July Was Amazing

This July month-ended was an amazing month! It sometimes seems like everything happens at one time. We’re sure you’ve experienced this — where every corner you turn holds another event that is designed to shake you. July has been that kind of a month. We quickly reminded ourselves as day-after-day passed that other believers, around the world, face much greater trials even unto death, and that we have not sacrificed to that degree for our walk in Christ.

• Our month started out with Erika having a day with three repetitive seizures in four hours. This resulted in a trip to the emergency room. Her medication has once again been remediated.
• Phyllis mom and dad had several medical needs during the month and we are glad to say that now Dad’s cardiac activity has settled down, and Mom’s shoulder replacement surgery went well. Both mom and dad are at home now recovering.
• Becky, Phyllis’ sister, husband had surgery for a tumor. PTL — nothing to be concerned of and Keith is now on the long road to recovery.
• Phyllis other sister’s daughter moved in with some fella she was not married to. The whole activity surrounding this event, and her pending marriage at the time (at this writing the wedding was this past Saturday) added a weightyness on all as well.
• We had increased living expenses from house repairs, to a large expense for vehicle repairs, to gasoline purchases back-and-forth to Cincinnati that we did not have savings for, so the month was financially “tight” as well.

We were reminded by our pastor’s teachings throughout the month, from Ephesians, especially 4:17, “So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.” that we should not live as those who do not have a faith in Christ, but as those who do — regardless of what life brings us. The enemy desires to use the circumstances of life to distract our focus from the Father, from the things He would have us do in the name of Christ. We must admit that we felt a cloud of weariness over us throughout July that we are unaccustomed to — our hearts were heavy.

And then we started to see the church, the body of Christ, begin to do what only the Church can do! Some responded with financial gifts that took care of the financial “surprises” in July, others prayed and prayed, others yet wrote letters and notes of encouragement, and some phoned with words of life. We cannot tell you how much it meant to hear you say “we’re behind you 100%”. How hopeless and helpless those who are not part of the body of Christ must feel when life throws them these challenges!

Moving On

July is over and we’re into August. This month has also started out with a bang! Erika has once again had seizure activity this past Sunday afternoon, yesterday. Her seizure took her to the floor and she is most likely going to have a major bruise from the fall. Thank you for your continued prayers!

Tuesday, July 31st, saw the birth of our second grand child – Elizabeth Grace Hamm – at six pounds and fifteen ounces. The delivery was just perfect! Momma, dad, big brother and Elizabeth are all well. We’ve placed a few photos in our Photo Gallery along with the one pictured here.

Ministry Activity

Jim has had a busy month re-writing CrossRoads Missions Intranet Online Workers Database interface. He just completed that activity last week.

In addition, CrossRoads has been converting from an Excel spreadsheet that had 20,000 + key strokes of information to a database to manage all of the cuts and walls in the nearly 20 house designs that we have. Jim spent quite a bit of time making sure the information in the database matched the spread sheet. It’s now in it’s final stage.

In addition, Jim has nearly completed work on two web sites:

1. A personal web site for Lanny and Stacey Groves. Lanny is one of our pastors at Jeffersontown Bible Church. He, Stacey and their 4 1/2 children (yup, one on the way) are going back into hospitality missions. They previously served in Korea. As soon as the father brings their support online, and 1/2 becomes 1 more, they’ll be making the move to ministry in Spain. Check out their web site by visiting www.grovesupdate.com!
2. And Missions to Unreached Peoples has acquired a completely new design for their web site. That design went “live” July 4th. Jim has been very busy tweaking, moving, and adding content as folks get used to using the new site design. The site design also includes an admin interface to manage some of the site content. You can take a look at the MUP web site by visiting www.mup.org.

As we dig into the month of August, like you, we don’t know what to expect that will come our way, but we do know this, that it won’t surprise the Father and that He is more than capable of taking care of us, and you, at all times! Bless you for being so willing to minister the grace of Jesus to us. Thank you for being His servants. Please don’t hesitate to let us know how we can pray for you!

Love … Jim and Phyllis

CrossRoads Missions is recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)3 organization; as such your contribution may be tax deductible. Contributions may be mailed directly to CrossRoads Missions, 4112 Old Routt Rd., Louisville, KY, 40299 to the attention of “Jim and Phyllis Null Ministry”.

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” – Galatians 2:20