Summer Snapshot

 

The following is a story of pictures to give you a snapshot into our lives during this time. Marlene chronicled this journey that I have copied for you here.

“Toward the end of July, I realized we would be busy and traveling a lot and I thought, “I’ll just wait till the end of August to chronicle what we do”. I could not have imagined all that it would include. This post is a little long, but if you’re interested, read on. There are highs and lows in it. I’m just truly grateful that God walks with me wherever I am.”

 

July 26 - 27

We started in Wichita, KS with a visit with one of our retired missionaries, Nina Kunkle who was recovering from a leg injury. Such a special lady. She’s working really hard in recovery. The following pics with comments will take you through most of the rest of our time

We visited with one of our longtime supporters, Delores who loves to sing

 while Ned plays. Precious lady and faithful prayer warrior.

July 28 - We were able to connect with some

 more longtime supporters, Lynda Huffer and

 her husband Clark. Sure was great chatting with

 them over breakfast.

As we drove on through Kansas, we realized we

 would be driving through the town our friends

 Angie and Dr. Arlo Reimer had moved to, so we

 dropped in to where we knew Angie worked

 and surprised her then went to their home to

 see Arlo and Daniel

 

On to South Dakota…yes this was our first rodeo!

The Black Hills are so beautiful and interesting!

An abandoned mine (Fillmore Mine) that had been

 owned and run by our friend, Jo Dickert’s family

 before WWII.

Exploring with Jo – a champion of our ministry since Ned worked with her at the hospital in Jackson, Michigan before we went out to serve in Ecuador. One of the great highlights of our time there was to hold an impromptu worship service at Jo’s B & B in Deadwood, SD. On Sunday morning 10 persons join with us as we shared a reflection on the story of Jesus calming the storm. We all related to the storms in this life and how God is with us through those difficult times.

Beautiful landscape overlooking the Black Hills of SD.

We came home then headed East and stopped to visit

 WGM retired missionaries and friends, Jim and

 Alice  Vanderhoof Waverly, New York. So great

 catching up from the times we shared in Kenya and

 beyond!

Many of you know that my “little” brother, Gary Post had a stroke in

May and is still in recovery mode. I desperately wanted to see him

 and his wife Cindy in person. Having lost our brother, Donnie, to a

 stroke, two weeks after Gary’s stroke, reminds us that time together

 is priceless.

You can’t go to the triple cities area without getting at least one Speidi

 sandwich.

On August 10th we celebrated 36 years of life

 together 

We we’re actually both, sick on our anniversary so we made our own yummy dinner!

 

Then we were off to Arkansas for ministry.

We then had the privilege of attending the celebration

 of life service of one of our sweet missionaries’

 daddy in Little Rock, AR. The grandchildren were so

 precious as they shared scripture.

We also climbed this tower…it’s wayyy taller than it looks 

After a few days home, we flew with Ned’s 96 1/2-

year-old mom Marguerite and his aunt Donna to

 Massachusetts. (I only slipped my mask down to tell

 them to smile)

Our nephew Christopher McGrady married the

 beautiful Miss Kate in a gorgeous garden wedding.

Ned and I and his brother Jack and his wife Naomi went exploring in New

 Bedford, Massachusetts . We learned more about whaling and Moby Dick

 then I thought possible.

We walked a lot that day so we needed to get

 reenergized! Glad you can’t see what we had!

A quick visit to Mansfield, Ohio found us playing dress up …I was Anna, of

 course!

Our Beautiful kindergartner, Rowen

Sweet Elliot loves to be pushed high!!

We then received word that my mom’s sister Aunt Carol had passed away from complications of Covid so we made a quick trip to FL for her celebration of life service on Sept. 1. She was an integral part of my life and she and Uncle Bill have supported us since day one. On our way back home from FL we received word that my Uncle Richard (mom’s brother) passed away this week in NY. In addition, we have two family members hospitalized with Covid. As we were connecting flights in Charlotte to come home, Ned had a voice mail notifying us that his 22-year-old great-niece had suddenly passed away. We came home, repacked and headed to Ohio to be with family. Her service will be next Sunday, Sept. 12 in Southern Ohio and Ned is officiating. She was such a sweet girl. Our hearts are broken. 

We gathered just the other night before coming back home with some of the

 family! Ned’s mom is pictured here with our daughter Jessica. Seeing

 family, our daughter Jessica, her husband Zac and of course their sweet

 babies, did our hearts so much good.

Making faces with Ama!

 

We conclude this chronicle with thanks and appreciation for each of you and your prayers for us as we continue in this work and ministry. We know that in these times we need each other and we remember to pray one for another. 

