2010 Year in review!

First, let me just wish you all a merry Christmas and happy New Year! As we celebrate a season of precious gifts and new beginnings let us focus on the MOST precious gift (our Lord Jesus) and THE new beginning He has created for us... praise God for His work, His life and His mission that we get to be a part of.

2010 was quite a year!

It is hard to believe that we spent 96 days on the road this last year between ministry and school... it might explain how tired we feel. But, God gave us so many incredible experiences and introduced us to so many amazing people - we truly have much to be thankful for.

After getting back into a good rhythm last January (including starting back into Seminary) we began our preparation for our Feb trip back to Northern India with Berean Way. Our Trip to the North was one of the most difficult trips we have done... the spiritual warfare was very intense and we were working in a part of India that even Indian Christians do not like to go to. As one of the local Indian pastors explained, "when I was in South India I saw myself as standing at the gates of hell, breaking down the doors, running in and rescuing the lost and hurting... now that I live in North India I see myself as having moved into hell, grabbing as many as I can and pushing them out the gates." But, God is moving mightily through the hands of His courageous followers there... it is truly inspiring walking with these men and women. Thank you Lord for these servants... keep them Lord I pray.

While in India I received a troubling call from my wife telling me that our house was on fire! Needless to say it made for a dramatic end to our trip. I made it back home and found that a shorted wire had burned out our front room BUT Brit and the kids were fine and that was all that mattered. Through the process God blessed us with a completely renovated wonderful home (through the hands of Jeff and Brian atCornerstone Construction - thanks guys). God continues to direct our steps leading us toward His purposes and not allowing anything more than we can handle ALL the while turning darkness into light... He is good at that. Praise You Lord for all that You are to us.

Through March and April we bounced from place to place as our home was being rebuilt while managing a trip up to Canada and our first annual Berean Way auction to raise funds for barefoot pastors (which went amazingly). In May I had the amazing opportunity to be a part of a three week intensive seminary class in Israel. With the help of a very special donor, a scholarship and approval from my family and boss I was able to go and spend three weeks walking where Jesus walked... lifting the stories of the scriptures off the pages. Thank you Lord for being more than just a theological idea but for being an actual person who was born and walked just like us... only perfectly.

After returning from Israel it was only one brief month later (which included teaching at a great Jr. High retreat for RHCC) that we were in Langkawi, Malaysia. Every four years CRM holds a staff wide mandatory World Wide Conference for all of us to get equipped, back on the same page and be an encouragement to one another. This year Britany and I were able to go together with a lot of help from the grand parents! As well as having an amazing experience with friends (especially those from Scotland) we were able to have a time of deep growth as a couple. On our way back from Malaysia we were able to stop in Taiwan to spend time with some dear friends of ours who are living there now working for Nike. It was great to spend some time in a new culture while having a bit of an adventure. Lord we are thankful for your provisions of family and friends!

After sliding in a bit of camping and family time it was time to prepare for the Fall and my trips to Canada, Nepal and Scotland. Canada was a fantastic whirlwind... a great chance for me to teach at a college retreat for Lethbridge E-Free and hang out with the next generation of world changers. It always feels good to be home! Now off to Nepal...

As I mentioned in previous updates, Nepal is a very different experience than India and yet shares so many similarities. Undoubtedly, Nepal is staggeringly beautiful... mountains, rivers and an amazingly diverse set of cultures make it a remarkable little country. Yet, it struggles with immense poverty and social/political ills that make it a desperate place of daily survival for most of its non-tourist inhabitants. Here, hidden amidst the great mountains and miseries, lies a tiny (less than 2%), young (both historically and demographically), fully alive faith filled Church. It does not take long in Nepal to see that God is moving amidst the Himalayas! We held 2 conferences over the course of a week with around 400 attendees total. We also spent time interacting with and praying for different churches and ministries in and around the Kathmandu area... it was an amazing time! Now off to Scotland...

