Crisis

2 1/2 years since we went out from Metro to serve in Scotland.
There has been extreme grief as friendships ceased with our departure.
It's a busy life. We are all busy.
It's a challenge to keep on top of even that which is right in front of us isn't it?

The support that we truly depend on hasn't been financial or relational.
Jehovah-Jireh -- The Lord our Provider

But it is hard to keep sight of this in relative isolation from the people we grew up with. Liz and I have had a VERY hard time adjusting to missionary shock (David), re-entry shock (Elizabeth), post natal depression, the stress of reorienting to a denominational church culture where we believe God has placed us, raising sons, home maintenance, general christian growth...

This next bit may come as a shock.
Elizabeth has decided to separate from me.
we are working with the counselor we have been seeing for months now.

I do not agree with Elizabeth's decisions.
I cannot control this; or fix it.
I have decided to move into a flat so the rest of the family will experience as little additional disruption as possible.
It sucks.

God causes ALL things to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
I believe this and I am not feelin it.
I am struggling with grief and pain and shame and frustration and anger and fear and renewed hope as they wash over me in oscillating waves.

I have shared this with the fellowship here in Alva,
with my prayer partners;
and with a couple of strangers I just met who are planting a church nearby.

And now you are more specifically aware of how you can pray.

I considered whether I am qualified to continue in ministry.
(an overseer) must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? (1Ti 3:4-5 ESV)

I am not sure that I have failed to manage my own household well.
I am convinced that I am not able to 'manage' Liz.
I offered to step back from commitments, to quit ministry entirely;
but Liz is making this decision for her reasons.
Her family supports this
I feel quite alone in my insistance that this is wrong.

But God is holding us up we both want to perservere and see victory.

This has deeply affected our family in Alva.

Please be praying,
David

This last Sunday's Sermon was on suffering in crisis.

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Pray for Us

We are really going through a storm right now.

The place, the Man, the sign.

We had a guest speaker Preach on John 5:1-18
Norman Rollo is a neighbour and friend here in Clackmannanshire

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Autumn

The world is pitching and heaving!
There is so much going on with kingdom significance.

I could start with the Family Club that served kids and their parents last night. We had a sports medicine educator come and speak to kids about strength and fitness, specifically, warming up before exercise. Then we played some games pertaining to the life of Daniel and showed a bit of an animated feature on the life of Daniel.

We also have seen the Kids' Church grow with unlikely additions from the neighbourhood kids. Partly as a result of the outreach but also, I think, resulting from the sincere love that God has placed in our hearts for this community. We know its all God, and Jesus saves. And yet, we know He insists on His church 'carrying the arc into battle'. Andrew introduced Peter, didn't he?

Our coffee morning gathers 10 or 20 people together on a Wednesday. At this gathering, we are positioned to get to know and pray for our neighbours. We feed free tea/coffee and cakes and allow for a donation toward costs, but really we love on these mostly retired folks and moms with small children.

On October 25th we start our 'One Day Through the Bible' Study.
4 Sundays, from 3-5pm, through the main plot of the whole Bible.

Please keep praying for our family and the work!

The world is watching the news, our neighbours look to the front office to see if their jobs are in danger, our children are reading our faces to discern the meaning of things and the Lord is refining His church for the harvest!

Do you see that the time is here when the judgement is begining with the house of God?

I suppose it is possible that this is merely a projection of my own autobiography onto this blank screen of a blog, but outch! Lord!? May I please just agree with You and be seared with a coal from your alter, already!!?

I am convicted that the work in my heart is for public consumption. Your responses over the last few months have expressed encouragement and support and even relief that others are going through refining fire; relief that you are not the only one.

Still, when we ask 'How are you today' we don't really want our neighbours to unpack their emotional baggage. But I am being seriously smelted here!