May Jesus be close to you as we abide in His unfailing love, 

Ned and Marlene McGrady 

Just BE!

BE, JUST BE There is nothing that matters more. In these past several months we have found that being at Jesus feet  is the best place we can be. To be in Jesus presence is the desire of our hearts. We invite you to take this moment and listen to the song linked above and just be in Christ's presence and allow Him to wash over you with His presence. 

In April we made our maiden voyage out west to visit our missionaries serving on the American Indian Field in Peoria, AZ. This was our first opportunity since Covid to travel. It was so good to be able to do what we love, spending time in soul talks, encouraging our global workers to continue in their ministries in healthy and meaningful ways. Our team there is seeing God do some amazing things as they re-envision the work among the native American people. We were blessed to attend a vision meeting where a native American pastor prayed over the ministry vision and gave their blessing for the ministry. 

We visited with our former co-workers, Frank and Sharon Martin and they had a birthday party for Marlene. The Martins worked with us until they retired a few years back and since moved back to the area they served as missionaries for over 20 years. From there we headed over to Orange County, California where we attended a spiritual formation retreat with Soul Shepherding. It was a meaningful and blessed experience for us to have this time of renewal and refreshment for our lives. We had another opportunity to practice what it means to STOP and just BE with the Lord in a time of focusing on Him. We continue to realize what it means to live in Jesus easy yoke and exchange our heavy yoke for His light one. 

We returned to WGM where we were thrilled with the announcement that WGM would be opening back up to the public on June 1 and that we could look at having in person events here at head quarters once again. It had been 14 months since Covid forced us to go virtual with every event and meeting. We completed a training on Risk Assessment and Management during this time that allowed us to continue to help our team to look out for the safety of our missionaries around the world. 

In the month of June we had planned for our family vacation at the cabin at Lake Michigan where we have gone for over 20 years. We were only there 2 days when miraculously a voice mail came to our  phone in the remote area we were at and we were informed that Marlene's oldest brother had suffered a catastrophic stroke and was on life support. We immediately packed up our vacation and headed off for Largo, FL. Don and Sue had been major partners in our ministry over the years and allowed us to establish our stateside residency with them when we were serving out of the country. We arrived in time to see Don, but just two days later, Jesus called him home. We were there with family for the funeral and burial. Ned spoke at Don's memorial service and we were blessed by two of our team members who came down to be with us at that service. Marlene has lost three siblings and both her parents since 2013. Heaven does get sweeter, all the time. 

We interspersed some time whenever we could to see our granddaughters. Rowen and Elliot are now both 5 and 2 and are the apple of Papa and Ama's eye! We sure love them supremely. Our local church here in Marion had a Vacation Bible School and we were able to have them come stay with us for this time. Rowen loved singing songs and having Papa as a helper in her class. Elliot loved being in the nursery with Ama. We are so thankful for the investment we can have in their little lives. Papa survived 5 nights of VBS with up to 31 preschoolers. 

During the 4th of July weekend we were able to host Ned's family at our home in Marion. We finished up our home remodel and it was so great to have family come and stay with us. All of Ned's siblings and his mom and aunt were all able to come. Ned's mom is 96 years old and loves to watch the fireworks. Gas City, Indiana had a beautiful display this year and we viewed them from the middle school that Jordan teaches at. We had a celebration and picnic and lots of fun with family. 

We were called to the hospital in Detroit where one of our missionaries had suffered a heart attack. He was able to get immediate attention and two days later was discharged and is doing very well in the recovery process. We were thankful that we could respond and be of support to this couple through this challenging time. 

Just last week we had our first in person Renewal event. We had 16 missionaries and 16 missionary kids into WGM Marion for Renewal. We had a great sessions, good fellowship and all around wonderful time face-to-face in ministry. We are so very thankful that we could do this. This week is a conference on doing Home Ministry and we are sharing devotions and presentations to help support them as they continue on in fund raising and ministry while here at home. We do have a larger than normal group home at this time, partly due to schedule and partly do to Covid related travel concerns etc. We are doing all we can to ministry effectively. 

Well, what's next? We often are asked, do you have any traveling out of country coming up? At this point we do not. Many of our countries are still on various forms of travel restriction and not open for visits. So we are focusing on what we can do and for that reason we have realized that we have an opportunity to connect with some of our ministry partners out west. We will be heading out to Kansas to visit several supporters of our ministry as well as some global workers in that area of the country. We will also go to South Dakota and perhaps on to Arizona as we determine is best. 

