for a week and just got fixed so we are glad to be an hour's drive from Denver where Christy's brother and family live! We had a great weekend away with them - snowboarding, skiing, swimming and enjoying each other's company. Thanks John & Naph for making this happen!

Enjoying Monarch Mountain with John and Celeste

Zane made an excellent smoothie for Aunt Christy

Maya, full of laughs.

So, we are blessed by the provision of the Lord for us to be here, and are staying very busy with the work He has for us here.  Still we are praying for His timing to bring us back to Northern Ireland and excited to hear about the new things happening there.  

Will be in touch, lots of love!

Joey & Christy

Meditating on this in our daily walk- 

"But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no partiality and is always sincere. And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of goodness."

James 3:17 - 18

Yes Lord!

Winter in Ketchikan

Ketchikan is a beautiful place. Thank God! We weren't expecting to spend the winter here, but is sure is incredible how His timing works. Joey has been working away building his guitar and it's looking great! He will be able to finish it in time to take it with us when we return to Northern Ireland. 

We're both working part time and busy with all sorts of things in the mean time. This weekend we just got to enjoy SE Alaska...a beach fire at Refuge Cove, hiking to Perseverance lake, and going fishing for king salmon.  It is incredible just to stop and look at all the designs the ice makes on the trail, and to enjoy the beauty of the ocean. We love it. So we are choosing to be thankful for this time with family and friends, time to get prepared to go overseas again...to be grateful instead of wishing we were there right this second. It's a gift. 

The way things look right now, we hope to head back in the beginning of March. He knows. Blessings to you all on this fine day! Joey & ChristySaxman Tribal House in the snow

Cold blue days light up the mountains

Look at that spectacular guitar...

We had a great time yesterday visiting with a group of Korean pastors who are on outreach in Alaska. They are such amazing pray-ers! :)

Joey is working away building his guitar and it's looking amazing!

We're both working part-time and haven't heard a word about our visas!

It's a crazy SE Alaska day - sideways rain! Yay!

Beautiful prayer (Buechner)

"Thou Son of the Most High, Prince of Peace, be born again into our world. Wherever there is war in this world, wherever there is pain, wherever there is loneliness, wherever there is no hope, come thou long-expected one, with healing in thy wings.
     Holy Child, whom the shepherds and the kings and the dumb beasts adored, be born again. Wherever there is boredom, wherever there is fear of failure, wherever there is temptation too strong to resist, wherever there is bitterness of heart, come, thou blessed one, with healing in they wings.
     Saviour, be born in each of us who raises his face to thy face, not knowing fully who he is or who thou art, knowing only that thy love is beyond his knowing and that no other has the power to make him whole. Come, Lord Jesus, to each who longs for thee even though he has forgotten thy name. 
Come quickly."
                          Amen.


joyous new year to all!
We're in Alaska, on hold, in HIS timing, waiting for our visas to return to N. Ireland... praising and thanking Him for His faithfulness this year as ALWAYS!
Joey & Christy 

The Sacred Season - excerpt by Brennan Manning

Once a year the Christmas season strikes both the sacred and secular spheres of life with sledgehammer force: suddenly Jesus Christ is everywhere.
For approximately one month His presence is inescapable. You may accept Him or reject Him, but you cannot ignore Him. Of course He is proclaimed in speech, song, and symbol in all the Christian churches. But He rides every red-nosed reindeer, lurks behind every cabbage-patch doll, resonates in the most desacralized "seasons greetings." Remotely or proximately, He is toasted in every cup of Christmas cheer. Each sprig of holly is a hint of His holiness, each cluster of mistletoe a sign He is here.

For those who claim His name, Christmas heralds this luminous truth: The God of Jesus Christ is our absolute future. Such is the deeply hopeful character of this sacred season. By God's free doing in Bethlehem, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Light, life, and love are on our side.

"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel" - which means "God with us."

Matthew 1:23

Thanks be to God!

The meeting at YWAM Rostrevor went really well! We should know within a week about going forward with applying for our visas. Thanks for the prayers everyone!

This weekend, we are having a yard sale so we've been spending time getting ready for that.

It's snowing in Ketchikan and the beauty here is astounding!

Blessings this Thanksgiving!
Joeseph & Christy

Good blessings from the Lord today - He is clearly speaking His favor about where we are heading...being a part of His Kindgdom means learning not to trust in wordly riches, but in Him! We are definitely growing in this! We are excited about what He has called us to do in this next season!

In the middle of the night tonight (Alaska time, YWAM in Rostrevor is going to have a meeting with the Home Office concering being approved to issue good visas for missionaries (including us). Please pray for this to go well and for God's will to be done!

