My Reflections on 2015

If you’ve been my friend for more than a year, you know my drill at the end of the year...

LOOKING BACK

This year Iearned to.. 

I can now use the remote controls.* Hand lettering on a chalkboard, and watercolor bleeds as a base to calligraphy. Wordswag. Shoot a handgun (on Tyler’s 22^nd)

(*don’t hold your breath for gaming)

Oh yes! I learned that my irritation at the sounds of other people’s eating noises is not uncommon. It’s called Misophonia. Others’ throat clearing, coffee sipping, chewing noises are sometimes unbearable. Like I can’t hear anything else and I want to leave the room. This article made me know I’m not alone in this struggle to live with (and try to hide) the irritation. http://www.wsj.com/articles/annoyed-by-loud-chewing-the-problem-is-you-1445277757

I grew most in…A Scripture verse, passage or book that was important to me was…

Ephesians 4:21-24 teaches us:

… when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Also Colossians 3:8-10 ESV

But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

2015 brought a lot of learning about spiritual strongholds and walking in freedom from them. So many dovetails into this topic and intentionally digging in research and reading. The cycle of Shame, Fear & Control. Listening to teaching from Restoring the Foundations. Essential Teaching, and Walking it Out (30 days of emails with links to short teaching that came after I bought the pack of essential teaching http://stores.rtfresources.org).

Another Scripture passage that meant a lot to me was… Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thess 5:16-18

Job 33:31-33 Pay attention, Job, and listen to me; be silent, and I will speak. If you have anything to say, answer me; speak up, for I want to vindicate you. But if not, then listen to me; be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.

The best book I read last year is… (What did you like about it?) I GIVE YOU AUTHORITY, Charles Kraft. I have thought a lot about how Christians tend to live accepting things that hold them down, or seem beaten down with various spiritual conflicts that they’ve come to accept as the norm rather than living victoriously or having a hope for change.

Memorable Song or Movie: After he had passed away, "Good to be Alive” was playing on the radio in my father-in-law's car the first time I got in to drive the car. It was as if he were sending a message from the grave.

The best word of advice or encouragement I can remember: “Think of eternity and live backwards from that.”

One of my best adventures was…  March: While Jim recovered from surgery I drove with the dog Jack up to SLO to stay with Tyler for the weekend that happened to be St. Fratrick’s Day disaster (early in the morning, a frat house roof caved in and kids who’d been standing on it were hospitalized). August: Taking Cameron to Liberty Univeristy and getting him set up in the dorms, and then driving to Ft. Benning with my brother Kevin to see Tyler in his new home there. The first time since college days that Kevin and I had a long stretch of time to talk with one another. This happened again in October when he was in LA for business, we had dinner together. It was nice to relax and enjoy uninterrupted time after all these years.

I saw/knew God was doing something when… February: Howard fell and went to the hospital (the beginning of the end) a day or two after Jim was off his Rx pain meds and could drive after knee replacement. The women at the River invited me to their retreat and the praying they did before, and the supportive community that deveopled after that (thanks Lyn Woodruff for including me!) November: Inviting Stefan Dyer to come from Mississippi to have Thanksgiving week with us. Being able to encourage him after having had to drop out of school, and his good friend dying in a car accident, and being too thin to enlist in the military, and being homeless.

July: I had a chance to go to Chiang Mai Thailand for an Arts in Mission conference, and an extra week in Singapore beign a gyspy and visiting many people I loved and sharing some about the book I’ve been writing. Was able to change my flight from Thailand to get an extra day in Singapore (not without great effort! “No way, but not ABSOLUTELY no way.”). Prayerfully asking God about our return to Asia and the potential of living in Chiang Mai, and everytime I thought about it, it was distasteful to me…even to think about it. I just kept thinking, “I’m DONE with living in Asia.”

A real gift from God was… being invited to share feedback on the February Missions Conference at our church, and that led to working on the Conference for 2016. Getting to know the others on the team, and seeing if I can help build stronger bridges with our sent missionaries has been a real answer to prayer.

Something I really enjoyed doing more of was… taking long walks with the dog exploring local beaches and parks. Playing the guitar, even taking lessons. Calligraphy and embroidery.

