Read Matthew 22:36-40

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Our family has been serving as missionaries in SE Asia for six years, and, while our day to day jobs or activities have changed, and, while even our location and context has changed, our desire and calling to love God completely and to love our neighbors as ourselves has been constant.

We are firm believers that the whole of a person is important and loved and redeemable by God. Jesus was the incarnate God. God loved us so much that He sent His Son as a human! He touched this earth and those around Him physically as well as spiritually. This perspective, alongside the greatest commandments, has been a constant for us in the ever changing realities of life. Life is messy, relationships are messy, the economy is messy, work is hard, politics etc. etc. Nevertheless, these are real and important aspects of our lives. If we, as followers and imitators of Christ, are to love our neighbors well, we must be attentive to these, all of their realities. We hope in Christ and ground ourselves by loving Him with our all. We love our neighbors by opening up our home, sharing meals, culture, tears, and laughter. And, we love them as ourselves by sharing the hope we have in Jesus, that He loves us so much that He came and trampled down sin and death with His own sacrificial death and resurrection.

We can’t tell you a whole lot about who we are because of security risks in our country, but what we can say is that we love God, we love people, and we love where we live and know that God has made us for this purpose.

Our prayer request is for you, in your place of life (ministry), as much as it is for us!  That we would all continue to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind and that we love our neighbors as we love ourselves… and I would say to love our neighbors like Jesus loves us, in the nitty gritty hard realities of life. And, by making His name known.