Wednesday, October 18, 2017

The Answer My Friend


I recall a song when I was a teenager, entitled "Blowing in the Wind" I looked it up and found out that Bob Dylan actually wrote the song, but I think I remember in my early years, Peter, Paul and Mary singing it. It asked a tough question, what is the answer to whatever you may be facing in life, and that the answer can be found, it is blowing in the wind, it is there.
I know that we face a lot of seemingly unanswered questions in our lives and some things we face just do not seem to be easily answered, but in the quest for answers we often end up seeking. I am reminded that when we seek, we will find. Spiritually speaking, we can find at least a peace in our hearts even in the midst of unanswered questions. We are reminded that we will find it when we seek for it with our whole heart. Or more specifically, we will find God, when we seek for Him with our all. There is an answer, blowing in the wind.
Recently Marlene and I returned from McAllen, Texas, where World Gospel Mission operates Taylor Christian School and a community soccer outreach to the children of the McAllen area. Many of you have been praying and supporting Jordan as he has gone to serve there in teaching Phys. Ed and
 coaching soccer. He has entered into the ministry there and is doing well in getting adjusted and serving alongside of a great team of WGM missionaries. Taylor Christian School has been around for decades and continues to have an impact in the lives of children living on the border of Mexico.
We helped finish up his apartment that was in need of some major remodeling and he is settling in to the ministry there. Thank you for praying for this important work. While we were there we helped with the apartment, met with many missionaries one-on-one and enjoyed some great times of fellowship together. You may recall that our missionary career began in 1985 in Laredo, TX, just three hours up the Rio Grande. There we ministered in a school much like Taylor Christian. Jessica and Joshua were both born in Laredo, and we felt that God placed a special love in our hearts for the border. Fast forward 30 years and we find our selves taking our youngest son back to the border to minister, while God continues to use us around the world to encourage and support missionaries. What an awesome God we serve! And what a joy to know that even in a world full of questions, there is a peace in knowing that God is in control. I started to think about the song, "Blowing in the Wind" because of an event that happened during our time in McAllen. We were grilling out our evening meal with one of our missionary family's after working on Jordan's apartment. A pastor friend of the mission drove in and approached us asking if we wanted to see something that we had never seen before. Peeking our curiosity we went to his van. The pastor was a
Native American. He got out a large box and opened it up and lifted out a large bald eagle. He began to tell the story. He said that because he was a Native American he requested that the Federal Government send him a bald eagle for cultural native American purposes. This young bald eagle had been found after being sucked into the whirlwind of one of the large windmills of a wind farm and had perished at the turning blades of the windmill. He received this eagle as a religious/cultural gift to be used for those purposes. As I reflected on this experience
I thought about the fact that we are often like an eagle, the whirlwind of life, the busyness of life often "sucks" us in. In takes us away from the things that are most important and occupies our lives with busy things. Not necessarily bad things, but things that often pull us away from seeking the things that may be eternal. The things that are everlasting, the things of God. I wonder today as you read this blog, are you being pulled in to a "whirlwind" of life? Do you need to take a moment, and seek the Lord? What is He saying to you? What is the message He has for you? Rest! Peace! Breathe! Seek! Find!......yes, the answer my friend, it's blowing in the wind.

God loves you and so do we.

May we share some prayer requests with you?
Please pray for Jordan as he ministers in McAllen, TX. Pray for God to use him in a great way.
Pray for us as we leave today for a visit to Asia. We will spend a week in Japan with our WGM missionaries there. Oct. 19 - 27. We will then fly to Cambodia where I will preach and visit our newest field and our missionary family there, Oct. 27 -31. Then we fly to China and visit three of our friends there, Oct. 31 - Nov. 5. Our oldest son Joshua will be visiting Japan with us. He is meeting us in Tokyo for the week, where he will be experiencing a taste of what we do in our ministry. He will also have a chance to connect with a foreign exchange student that lived with us in Spring, Arbor, Michigan when he was growing up. Please pray for all of these travels and that we may have some effective times of ministry amongst our people serving in this part of the world.

As always, we appreciate you all so much! Thank you for being a part of our ministry. May the Lord bless you and may you find His grace sufficient. He is enough for every need.

Love and prayers,
Ned and Marlene McGrady
Missionaries with World Gospel Mission
Box 948
Marion, IN 46952

www.wgm.org/mcgrady