My Trip to Scotland was amazing (it snowed almost every day!) and in many ways it was the perfect end to an incredible year. I returned to Glasgow to work with the team there doing team building and leadership training. While there I met with them as a group several times and one on one with most. The tool I was using with the staff helped ask important questions about who they are and who they are becoming... which is something pretty special. I am so proud of this team. They have worked hard to become what God wants them to be and this has taken grit, determination and a wholehearted commitment to Jesus. When others have quit they steadied themselves. When some have questioned their vision they looked to God, His Word and kept on. Their commitment to Glasgow is a challenge and encouragement to me and I pray it will move us - you and me - to reexamining what God has called us to DO... really, WHO God has called us to BE, WHERE He has placed us. Lead us Father on that we might be able to faithfully say with all of Your saints, "any time, any place at any cost."

As we launch into another new year would you join me in making this your daily prayer...

Lord lead us and make us,
mold us and break us
that through each day Your Spirit might take us

and create in us hearts and lives that all know
any time,
any place,
at any cost
we will go

and then in Your hour
when You come Lord in power

You will see just Your Son
and all He has done

and we will find there our place
as we look on His face.

Thank you for your faithfulness to this call financially, prayerfully and passionately... this does not happen without your faith-filled support.

grace and peace friends,
the McDonald clan

Israel Update

It is amazing how life just seems to move along. One moment I am thinking about how incredible the experience of going and studying for three weeks in Israel will be and the next I am trying to recall all the incredible things that happened almost a month ago! With so much going on this summer I decided it was time, finally, to sit down and write my update on Israel to let all of you (our friends, family and supporters) see a little picture of my time there.

As most of you know, I have as a part of this next season begun to slowly work away at a Masters degree. In light of all the teaching opportunities God has and is providing I have felt a strong conviction to become better equipped in bible, theology and practice. This fall an amazing opportunity presented itself in the form of a three week intensive class in Israel. With the help of a very special donor, a scholarship and approval from my family and boss I was able to make this amazing opportunity a reality. One of the goals of the geo-historical bible class was to help lift the stories from the scriptures "off the page"... and that is exactly what it did!

Standing where Jesus would have taught in the synagogue at Capernaum

In the field with my Bible, textbook and map... three key tools for the class

Dr. Wright in the "other" classroom!

Dorm life... living with nine other guys

To say the experience was incredible does not do it justice. It was profound, overwhelming, beautiful, challenging, tiring, motivating, formative, interesting, encouraging and expanding... just to mention a few descriptors. Part of the reason it was all these things is because it was SO busy. Imagine doing a three week country wide tour while taking a credited course (with exams and papers) all the while jet lagging and dealing with culture shock... and that is what we did!

Standing on Mt. Carmel where Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal

Our boat ride on the sea of Galilee was amazing!

We were able to spend time on the ancient Tel of Jericho... couldn't find the walls though

Siege "machine" used by the Romans on the fortress of Masada (in the background)

Ancient desert fathers retreat... now the home to goats!

Probably my single biggest take away was seeing the reality of God's story in a particular place and time. So much of what we read (especially in the Old Testament) can become a distant story... almost myth like. Yeah, we know that it all really happened but we don't have a sense of its reality in our own world - it reads more like a fairy tale. That is until you walk on the mountain side that fire fell from heaven upon... you float across the lake that Jesus walked on... you see the Praetorium that Paul was held in before he gave his defense to Felix, Festus and Agrippa... you climb the path to the springs of En Gedi where David hid in the wilderness... and stand in the Jordan, in Nazareth, on the temple steps, in the Dead Sea, etc, etc. And then, one day a few weeks after the trip, somebody reads a passage from the Scriptures talking about a specific place and all of a sudden its not just an empty name. All of a sudden you have a picture of that place in your mind... the feeling of the heat on the back of your neck, the dirt under your feet... and the taste of the dust in your mouth... and it all feels so real!

THAT was the gift of this class.

Standing in the Jordan river!

The wilderness of Zin... where the children of Israel wandered for 40 years!

An example of a stone carved tomb

Roman ruins... which we saw A LOT of... :)

Celebrating the Torah for Pentecost!

I cannot tell you how thankful I am for this experience - it was not only empowering educationally, it was rewarding spiritually. I have experienced a renewing of my love for God's Scriptures (both in daily reading and in meditation) and for it's teaching (both formally and informally). I am excited to see how God is going to use this for His work.

Thank you so much for your prayers for me and my family while I was gone... they were definitely felt (we didn't even have a house fire this time)!