My first blog

I will try and play an equal role in our blogging effort. Maybe not exactly equal, but I will try to make at least 2/5ths of the blogs on our site be from me. This was all Amy's idea but I think it is a great one and I am excited that we will be able to keep our family and friends more intimately tied to our daily lives, thoughts, plans, etc.

I have been interested for about a year in learning more about other cultures and places in our world. I have considered that perhaps someday God will call us to serve in a foreign mission field. There are a number of unique things about us and our lifestyle preferences that prevent us from ruling such an thing out as a possibility. I really have no definite ideas of what or where it might be, if anywhere, and I will call it more of an interest than a sense of calling. As far as I can tell right now, we are called here to Martinsville, where we have both seen God at work and invitations to join him.

I introduce that topic to say that we have decided to start renting some videos from the library about different places and people groups. Last night we watched one on Kashmir and Nepal, and boy was it fascinating. The people are almost all Buddhists and/or Hindus, and there is practically no exposure to or influence from Christianity. Nepal, in particular, caught our eye. The country is beautiful and dynamic, but the lives of its people are dominated by monastic devotion to gods in a variety of inanimate objects. These beliefs are passed from generation to generation, and there appear to be few if any other options on the table.

Anyway, we aren't leaving tomorrow, but it sure seems like a place that God would want to send people. For now we will focus on what is right in front of us, while keeping open hearts and minds to what He might have in store down the road.