Christmas present and future

Merry Christmas!

Meggan and I are in Waupun today. It's a beautiful white Christmas outside, with an extra ice storm last night to make things interesting. We had Ben-and-Meggan Christmas on Monday morning; weather permitting, we will get to celebrate Christmas with many of our different extended families over the next few days. We've been participating in "Advent Conspiracy" through our church, which has dropped our stress levels a little, refocused our attention on the Lord's coming, reminded us of the needs of the world around us, and included some fun crafting for gifts. (Look out, family!) We are content, blessed, and significantly ready to have the baby. (Look at my pretty preggo princess!!!) Being pregnant gives advent a fresh poignancy - it sometimes feels like we're traveling along with Mary and Joseph towards parenthood. Songs about the joys that come with a certain baby have a double entendre for us.

I love my families. I feel so deeply blessed to have them, besides being particularly fortunate to like them (most of the time =-P). Up until the point of writing this, I've mostly been avoiding thinking about the idea that we'll probably be off in Spain next year. One's life journey is a curious thing - when I first became passionate about global ministry, I was a single male college student, eager to participate in God's mission to save the world, ready to make whatever sacrifice might be necessary. It was almost a foregone conclusion for me that this would involve leaving the U.S. I knew that would be bittersweet, but when you're 20, male, and loving college life, (1) you think it would be worth anything to pursue your passions, and (2) you're in the one season of your life where you feel like you could live a happy life apart from your family of origin. Besides, what passion could be more worthy than the gospel? The Lord's promise to his servants seems black and white - trust his words; follow wherever he leads; don't let the Christian subculture's family-first message dilute the Lord's prophetic call; go serve where servants are deeply needed.

Inevitably, my perspective has evolved over time. I still believe a lot of that stuff... but there are way more shades of gray than there used to be. I have a deepened desire to maintain faithful connections with my family members, both on principle and on a heart level. My strongest connections with my brothers and sisters in Christ do not naturally feel as enduring as my connections with my brothers and sister. Supernaturally, the family of Christ will surely endure, but I can't help seeing the world both ways, for better and/or worse. Puedo esperar por "abuelos, tíos, y primos" que van a venir con nosotros cuando criamos nuestro hijo en España, but I know there are grandparents, uncles, aunt, and cousins right here in the Midwest who will always be here for us, wherever we go.

Nevertheless, we do have family to look forward to in Spain. We will be part of a local church family, as always, but the people who will probably feel most like family will be our WorldVenture Spain family. This won't be a replacement for family, but we're praying and believing they will become a new family for us. We will love one another faithfully, but as far as Meggan and I can tell, we'll also probably like each other, A LOT, the vast majority of the time.

So, Lord willing, we will spend next Christmas with...

¡Los Gudeman! Ed and Sheryl, with their son Mark (off at school), their daughters Angel and Nikki, and their dog Navi. The Gudemans will be our veteran missionary coaches in Madrid, and probably our babysitters from time to time.

¡Dan y Eva! Dan and Eva are our Spain field leaders. They have two boys, Manuel and David. Dan grew up as a missionary kid in Papua New Guinea, and Eva is the only native Spaniard on the team.

¡Brian y Cassie! Our fellow Coloradans, we met Brian and Cassie for lunch before we left Denver. We had a wonderful time with them and their two boys. We and they are two of five missionary family units currently raising support to join the Spain team. All of us hope to be there within the next year.

¡Bill y Gina! Bill and Gina will be the team coasties (from New Jersey/Philadelphia). In our online team conversations, Bill is building a reputation as a goofball. (I already consider myself an unofficial member of his fan club. If it doesn't exist, I'm unofficially starting it.)

¡Los Reeser! Chad and Julie hope to be involved in church planting and theological education. They will probably be the first of the new units to arrive in Madrid, sometime in early spring.

¡Theresa! Theresa will be working with other WorldVenture ministries in southern Spain. She flies very soon - January 12!!!

As hard as it will be to leave, we are so thankful for our WorldVenture Spain family-to-be.

Christ the Lord has come to us this day, in the humble garb of infant flesh. He is coming again to make all things new.