I was really brave when…  I volunteered to help out at Drama [CHAOS] Camp at church. Way too many kids/teachers ratio! I stayed behind while Jim went to Vietnam and Thailand, I was going to help Jim’s mom “sign the papers” for a retirement community. That didn’t happen.

My thoughts/prayers often turned to... Gratitude. Being mystified that we have it so easy compared to others who suffer. Syrian Refugees and their need for home, their openness to the Gospel, and the relief workers who share with them. My longing to DO something. My mother-in-law…as her husband was dying and then later as she had to grapple with life as a widow again (and Jim as he tried to support her in it). How do we love and support her and show her honor when I don’t like how she’s acting and what she’s saying? A new friend, from a Bible Study, as she wrestled with how to parent her teenaged adopted daughter. She had started disappearing – running off, and getting involved in dangerous activity.

I’m still trying to learn what God wants to teach me through this hard experience...But I think perhaps, it’s: My strong emotions NOT coming the day before at the Army commissioning (which would have been appropriate), but after. After living overseas and never being able to be the host events when my family is together, I was SO excited to have that opportunity this year. There were two chances in a row: Cameron’s grad in May, and then Tyler’s in June. In both cases, my family would change the plans I had made. I had an emotional  "melt down" at the end of the day at Tyler's graduation. The following week I snapped at my dad, and realized that I have a lot of resentment I need to work out with the Lord and figure out how to roll with or confront my family in the future.

One of the happiest memories I’d like to freeze in my mind was looking across the lawn at Cameron after his High School graduation. It has been a long road of love, hopefulness, cheerleading, anxiety and frustration, coaxing, near despair, heaps of money, and tough love that led to this day. Cameron had only attended The King’s Academy for his Senior year and yet, it seemed he was dear to everyone in this community. He cared about others and they cared about him. He even had one friend from his previous Military school who drove 15 hours to come surprise him that day. As I watched him make his rounds of hugs in his cap and gown, I sensed the Lord say, “He’s going to be okay, this kid. No matter what, he’ll always be surrounded by friends because he is a good person.”

Other happy moments: December: Suprising Cameron on his flight back from Liberty U at Christmas. Would he make the connecting flight in Atlanta where his grandparents and I were waiting on to surprise him?? Then, the very next day, Tyler surprised us by coming 4 days early for his visit turning 3 ½ days with us to a full week! Jim had said, “I’m running some errands that are Christmas surprises.” And came back with Tyler. The campfire we four had at White Point Nature Reserve, San Pedro. Alone for hours on a beach in Los Angeles, California. Oh, yes, and spending hours making a crazy dinoaur banner for Tyler at his graduation.

Something I’m looking forward to in this New Year… Finishing Put Off/Put On and publishing it somehow. Whether through am established publisher, officially or self-published, I want to finish it so I can start on another! I also want to start putting together ways to communicate the content, in a talk…in a seminar…with devised theatre…

NOTE: HOW Reflections GOT STARTED: A number of years ago, with 5 young and beautiful Singaporean theatre friends, I started these reflections and Post it note Resolutions. A year ago last January I had the privilege of sharing the exercise with my "Seasoned Sisters;" friends in California. Last year we set up this facebook event. This year we started discussing the reflections in our home group (we're attending a new church plant Redemption Hill Church) Joelle Chiow drew her highlight. It's featured here!

It's really rewarding to reflect and look over the past years and see what's been accomplished, then look ahead with a sense of expectation.

Putting Down Some Roots

Friendship Park, San Pedro. Taken September 30, 2015

I’ve never been very good with plants. Jim used to tease me when after 2 weeks, a houseplant I’d purchased was brown and wilted. If we wanted to have plants in our home, we’d have to make it part of the monthly budget. I’ve always been a plant killer.

However, three moves and three countries ago, I developed a longing for a garden. 

I was more like a compulsion. 

I wanted to be a part of the process of seeing fruit come from plants that had grown from seeds or seedlings I had planted. And for some reason, the plants I started in my styrofoam grocer boxes flourished. I passed my year old Malaysian garden on to a homeschooling family I had met there when we moved. They were thrilled, I felt like I was giving a child up for adoption.