I am really coming to grips with the rebellious nature I have held-onto in my Christian walk. As if Christianity was a rebellion from the world system. Then I, as a rebel from the world, affiliated with others; IN REBELLION. I am convicted that I was, until recently, on any team because we both were against the Devil! I reflect on my past Christian service with grief! I am seriously convicted that it was mostly in vain, except that my deepest desire was to serve God. I am called to serve God, to line-up under His authority. And affiliating with people submitted to Him is proving to be challenging. Christians everywhere, but so many rebels; so many angry lone rangers; so few men of God. Are any of us?

This last year of my life has been increasingly characterized by conviction and repentance. This is so NOT fun. I am a poor man. I am undone. Dont feel sorry for me, I was like this when you knew me. In me dwelleth NO good thing.

Everything is on the block. My neck, my marriage, my children, my ministry; the pronoun tells the story: none of these are mine! God took me to the backside of the desert to slap me to the wheel. (to mix two biblical metaphores)

I told God I was ready for an adventure.
He agreed.
But oh, what important realities are not in the recruitment brochures for Christian service!

Many admired the courage of our setting out.
You all knew I had character flaws when I left.
But I am here to say that the depth of God's work has gone beyond what I ever wanted to admit or face. This could easily kill me if I hold on to anything of myself as God blasts it away.

Its not like I was in secret sin or something; I am just convicted (with a diminishing sense of grace) about the absence of a heart for the fullness of God's spirit to bring forth love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control. God has raised the bar and every time I dont clear it I am getting thumped! And I am better for it, but things look pretty bruised right now. Please pray for us!

God wants us to lift HOLY hands.
Are you holy? Did you think you could leave that part out?
I stand before the solar wind of God's refining fire and more of me is burning off than I bargained for. Is anybody else really, really, REALLY going through this?

Please pray for us.
There is fruit and the Gospel is preached.

Honestly, Satan is like 'just quit, you're a mess' and I almost could.
Except there is nothing else I will ever do besides preach the gospel.

My family and I need your prayers to see God transform this man into the holy man He can use to reach: his family, people in Alva, and perhaps even Clackmannanshire, Scotland, Europe and the world. But I am in the way and we need your prayers as God is already well into the surgery.
- Elective Soul Surgery

Please pray for us.

The Big 'If'

In the face of Crisis, where do you turn?

What constitutes crisis in your life?

In our lives, in my life, David's life, there is a growing urgency.

Its not just money, or politics, or religion.
The financial crisis, the middle east crisis or a crisis of faith.

As I draw near to the Lord, there is less of me that is demanding my 'rights'. But it took episodes of what I still look upon as injustice, and the resulting frustration, to rouse me beyond the idolatry of self in the persuit of God.

DREADFUL, the face in the mirror demanding from God what God has chosen to withold!
"its not supposed to be like this!" cries a fixated and petulant child.
My Lord learned obedience, shall I resist?

Crisis calls us to humble ourselves, pray and seek God and turn from our wicked ways. and God promises to hear from heaven, forgive us and heal our land.

Ministry is not for wimps!
The sluggard says, "There is a lion outside! I shall be killed in the streets!" (Pro 22:13)
There IS a roaring lion outside!
Dont step away from the shepherd!

Please keep praying for us,
Dave & Liz Fraser

Podcast on iTunes and the sidebar.

Win \ Win

Part of my growing willingness to consider the UK (which is how we got moving to be able to end up in Scotland) stemmed from a unique experience at a party of a friend in LA.

The party overflowed into the yard and while we all milled about chatting, my son Daniel crouched down and tried to pick up the root of a tree as if it were a stick. "Sad urban child" I thought :) Then I taught him something new about roots and sticks and got on with life.

But it highlighted a desire in my heart to see boys as future scouts, hunting frogs by the river, learning to respect and eventually fire a 22 at a potato at 30 yards, camping out on random hills, etc...

I didnt know God would lure us to Scotland with hopes for urban Edinburgh and land us in rural Alva to bless our socks off! And we couldn't have planned it this well.

Lately, we feel so far from our friends in LA. All our lives continue day-to-day. For many of us, our fellowship was only ever established by the constant contact. Over time this intimacy fades. I sometimes mourn the loss of relationships.