We are thankful for our supporters and likely if you are reading this update and have read this far along, we would be quick to say you are part of that number. Thank you for what you do in prayer and financial giving to make our ministry possible. We have said many times over, we could not do this ministry with out your support and without you prayers, so thank you!

Now as you read this update you may think wow, that is a lot and some days it feels like a lot, but we know that you carry a lot too, so how about we all decide, just to BE! Be in Christ's presence, rest in Him and trust in Him to carry us through. 

Pause! Stop! BE!

Just BE!

Blessings, 

Ned and Marlene McGrady

WGM Missionaries

Box 948 
Marion, IN 46953

765.671.7240

From Lament to Hope this Easter Season

 A Lament for this Holy Week... 

Psalm 3

NIV

A psalm of David. When he fled from his son Absalom.

1 Lord, how many are my foes!
    How many rise up against me!
2 Many are saying of me,
    “God will not deliver him.”[b]

3 But you, Lord, are a shield around me,
    my glory, the One who lifts my head high.
4 I call out to the Lord,
    and he answers me from his holy mountain.

5 I lie down and sleep;
    I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.
6 I will not fear though tens of thousands
    assail me on every side.

7 Arise, Lord!
    Deliver me, my God!
Strike all my enemies on the jaw;
    break the teeth of the wicked.

8 From the Lord comes deliverance.
    May your blessing be on your people.

 We have talked about the things we lament over this past year. Have you? It seems as though suffering has taken it toll in so many ways. Grief and loss have shown up in ways that we never before imagined. The unknowns of Covid have created a type of loss sometimes even ambiguous and hard to understand. With loss, comes grief and at times is seems that we are frozen in our grief. It is hard to comprehend, define, or even name. It remains somewhat unclear, traumatic, or confusing. Sometimes it has been hard to move forward or even move past it. We want to, but so often we remain frozen in place with our grief and loss. 

As we consider our missionaries serving around the world and their losses, we soon realize they too are people feeling the same things we are feeling. Many of them have had to quickly leaving their ministry or place of service, unable to travel, adjust to borders closing, opening and closing again, family separations, job losses, deaths with limited funerals and grieving alone have stymied our abilities to cope and continue moving forward. 

In thinking about Holy Week, we come to the scene of our Lord Jesus who faced this sudden shift in focus, sort of like we did when the pandemic hit. 

Jesus shifted from King to Criminal in just one week. He was crucified and died on Good Friday. What a lament we have as we think about this grief and this loss. 

What do you think Jesus' struggle was, what was his pandemic lament? Was it the criticisms of a condemning crowd, the accusations against him sentencing him to the cross to die, the enemy Satan figuring he foiled God's divine plan once and for all? What was Jesus' lament? What do we bring in our lament this Holy Week? Perhaps it is criticisms of other people, or the enemy judging you within, or something else? 

Psalm 3:3 reminds us that the Lord is our shield around us and He lifts us up. He is surrounding us and protecting us as we cry out to Him. He answers us and redeems us with his peace and protection as He delivers us from our enemies. While we are caught up in our lament, we remember Holy Week ends with quite the redeeming factor. Our Lord Jesus conquered death and the grave and He resurrected from the dead to bring us the gift of eternal life and the hope of heaven. We no longer remain frozen in our grief and the struggles of this life as we pray through the emotional struggles and put our confidence in God. 

We were talking the other day, and lamenting that we haven't been able to travel for over one year. During the past 15 years we have been visiting countries, (31 now) and we were always planning where in the world would God would have us to go next. While that has not been our lament, we also realize that God has helped us continue effective ministries that are intentional and helpful to our cross cultural workers around the world. We find great meaning in the present, while acknowledging (lamenting) the ambiguous losses. We have found meaning in our present reality in unexpected ways. Life has slowed down a bit, with travel transitioning to zoom travels to help build intentional relationships in ministry settings that have been exciting and fulfilling. God has shown up in amazing ways and you have been a part of that through your prayers and support. We are both a part of God's bigger picture in His world, even in this pandemic time. We encourage you as we do our global workers to embrace the love of God and the care He offers. The current chapter you are living is just a part of His bigger work. 

As you lament and grieve, be reminded of God's presence this Easter Season and may you discover new hope in Jesus and His resurrection. A hope that will continue to hold the hard and unknown challenges of life in the hands of the One who called us to Himself. We may never understand all this life has sent our way, but let's cling to the fact that the One who is faithful is enough for our every need. 

May God bless you greatly this Easter Season as you release your lament into His loving care. 

Happy Easter. 

Sincerely, 

Ned and Marlene McGrady

World Gospel Mission, Marion, IN 46952