They are just plants. Weird. I would ask the Lord why my heart had this new love that followed me to the the USA one year ago when we came back for a year’s Sabbatical. Doesn’t the putting around in a garden distract me from the work of ministry? Spending time with people? Writing an encouraging note? Preparing a Bible Study? What’s with this hunger to put my hands in dirt and see things grow? I took some birthday money and bought pots for our San Pedro balcony and started another garden, thrilled that in this small space I had 27 varieties of seasonal plants.

Deep down, I knew what was behind it. And even as I write I know, but I am reluctant to tell. 

I want to put some roots down. After 11 moves in 4 countries, in 18 years. I dream of sitting under a mature tree that I’ve seen grow. Perhaps part of it is that I’m starting to have a subtle symbolic reaction to pulling up roots from the hard fought depth of relationships we had cultivated there. Perhaps it’s that I’m coming out of denial about what it means to be an empty nester, my role of cultivating those little seedling boys of ours is over and they are off somewhere else becoming mighty oaks.

So. Here we are. Exactly 12 months into a one year Sabbatical and I feel like we’ve only just started here. Coming alongside aging parents who have suffered a lot of loneliness because we made a choice 18 years ago to move to Asia. Coming alongside women who need encouragement as they step into ministry roles, or are disempowered by the glass ceiling for strong women in evangelical churches. Coming alongside a couple of at-risk teenagers who need an auntie mentor. Coming alongside a team at our sending church who is planning next years Missions Conference. For years I’ve had a blog about Blooming Where I’m Planted. This year has been no exception. 

I suppose we have to be making plans to move on. While both Jim and I now sense God has confirmed we need to be in the USA for a season, primarily for our parents’, Jim still feels strongly about continuing his investment in the Christian leaders in Asia. 

I could go anywhere. 

But I’d prefer it to be where I could put down some roots.

