Morris Mission

Pastor JP leads the May 18 gathering in prayer!

What do you think of, when you think of living a life “worthy of the gospel”? Great sacrifice? Great things? Doing stuff, right? Alone?

At our elders and staff retreat this February, we read through Philippians together and chapter 1, verse 27, hit me right between the eyes.

 

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel…

That verse was a great gift to us! Especially during this season, as we raise up partners – inviting people to make the ministry in Costa Rica their ministry.

Roger Lee welcomes people

You see, living a life worthy of the gospel isn’t about going it alone. It’s about standing firm, together! Striving side by side.

This Sunday we saw that truth lived out at the home of Roger and Caroline Lee. Almost 100 people from our church gathered to share a delicious meal and hear more about our calling and ministry opportunities in Costa Rica.

Madeleine joins the sharing!

We are so excited to see what God will be pleased to do through our family and our church family. We pray for gospel impact in Washington, DC, San Jose, and beyond! We pray for men and women today who will strive side by side for the faith of the gospel. And we trust that God will raise up the next generation – even the generations yet unborn – to proclaim His truth to the nations.

Justin Prosser makes a passionate plea for partnership!

Interested in joining our team of partners? Click across to our partner page.

Check out more photos of the event here.

Flyer everyone received at Ambassador today!

This Sunday, our church was invited to join us on May 18 to learn more about our calling to missions and our plans for ministry in Costa Rica. It is the first “public” opportunity where we will invite folks to partner with us in prayer and financially.

If you’re in the DC area on May 18, we’d love to have you join us! You can RSVP at this link.

Not in DC? We’re planning future events and would love to chat with you at any time about partnering with us! You can find out more on our partners page or email us for more info.

We LOVE birthdays in our home. I mean really. love. birthdays.  We love birthdays so much we celebrate half birthdays!   It’s such a wonderful time to celebrate our gratitude that God has placed us together in a family.  Today we get to celebrate our sweet girl, Madeleine.

Us about an hour or so after Madeleine was born.

So today we’ll decorate our house, enjoy a day filled with activities that Madeleine finds super fun, she’s selected all of her meals as only a two-year old can (e.g. apples for breakfast!).  We’ll rejoice over her, and more importantly, we’ll rejoice over the God that entrusted Madeleine to our family. We’ll pray for her, as we do everyday, that she will know His goodness. We’ll pray that we will love her well, that we will love her with a love that points her to the God who loves unconditionally and is sufficient to meet her every need.

M receiving some brotherly love

In the lead up to Easter this year, I’ve been reflecting on the life and ministry of my Great Uncle, Leon Morris.

Having coffee with Leon in Melbourne in 2002. I took Melanie (my fiancee at the time) to meet him and Mildred. He signed a copy of his book, “The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross,” for the pastors who married us (you can see the book on the table).

In February, when I preached as part of our Missions Month at Ambassador, and shared our call to missions (generally) and Costa Rica (specifically), I spoke about Leon. I shared about his influence on my early Christian walk and how his faithfulness inspired me when he was on the threshold of going home.

March 15, 2014 would have been his 100^th birthday. Ridley College in Melbourne (where he taught for 30 years) has been posting some occasional posts celebrating Leon’s centenary. The first post by current Ridley principal, Rev Dr Brian Rosner is great and I eagerly await each new post in the series.

In the weeks to come, I plan to write more about “Uncle Leon” and the precious friendship God blessed me with. But today, on Easter Sunday, I am drawn to the verse from Luke that is the title of this blog post.

From my mid-teens, I made a regular practice of listening to sermons on tape (for my younger readers, Google “cassette” if you’re confused what I’m talking about!) Leon’s sermons were some of my favorites and I remember one Easter Sunday sermon in particular.

Luke 24 was Leon’s text and he preached it with his usual care and precision. But what stood out to me from the first time I heard it (and to this very day) is the way Leon dramatically said the words of the angels.

No one would have called Leon bombastic but when he delivered those words – “why are you looking for the living among the dead?!?” – he communicated a striking mix of incredulity and joy. I felt like I was hearing the angels’ words as they would have been received by the women staring at the empty tomb.

Those words were truly new life dawning in the hearts of those women. They heard the explanation and then the angels told them the gospel – the good news of Easter Sunday. “He told you – the Son of Man had to be crucified by sinful men. But he would rise on the third day!”

The despair and dejection of those Jesus followers must have turned to joy so quickly! And in Leon’s words, on that cassette tape, I heard the introduction to joy. “Why are you looking for the living among the dead!”