J & C

 "O that we would so love the gospel and have so much compassion for lost people that tribulation and distress and persecution and famine and nakedness and danger and sword and gun and terrorist would turn us not into fearful complainers, but bold heralds of good news."
John Piper (Finally Alive)

Alaska welcome

Alaska. On the Island again. We were welcomed wonderfully at 1:30 in the morning by Christy's Dad who came down to meet us at the ferry. Our friends called us to invite us to lunch immediately the next day and then we spent a couple hours with Joey's Grandma and had dinner (halibut!) with Joey's family. Great to see everyone and go to Goodnews Fellowship today and reconnect with the brothers and sisters we love!

We start work on Tuesday.
Joey at Tongass Construction
Christy at The Point - a lovely gallery, yarn, art shoppe and cafe!

We are still wanting to be in Northern Ireland by December so all the moments here are precious. We enjoyed seeing our family in Oregon and Washington and are so thankful for them!

Joey's Grandma gave us this quote on our arrival - thought it was good:

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." -Mark Twain

God has been so good to us and brought us this far - we are thankful for His infinite goodness and grace...
More soon -
J & C

Hello!
Montana is starting to become a beautiful autumn scene - what a gift.
We're speaking, doing worship at Headwaters Church this coming Sunday so are preparing for that.
Have been working logistics as well as continuing to spend time reconnecting with people here.
All is well - We are still waiting on approval for YWAM to get Tier 2 visas for the UK; we are praying these will come through soon so we can start applying. We appreciate your prayers in this area.

Hope everyone is enjoying the autumn season!
Love,
Joseph & Christy

Soaking in time with family and friends

As strange as it is to be away from Northern Ireland, it has been lovely to spend time with friends in Montana and see family. It's great to catch up with people and we have been encouraged to connect again with our brothers and sisters here.

Funny enough we are in Montana at the same time as Christy's Dad (we all planned to arrive the same day without knowing it!) So it's been good - we all (with Collette) did worship together at Headwaters last Sunday - it was like a Ketchikan reunion.

In mid-October we will be going to Washington and then heading back to Alaska for a couple months.

We were reading this morning in the book "The Wind from the Stars" and love this excerpt:

"He had ever one anchor of the soul, and he found that it held - the faith of Jesus (I say the faith of Jesus, not his own faith in Jesus), the truth of Jesus, the life of Jesus. However his intellect might be tossed on the waves of speculation and criticism, he found that the word the Lord has spoken remained; for in doing righteously, in loving mercy, in walking humbly, the conviction increased that Jesus knew the very secret of human life.

-Robert Falconer


Love to all, 
J & C

made it to Montana - we'll be here for a few weeks. We had a good visit with friends in Washinton.
all is well! just getting over jet lag.
We miss Northern Ireland!

On our way!

The time has come for us to head back to the states. We leave on September 12th and will be arriving in Seattle and doing a bit of visiting friends and family from there before heading back up to Alaska.

We've just had a lovely two weeks of traveling around Ireland with Christy's parents. It was a joy - especially to spend time together and get to show them around. Everything went really smoothly with the road-trip and the weather was perfect the whole time! We got to visit people we've met along the way and we all did some ministry together at Cork Community Church last Sunday - it was a lot of fun. 

The 8 months we've been in Northern Ireland has been amazing, it has been hard work at times and spiritually intense in some ways, but we've learned so much and our hearts have been stretched for this place. God has been at work in our lives and are feeling a sense that He is sending us back here soon...

So we have a busy few months ahead - prayer, visiting loved ones, and getting ready for the possibility of coming to N. Ireland for a season where we have an open door to be involved in missions, hospitality, worship, networking the body of Christ, living in community and growing in intimacy with Jesus as we follow his call on our lives.

We appreciate your prayers and friendship,

Many blessings, 

Joseph and ChristyHere's Christy and Marty hundreds of feet off the ground on a rope-bridge over the ocean - reminds me of what it's like to trust God sometimes. :)

Ancient church at Glendalough.

This is a new mural we saw in Belfast last week - it was painted in place of an old paramilitary mural. It is encouraging to see some of these changes taking place - little glimpses of healing and peace. Thanks be to God.

encouragement

We found this prayer in a book this week and it really resonated with us -

ROMERO'S PRAYER

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
It is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation
in realizing that. This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well. It may be incomplete,
but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference
between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
Amen.

Archbishop Oscar Romero

Well we are finished with DTS and are here in Rostrevor staying at the YWAM community. We've said bye to lots of people and have been wrapping up last minute bits and bobs from outreach.
We are really looking forward to my (Christy's) parents coming to Ireland to see us!

An Cuan

The center that has been given to YWAM has been renamed An Cuan which means "safe harbor" in Gaelic. It is in an incredible location on Carlingford Lough right on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.
The town where it is located is Rostrevor, which has a population of less than 3000 and just a few shops. It is about an hours drive to Dublin or Belfast from here.