Do you sometimes feel like a googoots?*

Like Tweet Forward Which kind of Legacy Will Be Y/ours? *Googoots = Slang. Literally, in italian, a big squash. Used as slang it means "a useless person." In other words, all that person is good for is to sit there like a big squash and get bigger. "Jank" is another new slang word meaning the same thing: fruitless & useless. In the great chapter on the heroes of the faith, the writer of Hebrews wraps up the long list by telling about two different kinds of earthly legacies: those who conquered, and saw the rewards of their faith, and, not unlike current Christians from Syria or Egypt or Oregon, those heroes who sadly went to their graves after suffering and hardship, not knowing the impact of their witness and service.  And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about …. the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again.  There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. Hebrews 11:32-40 It was the late summer of 1999. Our family was in the final months of our two years’ language and culture study in Mainland China. We did this before our move to Singapore for long-term missionary service. During those two years our home was in Kunming, the capital city of the Yunnan Province of Southwestern China. You may not know of Kunming…or the Yunnan Province for that matter. The size of China’s population is hard to wrap your mind around. When we lived there, the population of this Province was more people than the entire country of Australia. The size of our city Kunming was over 3 million people (by comparison, the city of Los Angeles was larger, at 3.7 million people). Before we finished our time in China, we wanted to take a trip to the village of the sweet older teenager who had been the babysitter for our boys while we had been in language school. Shiao Yan was a Christian young woman from the Yi Minority Group. She had come to the big city from a Christian family in a remote village.  Getting there was an adventure. A large bus from the capital took us a few hours away to a smaller town Luquan. The next morning, we got into a smaller touring size bus and rode for hours with more than a dozen people and a few chickens. The roads went from bumpy but still paved, to only dirt. Somewhere along those roads we changed to a smaller vehicle; a crowded minivan. Thirty-five hours into the trip, the minivan stopped, and we got out of it. There was nothing but nature as far as we could see. We walked a dirt trail 40 minutes to Shiao Yan’s family village of less than a dozen wooden homes. She told us that every one of the people in her village were Christians, with the exception of her father, who was the village representative for the Communist Party. Her family members were all delightful and hospitable. From our broken Mandarin to their native Yi, Shiao Yan shyly translated for us, "She has been such blessing these two years that we’ve lived here in China." They didn't have many visitors coming through this remote place. They wanted to make sure we were comfortable. No visitor comes out this far unless it’s for the census or tax-collector. This long weekend, they killed a chicken and fried a few varieties of vegetables like corn, and sweet potatoes...and sweet potato leaves. Normally all they ate were potatoes with chili paste.  In the late afternoon, Shiao Yan produced a can of RAID that she’d purchased back in the city. She sprayed our wooden bed palate before covering it over with some scratchy woolen blankets. Then she went down underneath the room to spray the ceiling…of the animal pen. She explained why: She didn’t want us to be bitten by the fleas. I won’t use words to describe the outhouse. There are no words for that! The women’s colorful Yi costumes stood out against the plain earthen floors, and natural surroundings. The men wore white shirts and black pants synched up with a belt because the waistline was too big. The older men wore raggedy blue "Mao suits," simple pants and shirts. Until only a decade ago when China began to reform and open up to the outside world, this is what everyone wore during the Communist revolution in the late 40’s. On our second night there we went to another nearby village. It took more than an hour to walk the trail across the hills. It was the only way to get there. In this village, there were many more homes. There was a well for drawing clean water. And most memorable to us, there was a church. After a tour of the town and another meal, the mayor rang a bell outside the wooden structure as the sun disappeared over the mountains. The mayor, we discovered was also the town pastor. It was a call to worship. It didn’t take very long before the place was packed, dimly lit inside by only two light bulbs hanging from cords in the ceiling. Their energetic worship lifted the rafters. The singing went on for longer than we are used to, but none of us, even our two year old, got tired of it. We were asked to speak. Jim and I each shared a short greeting; a blessing and our thanksgiving for being able to meet them. “Even though our cultures and nationalities make us so foreign to one another, we are family because of Christ.”  They were all clearly joyful and hopeful; even though they were all desperately poor subsistence farmers. As the service wrapped up, I thought I had experienced one of the most moving experiences of my life as a follower of Jesus. However, what followed the worship service, was even more profound.  Sixteen years later, it's still surreal. We gathered in a common room of the pastor/mayor’s home (just like the one in the photo here), jostling for how to fit everyone in on small wooden stools. We had some gifts to give them. They had some simple gifts, and some words for us. This is what we understood the pastor told us as he kneeled before us earnestly trying to be understood: We have wanted to meet a white person for a long, long time. We are so thankful to you. Once 8 years ago, when our school was finally finished, we heard that a white person was going to come to help us dedicate the school. The children prepared dances and songs for weeks. On the day of the dedication, they lined the road and stood for hours, waiting. But the white guest of honor never came. Now, here you are! Without any notice at all, you showed up and surprised us! We are so grateful to you! Jim and I looked at each other, stunned. We’d done nothing but come to this place out of curiosity. We were the ones who were thankful that Shiao Yan for being willing to take us to where she