In the years to come, I have often exclaimed – at random moments – to my parents, to Melanie, to my kids, summoning my best Uncle Leon impersonation, “why are you looking for the living among the dead!” Every time I remember those words, I rejoice in our risen Saviour, and remember the faithful ministry of His servant, Leon Morris.

A big highlight of 2014 so far has been our church’s commitment to Bible memory. We use the Fighter and Foundation Verses – a great Bible memory program developed by Children Desiring God (We use the Fighter Verse app for that, best $2.99 you’ll ever spend…I think!)

That commitment from our church family has been even sweeter because of how Sam has embraced Bible memory. The Foundation Verses are focused on toddler and pre-k kids. It is now part of Sam’s daily routine. He wants to see the verse at bed time, he wants to teach his sister the verse at the breakfast table, and we use the verses as we work to direct this energetic pre schooler into godly choices.

Sam is such a sponge that by about Wednesday he says “It’s not the same weeeeek!” Meaning, I’m done with this verse, please show me the next one (the please may be implied!)

In our Family Worship Service at Ambassador last Sunday, Sam recited one of our “Foundation Verses” Psalm 121:1-2:

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?

My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

It’s been a special verse to me since I first came to the United States in 1994!

When we toured ILE (the Spanish Language Institute where we’ll all study for our first year in San Jose) I spotted the sign pictured above (Psalm 121:1-2 in Spanish). I trust that God will continue to work that Psalm into our lives and remind us that He is the source of our help, He does not sleep, He is our shade, He will keep our lives.  

View from ILE to the mountains

Melanie, “lifting up her eyes,” as we tour the ILE campus.

Even though we’ve got more snow in DC today, it was a beautiful day on Saturday. Melanie and Sam went for donuts and hot chocolate so I took Maddy for cupcakes.

It was one of those “life is moving too quick” afternoons. We sat down to eat our cupcake and a Mom was there with her high school daughter, doing college visits.

We then went to Dupont Circle to enjoy the weather. We had scarcely sat down when a brass quartet led a wedding party across the circle (for those who don’t live in DC, that’s kinda how Dupont Circle rolls!)

As I watched my beautiful almost-2-year-old daughter enjoy the sunshine, it brought to mind the lyrics from Andrew Peterson’s great song “Day by Day:”

everybody’s so surprised
When right before your very eyes
Your baby’s in the second grade
You blink and it’s her wedding day

This photo sums up that excitement – she’s grown up and beautiful! And the fear – I don’t want her to grow up! I don’t want to blink and it’s her wedding day!

But the song has wisdom for all those who hope in Christ. It challenges us with the truth that we are “children of eternity, on the run from entropy.” Here’s the chorus:

So don’t lose heart
Though your body’s wasting away
Your soul is not
It’s being remade
So don’t lose heart
Don’t lose heart
Your body will rise and never decay
Day by day by day

The whole things worth a listen/watch here:

Pancakes have ALWAYS been a part of our family.

From the moment I wooed Melanie with pancakes almost 13 years ago, pancakes have been a staple of slow mornings and late night snacks in the Morris household!

Sam and Madeleine have both embraced this part of being in the Morris family. They both love making pancakes with Daddy: mixing ingredients, innovating with new additions, pouring the batter, flipping the pancakes, and *especially* eating them.    

Four days before “spring,” DC endured another snow fall (7 inches when it was all said and done) and we’re now bracing for another snow storm next week! The government closed on Monday, so I was home  – Sammy excitedly comes downstairs ready for a “special day” with pancakes for breakfast.

As you can see, we made some special pancakes – chocolate chip and strawberry (but with white whole wheat flour to keep Mama happy!) with a shamrock by Mommy to celebrate St Patrick’s Day!

The kids enjoyed their green milk too!

Pancakes are excellent energy food for playing in the snow!!!        

Over the past six weeks, we’ve been really struck by this Spurgeon quote:

Prayer makes our blessings more precious than diamonds.

It’s been a long journey from sensing the call to missions, to a clear sense of call to Latin America, to feeling confirmed about agency and location.

Now as we embark on partnership development to prepare to serve in San Jose one of my most precious prayer cards is this one:

This image will likely be the subject of many future posts but for now I’ll just say, God’s work over the last several years (and past two in particular) has been a true and precious blessing.

The fact that we asked for it, pleaded for it, labored in prayer alongside so many others, that makes God’s blessings more precious than diamonds…

In February, Peter preached a sermon as part of our church’s mission month. The passage was Isaiah 6:8, and the theme was “Send Us!”

Feel free to watch it to hear more about who we are and why we are saying “Send Us!”

If you’d rather read Peter’s manuscript, you can download it here.