October Reflection

October is typically one of my (Meg’s) favorite months of the year. While this year looked different, the colors and coziness remained (see the puzzle pic as proof!). We had a big fundraising goal and were blown away by people’s generosity. Here’s a few highlights:

• Hitting 40%! Every 20% we decided to take a moment to celebrate by dancing to Daft Punk’s One More Time. Right now, we’re on, “three more times!”

• After several busy weekends of fundraising, we got to take a weekend date in Seattle that was full of nostalgia. We visited SPU & where we got engaged, walked around Green Lake with Chocolati Hot Chocolate, took a ferry to Bainbridge, and ate some delicious curry. We enjoyed reminiscing and savoring the PNW fall.

• Connecting with students! This fall has been drastically different on the ministry front, so we are grateful for the opportunity to meet in Covid-friendly small groups! Sharing life with them is the best (even if it requires playing the trending online games-->)!

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From Meg:

What I’ve learned: Growing up, my mom often said, “You have not because you ask not.” This adage now applies beyond asking the barista to remake my drink. While God is capable of making things happen without our help, God willingly chooses to include us (as evidenced over and over in the Bible). Following Jesus costs us something, he asks us to leave our comfort and love the world radically. We have said yes to that invitation and now we must do our part—make the need known and ask for help. But it would sure be more comfortable if my mom, I mean God would just take care of it for me!

Where I saw God: The chair I sit in for my morning time of quiet is in a clear sightline of our fundraising tracker…there were several times this month I stared at it and all I could see were the boxes still to be filled. I’d sigh and say, “How on earth is this going to happen, God?” And surprise, surprise, I’d open my laptop to find another person signed up to donate. So, what I take from that is, I need to stress out and guilt God into responding? ;) In all reality, each gift is a reminder and affirmation of God’s call and attention—we will not be left stranded.

What I hope for next month: As said above, there’s still much to go and we just need to press on and do our part of making the need known. This is a marathon not a sprint and fatigue is right at hand. I hope for stamina and renewed spirits each morning.

From Chase:

What I learned: The body of God’s people is multi-dimensional and multi-talented! It’s been fun activating the unique giftings and talents of our friends and family to figure out how best to reach our goal together. Talking with folks about hosting skills, trivia night skills, videographer skills, bow staff skills etc. We are thankful that people around us have not only said “yes!” to partnering with us financially but also with their strengths as well. It will be fun to see the fruition of these gifts in November.

Where I saw God: I had to stop for a week of our own personal fundraising to focus on the Issaquah/Sammamish Week of Giving Campaign. Early in the week, the giving was slow and inconsistent. Were we going to reach our goal? On the last day, we were hit with a flurry of donations- a sense of urgency happened and by the end of the night we had raised slightly more than we earned at last year’s banquet; a great accomplishment especially in a pandemic! It is just one of countless stories of God and His people coming through. Earlier in this process I used to think that the major step of faith is moving across the world, now a couple months in I think the bigger step of faith is everything beforehand to even get us on the plane! Fundraising is an incredible way to build trust and reliance on God

What I hope for next month: November is a crucial month for us. It will be the penultimate month of reaching our first goal of hitting 80% by the end of December. I hope for receptive conversations. Meg and I have found that people telling us a solid “yes” or “no” is way more preferred than what the kids call, “being left on read” aka people simply not responding. Thankfully, this hasn’t been the norm for us and I hope that this will continue to be the case.