was from. This honor from the pastor felt awkward and stunned us. You see, before the revolution, we had [the name he said we didn’t know] come here to tell us about the love of Jesus, and his Father in Heaven. We all had lived in poverty and fear of evil spirits, but [whoever he was] introduced us to the Way, the Truth, and the Life, through Jesus. Now we had Savior who gave us hope and joy! We are all so thankful to [him, whoever he was]. He was killed and is buried nearby in [this place and time we couldn’t understand either], and we all honor his sacrifice for us to come to know God. You are the first white people to come to us since then. You are the first white people we are able to thank for sending [this mystery Saint]. He finished by saying,  Thank you for being missionaries in this generation. Thank you for being people who are willing to come all the way out here to bring us the Good News! Friends, I ask you to look again at Hebrews 11:38-39 “…the world was not worthy of them…. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised,” Had this [missionary] come to them some time before the Civil War of the 1920's, or the Japanse invasion of the 1930's, or the late 40's during the Communist Revolution? Had he ever known the spiritual fruit that would come from his difficult and life ending labor? Had he, before his death, seen the beginnings of his legacy in these hill tribes? Or had he gone to his grave feeling like he had not accomplished for the Lord what he had originally left his homeland hoping he would do? Later that night back in Shiao Yan’s village I heard singing. I walked out away from the dimly lit wooden house to listen. Across the completely dark valley I could faintly hear a group of people singing old hymns that I had known as a child growing up in a Baptist Church. I’d long ago forgotten words, but the tunes were familiar. There in the remote mountain ranges of this communist country, the hearts of an entire people group had been won for Christ, and I had been undeservedly thanked for it. *Wikipedia's page on OMF (China Inland Mission) reports that by 1939, 200,000 Chinese and Minority people had been baptised by CIM workers. Our Season in China seems a lifetime ago. My boys are grown. They probably don’t remember that trip, let alone, that night in the pastor's home. Even our service in Singapore which wrapped up nicely last year, seems longer than that. We are back this year looking to Jesus for what is next because we’ve passed our ministry of mentoring on to a group of Singaporean pastors. They are now continuing the ministry that we’d gone to start.  What we did in Singapore (and China those first two years) for the sake of the Gospel and the advancement of the Kingdom of Christ was dedicated, and intentional, creative, faithful…and quite honestly...I sometimes feel like it was pretty unremarkable. In January this year, I was reading the Hebrews heros passage above. I decided I liked verse 35 the best: Women received back their dead, “Now,” I whispered to the Lord in confidence that anything is possible, “THAT is something I’d like to see happen on this sabbatical!” Though I believe this could happen, the reality for me is, compared to that [unknown missionary] who we’d been proxy to receive thanks for so many years ago, I sometimes feel like a "googoots." Coming back to the USA, I also am tempted to compare my accomplishments to other Americans in Christian Ministries. There seems no end of celebrities in American culture who are pastoring mega-churches, or writing best-selling books, making major motion pictures, appearing on talk shows, or invited to speak for congress, or retreats, or chapel in Christian universities where they are awarded some Outstanding Alumni award... Nope. I’m gonna stop this comparing right now! Let’s read some more from that Hebrews passage as it flows from the end of chapter eleven into chapter twelve: Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. I may be in a season of transition, waiting on the Lord for his marching orders of where he wants us for the next lap in a life of serving Him. You might be in a season of transition, or what feels like fruitlessness or failure. But let’s not lose heart. Let us remain steadfast in listening for the voice of our Good Shepherd to continue to lead us to the legacy he has destined for us.  In this brief life on earth, let us keep following and serving, and refuse to compare. Just stay faithful. In the end, you will get recognition from who matters! Remember the parable Jesus told in Matthew 25? When we begin eternal life--a life of joy and fulfillment--the first words we’ll hear Jesus say to us face to face is, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord." That mystery Missionary to China has been enjoying that joy for 65+ years now. He has only begun his forever and ever joy in the presence of the Lord. I’ll bet he doesn’t have any regrets looking back at the faithful tough life he spent with the Yi people in those mountains of China. So how do we keep from losing heart?  Whether we are saints of old, the modern martyrs, or the average Christ follower who sometimes just feels googoots: For the joy set before us, let's stop comparing. Let's leave our "legacy" up to Jesus, and simply keep our eyes on him and follow as he leads! With so much gratitude, Jim & Kimberly Creasman On sabbatical in San Pedro, CA.  Well, actually Jim is in Thailand and Vietnam. He left last Sunday and will be gone until the end of the month. Lord, thank you for Jim's opportunity to be with missionaries to Vietnam, and some of his mentors who are meeting to share vision, ideas, and strategies. We expect you to illuminate our way to the future by the people he meets, the time he'll have alone, and as he meets with the mentoring groups in Saigon that he's not seen for a year now. Thank you for the joy it is to dig in where you've planted us this year. Thank you for the opportunities to serve here. Thank you for the chance to be with family in transition too. Thank you for your presence, your faithfulness, your peace! You have a lot of choices where to invest your charitable giving, and we are honored and humbled when it's to partner with us through Church Resource Ministries. staff.crmleaders.org/creasman 1240 Lakeview Ave, Ste. 120, Anaheim, CA 92807 USA. You may sign up for EFT, or designate by adding: "preferenced for Creasman-acct 5651" "For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (The Bible, New Testament. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 10)

