Laying groundwork is hard. Most of our homes were built years before we moved into them, but if you've ever watched one being built, you saw construction going in reverse at first. The higher your building, the deeper the foundation needs to go. Timing, too, is critical. You don’t want to dig a foundation when the ground is frozen. Rain can cause long delays in construction. This kind of work is best done indoors, isn’t it? Wouldn’t it be nice if the roof and walls could be built first? Ridiculous thoughts like that probably shows how little experience I have with real foundation work. I helped my dad and two carpenters with the foundation of our home addition 32 years ago. I’ve helped dig footings for small buildings in Mexico during short-term missions trips. I know enough to say that digging up packed earth is hard work.

Celebrate Life -

what does that mean?

Although death, perversion and wickedness are increasingly celebrated on October 31, we have enjoyed watching and participating in plays that light-heartedly celebrate stories from the Bible with our fellow Crusade friends the Randazzo family for the past several years. This year we brought their tradition of “Celebrate Life” with us to Texas and invited new friends from our neighborhood and homeschool co-op. It was a great time!

My new eLearning ministry division with GMO is in the “groundwork” stage. Sometimes it feels like we're going backward. Our timing is off at times, and mistakes can set us back. We’re still discovering the demands of the architecture. We have to support a worldwide multi-lingual ministry, so it will have to be substantial. To some of our volunteers, it probably feels like we’re asking them to go back and re-learn things in order to continue serving with us effectively.

Similarly, the Skinner family household is having to re-learn some things in order to do them the way things work here in Anna, Texas. Dallas is larger than Orlando, but Anna is smaller than St. Cloud, so some of the conveniences are farther away. Getting up to speed is taking us longer than we anticipated, and we’re keeping pretty busy getting to know new people. Support is low, and we miss our church, our co-op, our friends. Misfortune continues to sting us regularly.

Laying groundwork isn’t the exciting or impressive part of construction. As nice as it would be, there’s no way to skip ahead and go right to the cozy, already-built “house” stage. (See 1 Peter 2:5) Digging deep just comes with the territory for us right now. We are thankful, though, for the promise of Jesus that He is with us as we go forth sharing Him to the nations. Last month, an amazing signal of His continued favor came to us as a church we did not know existed decided to donate $2400 to us! What a great reminder of the truth we’ve counted on for the past 10 years—“He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.” (1 Thess. 5:24)

Just as buildings have stories, so do lives. Our story has a new chapter, but it still has the same basis—our story is based on a true story, the story of Jesus. Thank you for being part of our story! We could not serve Him full-time without you.

Happy Thanksgiving, from our family to yours!

Love in Christ,