Renfro Ramblings

FOR TO US A CHILD IS BORN, TO US A SON IS GIVEN....ISAIAH 9:6 CHILD - YELED (ילד)(HEBREW) - PAIS (GREEK) The more I reflect on the birth of Jesus I become amazed at how a small, delicate child came to change the course of humanity. The other day Josh and I watched an interesting movie called Children of Men set in the future, 2027. For some unknown reason the world was no longer fertile, unable to conceive children, and was vanishing. It was ravished by war and turmoil as people struggled to survive. In the midst of the chaos a miracle occurred and a woman became pregnant. The world had not heard the cries of a tiny baby for over 18 years. There was a scene were heavy fighting broke out between two extremist groups. The moment the baby came into sight and its cries were heard the fighting came to a halt and an unbearable sense of hope filled the hearts of these warring men and women. And then earlier this week in my devotional “Immanuel: A Daily Guide to Reclaiming Christmas

We do not lack opportunities to share about CONEXION... and motivate university students to be strategic and intentional with their time in the university. Part of moving to the capital was making it easier for us to  travel to key places and work with youth leaders and students. Our times have been fruitful  as we teach on issues such as defending the faith, the purpose of life, and simply building relationships with people who have a heart for this work.   Building Relationships is key  The desire to reach students within the national church is increasing and we pray for people who have a heart to reach students. One of our answers to prayer is Jaime and Valentina. They are young couple as well as professionals who have committed themselves to serve their local church as CONEXION leaders. Part of our work will include spending time with them and teaching them the core values of CONEXION.  Prayer Walks on Calle Republica   “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t yo

It is hard to believe it has been almost 2 months since we found out about John Mark’s condition. I can’t imagine going through this with out the Lord. The One who has supplied our STRENGTH and HOPE through this time. John Mark is not even born yet but we are amazed at the insane amount of people who are praying and interceding for our son. Thank you dear family and friends! Your encouragement and prayers have literally sustained us. Because believe me there are times we just feel idle. We rejoice because we are experiencing God’s intervention in our sons health and we are witnessing prayers being answered! We have received the full amniocentesis report and John Mark DOES NOT have a chromosomal trisomy of any sort and no other syndromes or abnormalities were detected.  The hydrocephalus has leveled off and there HAS NOT been any further swelling in his brain. The doctor expressed that if this continues we may be able to avoid placing a shunt at birth. Other than what is

These past few months have been quite an emotional roller coaster ride. I have never walked down a road such as this one, but all I can say is that I am thankful God is my Rock! Deuteronomy 32:3-4 3 I will proclaim the name of the Lord. Oh, praise the greatness of our God!  4 He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.  We arrived  back in Chile mid June for our second term and had been dealing with the transition to the capital city. August rolls around and we were just getting into the swing of things with student ministry, when all of a sudden our worlds were turned upside down.  August 28th we went in for a 20 week sonogram to find out the gender of our baby and found out more than we wanted to know. The doctors detected that our baby boy had swelling in his brain due to cerebral spinal fluid build up, a condition also know as hydrocephalus . Hydrocephalus can be life threatening and can

This past month I have been using this prayer list by Nancy Leigh DeMoss to pray for Josh: http://www.reviveourhearts.com/articles/31-days-of-praying-for-your-husband/ It has been such a wonderful experience praying these specifics for Josh and seeing the way God has answered some of these things so specifically. I particularly enjoyed the scripture verses that accompany each prayer. I found this to be such a great list that I though it was worth sharing!

       I'm not going to lie... the second time around seems harder. Maybe it is because we are older, maybe because we now have a child, maybe because you start to realize the cost of being a missionary. The very first time we went out as missionaries Josh and I were in our early twenties and ready for the adventure of moving to another country to do Chi Alpha. We had been married for barely a year and willing to do whatever the Lord asked. It all sounded so fun and exciting!        Fast forward 5 years later and here we are transitioning to go back to Chile for our second term. It is still our God lead decision. Our hearts are still committed to God's call to pioneer university ministry in Chile but the emotion has wained a little. We are weary from traveling and going from church to church, sharing our heart for Chile. Let me clarify that itineration is one of the essences of what we do and I would not change that. It is so beautiful the way God uses churches and families to

I am falling more and more in love with my little Naomi. The more she develops and learns new things I can't help but fall in love. She is expressing herself and dialoging with us like never before. She builds small sentences and tells us what she wants and feels. It is so special to hear her try to have conversations with us even if we sometimes can't quite understand what she is saying. It has lead me to think this is how God feels about us as we grow and mature in our relationship with Him. I can't help but think about when I first learned how to pray! Things probably didn't make sense but God knew my heart and it pleased him that I spoke to him and initiated conversations with Him. Naomi's vocabulary has also increased immensely. Of course, I have always told her "I love you" and she has learned to tell me the same after I tell her. BUT the other day she told me "I love you" all on her own, out of the blue and even proceeded to give me

1 Corinthians 9:24-25 24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. A few weeks ago Josh and I visited a very small country church that no longer has a pastor but as a body, a family and as a team they have kept the church functioning! Their Pastor has Alzheimer's and is now in a nursing home. Her sweet husband asked if we would go visit her because she was very lonely. The couple did not have any children and apparently did not have any family near by. Josh and I took the time to buy her some flowers and go see her. She was very fragile and not very responsive. There was not much we could do so we prayed with her and sang a couple of hymns. It turned out to be a really special time. Even though we didn't know this woman personally we knew

It has been e ither 6 months since we've returned home from Chile or 6 months that we have left in the states before we go back... Regardless which way we look at it it has been GOOD! The Lord has taught us many lessons and reassured us of a lot of things these past 6 months. LESSON 1: God has indeed called us to Chile and he is faithful in providing the means! Our budget has jumped up quite a bit so we are working very hard to finish raising it in a year. We are traveling, preaching and sharing our vision for Chile to obtain new commitments. It has been our joy to make new friends as we visit churches week after week and meet with potential supporters. It has also been a blessing to catch up with the people that are already part of our support team and thanking them for taking part in what God is doing in Chile. Before we made the move back we where worried about the failing economy and the reports of missionaries struggling to raise their budgets. Our experience has been so posit

Luke 9:22-23 “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.” 23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me." This is the story of William Borden heir to the Borden family fortune (Borden Milk). His life paints a picture of what Jesus was trying to say in these verses. Click on link bellow to read his story. http://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/regret.htm