_

__,_._,___

How We Approach Mentoring

JIM: Seeking Ministry Colleagues For these past 18 years, we have been learning about the Christian leadership context in Asia and relationally empowering pastors. We began in Singapore and then reached out to several nearby countries. While in a transitional sabbatical year to discern what is next for us in ministry, I am still passionate about serving Christian leaders in Asia, where the resources and support and role models are scarce. We see a great need and the Lord has given us many open doors, especially in Vietnam and China.  Some of the distinct characteristics of how we approach mentoring: Personal - it is built on relationships more than curricula, so we meet in small groups and individually many times over a period of years. As the relationships grow, the trust and personal support grows with increased understanding of the leader's gifts, personality, challenges, and dreams. We go deeper with fewer, and encourage the leaders we mentor to reproduce their lives by investing in others. Pastoral - it is focused on spiritual and character growth more than on skill development. When we are together, there is a lot of group Bible study and reflection and discussion that is attentive to what the Holy Spirit is pointing out in a leader's life for change and direction. We focus on who the Lord is shaping us to be, where he is leading us, and what he is calling us to accomplish for his kingdom. Practical - mentoring starts in the context of where the leader is serving, and is put into practice within the leader's relationships and ministry. The starting point is where God has put us and what he wants to teach us, and the end point is applying what we are learning where we are at. We are not finished until the learning is put into practice. Being the pioneer and the leader - and usually the only Westerner in the room - has been fulfilling. But is also tiring and sometimes lonely.  While my greatest desire has been for reproduction and I have seen that in many, many Asian leaders, I also recognize the need for more colleagues around me to keep going strong. To go the next lap in a healthy and effective way, I am looking for others who share the same values and vision and who want to work together. Here is a link to a fuller description of my ideal for an apostolic mentoring team. Would you please pray with us over the coming months that the Lord would lead us to close ministry partners? If you have input regarding this search, please let us know! Father, thank you for Jim’s fruitful service over the past 18 years and for the many leaders, ministries and lives that have been touched as a result. Now please lead Jim to others who share his passion and perspective for developing Asian leaders. Give him colleagues that will sharpen each other and complement each other and lead to greater multiplication across Asia in the coming decade, in Jesus’ name. Helping people understand who Jesus is... Have you heard of the Alpha Course? We will be part of a team who is hosting tables for this 10 week investigation of what it means to follow Jesus Christ. A course from the UK, it has had a huge impact in Singapore. For years we have known those who have led groups or have begun to have faith in Jesus while attending this course. We are excited to help out in this initial run with The River Church (where quite a few of our supporters attend). If you have friends in the South Bay who are curious and might consider investigating the Christian faith invite them! Social: Open for invitations We're making good use of a grill and had quite a few guests to our condo over the summer! We've also had some sweet times with other RHCC missionaries who were traveling through So Cal during the summer. As we move into fall season, let's plan some time to get together! Thank you friends for your prayers, financial support, and personal encouragement through this season of transition! We continue to be so thankful for the timing of our year back in the US - caring for parents, supporting our children, and treasuring the all too few opportunities we have to catch up with longtime friends. In this sabbatical for discerning God's direction for our future ministry, we continue to feel his peace and provision. Jim & Kimberly Lord, thank you that you continue to give us everything we need - financially and relationally. We look to you for clear guidance for our next chapter in ministry. Renew our vision and passion, that our next chapter wil be tremendously fruitful in serving you! You have a lot of choices where to invest your charitable giving, and we are honored and humbled when it's to partner with us through Church Resource Ministries. staff.crmleaders.org/creasman 1240 Lakeview Ave, Ste. 120, Anaheim, CA 92807 USA. You may designate by adding: "preferenced for Creasman-acct 5651" Our US Address: 1418 Brett Place #124, San Pedro, CA 90732 Jim (310) 698-2588, Kimberly (310) 658-1500. The Boys: 3 Time Zones Away in Virginia & Georgia Last month, we had a simple launch party for Cameron in Orange County. Some of the men he looks up to shared advice, affirmed and prayed for him. He's ready for this next big step. The boys are now settled at Liberty University VA (Cameron/Business Major), and at Ft. Benning GA (Tyler/2nd Lt Army Leadership Training). We find that being in the US this year gives us closer connection with them. Even if it's not a lot of face to face time, text messages come more friequently when we're only 3 time zones away. JIM The Battle for Investment Survival, G.M. Loeb Judges The boys had a great time with Jim in Colorado in July. And Tyler flew from Georgia to spend Labor Day weekend with us! Our prayer for them is a growing hunger for God and finding good friends and role models with godly values and lifestyles. KIMBERLY Praying God’s Word: Breaking Free From Spiritual Strongholds, Beth Moore