Renfro Ramblings

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

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German pastor, theologian and martyr who participated in a resistance movement against Nazism. He was imprisoned and executed because of his involvement. "I don't have to tell you how greatly I long for freedom, and for all of you. But for decades you gave us such incomparably beautiful Christmases that my grateful memory of them is strong enough to outshine even this rather dark one. It is times like these that show what it really means to have a past and in inner legacy independent of the change of times and conditions. The awareness of being borne up by a spiritual tradition that lasts for decades gives one a strong sense of security in the face of all transotory distress... From the Christian point of view, spending Christmas in prison dosn't pose any special problem. Most likely, a more meaningful and authentic Christmas is celebrated here by many people that in places where only the name of the feast remains. Misery, pain, poverty, lonelines...

This past month was quite busy but full of exciting times. It has been our privilege and our honor to be able to spend sweet time with great friends and their XA groups. Many of the people we attended XA with when we were students are now pioneering campus groups all over Texas, the US and the world. We are truly God's army fighting a battle that will have eternal consequences. Two weeks ago we spent several days in Huntsville, Texas meeting with students and interns from SHSU interested in giving some time on the mission field. Many of these young people are trying to figure out what they want to do with their lives and are ready to go where the Lord calls. Amen! Several years ago we were just like those students and it was exciting to encourage them and share our experiences in this great adventure of serving the Lord. Last week we were on the campus of UTSA with our dear friends Johnny and Amy Hauck. Amy was my college roommate 10 years ago and one of the key people in my young ...

Train up a child in the way he should go, And even when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6 These past few months have been quite challenging when it comes to parenting. Naomi has hit a huge developmental stage and we are trying to keep up with her! We have realized consistency (as much as our busy travel schedule allows) and repetition are very essential. She is literally like a little sponge soaking everything in. So we have been challenged to spend more time instructing her, teaching her and of course modeling for her. Thanking God for our food is something so simple we have began to teach her. After months of holding hands and praying at the table she finally got it! We were on a trip as usual and we stopped at Subway in Waco to have dinner. We were all pretty tired and trying to make the best of our pit stop. As we sat down to eat Josh asked Naomi to pray. She bowed her little head, moved her lips as if she was saying something, there were no words just lip moveme...