Then when I feel sad for myself and my family, I see this picture of boys in dirt and sand by the river Spey and God brings the memory of the tree root in LA. He speaks to me of my heart's desire in a moment when I wasn't particularly asking God to help me in any special way.

Now, I know there are rivers in CA that are not paved over. This scene could have come from somewhere pretty near LA. But isnt it cool that while God is using the willing, that He is willing to bless along the way! Its no big deal to God to stop in a moment and say "I saw you when you were under the fig tree" 'I care about what you care about'; 'I'm here'; 'This is all really happening'; 'I am with you'

I peeked at the end of the story and God wins. But there is also victory along the way!

Summer is Over

Heaven's Kitchen Holiday Club

We were fairly successful in reaching the children in the neighbourhood who we are most likely to see on Sundays and at kids clubs.

We scheduled it at the end of the summer this year and perhaps unfortunately saw alot less kids as a result.

The trade-off is that we will see those kids who did come next week in school.

Sadly we had to cancel this year's LCI trip to Scotland. Not enough people signed up and things weren't working out here on our side. We trust God with His timing and hope to see Him at work with us again over the next year.

On the horizon is a Sunday afternoon Bible study through the whole Bible in 4 weeks. David plans to cover the bible in four Sundays from 3-5pm. Please pray for the communication efforts so that people recognize that this is happening and for God to help them recognize the opportunity to gain a Bible overview. We are still calling it 'Through the Bible in a Day' even though its 8 hours over 4 Sundays. Go figure...

Later in August, we will have an induction service for the newly hired YMCA Youth Worker: Cheryl Robson. She is a strong Christian and views YMCA and a means to reach children with the gospel and serve them by helping them to reach their full potential in life.

School starts next week (18 August) so the Chaplaincy will resume as well at the Scripture Union meeting for teens. Both happen on Tuesdays (West Coast Americans pray on Mondays please :)

You can go to http://www.alvabaptist.org/ to hear our very first podcast!
(just OK sound quality first time out of the chutes)
We have begun recording sermons for podcasting.
You can find the RSS feed on http://alvabaptist.podbean.com/
We have also submitted the feed for ITunes and expect to hear back shortly.

Daniel starts 3rd grade! Josiah starts big-boy school for full days! (Yay 4 mom!) Aaron almost stands unaided, scuttles about in a walker, and says lots of words through a mouthful of teeth!

Pray for us (Liz and Dave) to get focused on each other as the last two or three years has really worn us down. We recognized recently that we have drifted maritally and due to the myriad of tasks and practical responsibilities. SO date nights are no longer expendable. (they never were, but we skimped :( Many of you, no doubt are solid, and we are happy for you; but we discovered that we were in need of remedial instruction in things we had once considered all figured out.

Because we lack close friends our age here in Alva, we decided to take ourselves to a Christian counselor once a week (which apparently doesn't count as a date either! j/k) It has been a really illuminating experience and we are growing after nearly 8 years of marriage in areas that just weren't thriving. Can anyone out there relate to this?

It is a dreadful feeling to sense something is wrong and perceive cracks in the foundation while life is still cranking away at full speed. There is fear and shame and worry that things will just fall apart. But God has been faithful to us and we want to encourage you all to let someone know if you need help. It all gets better in the open when we agree to approach it on God's terms.

As I mentioned we decided to see a trained counselor, who is a christian counselor that works with the principles in the Bible, not just a counselor who calls themselves a Christian and spouts godless myths and psychology. We are really seeing results and being set free in areas of blindness and deception about things we hadn't considered. I considered not mentioning this to missionary supporters, but we decided the honest testimony of God at work is important and our humility yeilds His glory.

Over all, the community continues to embrace us and we are growing as a family and the Gospel is preached in Alva. We are focusing more and more on the Lord and less on all that we'll do for Him. He wants the whole package in order and glorifying Him. Let Him do it. :)

Love,
Dave & Liz Fraser
44 (125) 976-0415
david@firstlove.org.uk
metrobabe1@hotmail.com