Gage Newsletter - April 2000!
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"Praise
be to God, for He continually draws us into Christ's victory
parade. He uses us
to make Christ known in every place, making us like a perfume
whose fragrance is poured out every where we go" 2
Corinthians 2:14 I can't type those words without smiling!
That's our life! I am so grateful God is always drawing us into (as
the French translation so beautifully puts) the victory parade,
Thanks for being part of supporting and praying for us so that
HIS perfume will fill this country of perfume. "One doesn't see that very often.
Why are you so nice? !
What sign are you? "
said the woman sitting across from Alan after he had
offered his seat to an elderly gentleman who had just gotten on
the train. "The
sign of the Lamb," he answered with a chuckle and a twinkle
in his eye (No, he wasn't imitating Santa!)
"Humm, the lamb …which sign is that - Capricorn?
Balance? " "No, I'm a Christian. " "A Christian!!! " she said with disdain.
" I'm an atheist, have always been an atheist; my
father was an atheist. Why
are you so nice? Are you in a cult? " "No, I'm a Protestant. But many French people misperceive most Protestant
denominations as cults." "Oh, that's not true! My daughter is in a cult and I am taking them to court.
But why are you so nice?" The conversation continued until the woman suddenly
realized they were at Monaco, her stop; her trying to figure out
why Alan was so nice and him sharing "the perfume" of
Christ with her. She was even more perplexed and drawn to this
perfume when he said "God bless you" as she got off
the train. During
the conversation he had learned, as he suspected, that the
woman's daughter was not in a cult but in an excellent church
where Alan has translated before and we are friends with the
pastor. How many prayers have been heard in heaven for the heart of
that woman? We can
only imagine. We are hungry and thirsty
to see the heavens ripped open and the face of God to shine
on these people in love and mercy and truth.
But as we contemplate Him, He tells us that we are
to reflect His glory more and more - to be His love and mercy
and truth to these dear people lost in the dark!!!!!
So, we say "Oh God, oh God, oh God!" And He
uses us to make Christ known, everywhere we go, like a sweet
perfume. We love
what God has called us to…. just wish we had more time and
energy. Thanks for
praying for us - that we would walk in the fullness of our
calling, with wisdom, boldness and anointing.
PLEASE PRAY : We are hoping Alan will be
working in Nice next year -that will save about 4hours of
commuting time a day. The
decisions of next fall's teaching positions will be made in the
next few weeks. Please
pray he will be placed at a school here in Nice.
There is a small possibility he could be given a year's
grant to prepare for the next competitive exam.
This has the great advantage of putting him full time
"on campus" with our target group.
It has the great disadvantage of giving us only 80% of
our income from this year, which was already far from adequate
for us.
Our kids amaze us -their love of God, their graciousness
to the trail of people coming onto our home; continually people
are drawn to Jesus meeting them, astonished by their uniqueness.
But there is much pressure on them living here;
one of Justin's schoolmates was murdered last week.
He was seventeen,
his mom a social worker, his dad a psychologist and he was
stabbed to death savagely in his own studio apartment by some
people who owed him drug money.
Pray that God would continually reveal Himself to Justin,
Thomas, Elyssa and Leah and that they would
continually choose to stay hidden in Him. Our prayer is that you be His perfume wherever you are! Thanks We love you
PS If you would like to participate in our work in France financially, Donations and correspondence can be sent tp:
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