 This week in Rostrevor has been very busy with the yearly music event - "The Fiddlers Green Festival." Our team has been volunteering for the event and also opened a cafe out of the new place here to welcome the community, get to know people and let everyone know who we are and a little bit of what we'll be about here in this community.

The week has gone really well; we've had three music events at our place and many people from the town and around coming in for lunch and asking all kinds of questions about YWAM and outreaches etc. We've had loads of conversations with people and a very positive response to having us here in Rostrevor. Joey also played some music in the cafe which was great. 

This is our last day of leading outreach! We are glad to be moving in to the debrief which should be a good time. The whole team just arrived back from South Africa so we are all sharing stories and enjoying the beautiful area that is Rostrevor. 

Last night we went up the mountain next door to us here and found an epic blueberry patch! It was great picking blueberries, surrounded by heather with a view of the Irish sea. We could even hear the folk music from the village!  A nice reprieve after a very busy week.

We are still praying about spending a season here and it has been grand to get to meet people and get a feel for this community of very welcoming folks!

God is good to us and we are grateful for His tender mercy in our lives -

 He is an incredible Provider and Friend in all the turns of life.

Grace and Joy to you - Thanks over and over for you encouragement and friendship!

Love,

Joseph and Christy

  

Cork

We've been in Cork, in the south of Ireland this week and it has been a great time of getting to know people, working in a coffee shop and book store, helping out with a homeless ministry that provides food on a big yellow bus, and working in the church we're staying in here. It has been rainy a lot of the time and is actually quite refreshing.

Tonight we are hosting an open mic at the coffee shop down town and will be singing as well. Today Christy was singing in the park with a bunch of ragamuffins around...and sending out the hope waves...

Please pray for Belfast as there has been a lot of rioting this week over the yearly 12th of July events.


Love in Jesus,
Joseph and Christy

Summer Madness

So...we just finished our week in Belfast where we set up for and ran a YWAM venue at a huge youth festival - We served free tea and coffee all weekend and hosted a worship session with the Psalm Drummers, plus a few open mics, and a band from Louisiana that played stompin' cajun style music. We also had a hip-hop workshop each day which was FULL of a lot of talented dancers. It was a lot of fun. We spent long days working and Joey drove people and stuff back and forth from the festival to our house a lot! He probably drove a few hundred miles. 

A couple days ago, we all made our way down to the south of Ireland in Cork. This week we will be here working with different churches, (We are leading a service tomorrow at the church where we are staying). Also, there is work to be done in a ministry coffee shop and a homeless ministry that runs out of a yellow bus. 

Cork is a great city with a lot of character and a lot of rain - reminiscent of Ketchikan.

We only have 2 weeks left of outreach and are looking forward to a change of pace after this... Please pray for lots of divine appointments and good connections to be made in our last couple weeks!

LOVE in Him,

J and C

A Great Week!

So - we are in Galway, a cool city in the NW of Ireland - here for a day off after volunteering at a Catholic youth festival. We finished tearing down the festival last night.  It was a busy time of helping - 250 people came to the festival. It was a great time of building bridges. There was a REALLY good reconciliation night and a fella from West Belfast spoke...people washed their hands in basins as a symbol of forgiveness and letting go of things and we were there to dry their hands to show how we all need each other. It was a moving time.

We all stayed in giant tents with the joyousness of teenagers yelling until 2 in the morning so we’re a bit worn out, but feel it was important for us to be there and we built some great relationships by volunteering, doing our best, great connections for more to happen in the future.

We got to connect with the Psalm Drummers who are based out of Belfast and love to worship and do workshops with drums - it was grand! 

An amazing part of this week was the day we arrived in Knock we had the afternoon free to drive to Foxford where Joey’s ancestors came from...so the two of us went on a journey to search out his relatives who are still living in Foxford - We went to a pub and asked about the name we knew - Frankie Devaney - and the guy next to us had his cell phone number and gave him a call. So Joey got on the phone and explained that they were related and Frankie came to pick us up and brought us to his house. We had a good chat and tried to figure out the family tree, then he called up all his family -a bunch of really lovely folks who took us out to dinner and invited us to come back! We felt like it was a great gift from God!

Tomorrow we are back to Belfast for a week where we are hosting a coffee/sports/music venue at a youth event called Summer Madness.

God is teaching us more and more how to love and giving us a bigger picture of His heart and purposes for us, for this island and for the Body of Christ to live in unity - Thanks be to God for His infinite love!

Here's Joey at the River Moy - where his Great-great-great and Great-Great Grandfather's used to fish!

Thanks a million for your prayers and friendship!

LOVE,

Joseph and Christy