Dennis and Asa Update #1

Our brothers Dennis and Asa have set off on their journey to find where Christ is at work in Kolkata...and join him there. Please continue to pray. Here's their first update:

Brothers and Sisters,

This is my second attempt at writing this letter, and I apologize for now in the early hours of the morning (or late hours of the night?) my mind is cloudy and my heart is numb from the drowsiness that grapples at my body. Soon Asa and I will drive to the airport and get on a plane bound west for Kolkata (Calcutta), India. Many all you have heard our spiel before, but please allow me to pour out my heart again as I let it prepare for the coming days.
My prayer is that I would be stripped of myself; of my plans and my desires. May the Lord strip me of control so that He can show us unhindered where He is at work and what His plan is for us. I feel so many times that I get in the way, yet I long to see God work. May He work in Asa and I despite our weaknesses, fears, sins, and shortcomings. In this way He is glorified in us as He uses imperfect creatures for His perfect plan. He who is strong, wise, and loving; the deep changer-of-hearts, can change us and work to bring about good through us. Therefore I will rather boast in my weaknesses and shortcomings, for I know as Paul said in II Cor. 12, that His grace is sufficient for me and His power is perfected in weakness, and through that He is glorified.
In all honesty I am scared. Yet though plagued with doubt, I am rooted in the assurance that my Father has called us, that we are walking in His will, and that He has wonderful plans that, though I might not understand them, are good. He will come through for us, leading us in what He wants us to do, which takes an enormous pressure off my shoulders. My faith is in the One who holds creation in His hand and looks down at His children in love. He has gone before us, His presence is with us, bringing comfort and strength; not for our glory, but for His own.
May we be poured out for those we’ve been called to serve. I long to see God take my heart of stone and mold it into a heart of flesh that loves passionately and selflessly those whom He loves. As 1st John tells us, if we love the Father, then we should love those whom the Father loves. May it be true of us, by His grace.
We are nothing special by anything we ourselves have done; we are simply men whom by the grace of God have been given new Life in Christ and long to see others ushered up also into the Life we have been given. The endeavors we are setting out upon are opportunities given to us by God, who graciously is pleased to include His children in His redemptive love-restoration of His creation. To put it simply, we are seeking to be obedient to God’s call on our life for this trip because we love Him and we love people, and we long to see people come to see Him in all His freedom, joy, hope, and love.
I don’t know what we’re going to do while in Kolkata. And praise God that I don’t, and therefore cannot make any plans. May the Holy Spirit guide us each day where He desires us to go, and may He give us words. Like Christ, we cannot do anything of ourselves, but only accomplish things by seeing where the Father is at work and joining Him there.
Please pray for us as we seek His will for us. Pray for divinely-orchestrated encounters with people, conversations with those within who the Spirit is at work. We need words, and we need courage.
I’m losing battery on m laptop, so I’ll attempt to begin to wrap all this up. First: thank you, you who have supported us, whether financially or with your prayers and thoughts. Though you play an unseen and seemingly not very glorious role, yours is an integral part of what God is doing. It is through your obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit that we are able go and do what God wants us to do. And so we humbly thank you. May you have the joy of celebrating with us what God is doing and will do; we the Body each play different roles, but through them we each get to see the Father glorified through our members as He works and loves through the Body. Thank you so much, and Asa and I will keep you updated.
One of my prayers as well is that you would see God working through our lives, as we step out in faith and love, changed by the Holy Spirit and seeking His will, that you would not only celebrate it but also long for that in your own lives. As we lay down our lives as a joyous sacrifice to a loving Lord, may you be compelled to do the same. May a movement begin as we realize that this life, even the Christian one, is not about us, but about the good Lord that we serve. He who loves us is what it is all about, He is the purpose; may we abandon ourselves to that. I long to live more for Christ, love others deeper, and perhaps by the grace of God I will be taught that throughout this trip. Perhaps as you live through Asa’s and my stories that you would be drawn closer to the heart of God and your life would be changed somehow.
Pray for us. May we have endurance, obedience, and love. Also pray for those whom the Lord longs to set free from sin and death, leading them by His Spirit into new Life. They will not make the transition from being enemies of God to friends of God without opposition from Satan and his armies. Pray against them specifically.
Finally, pray for our safety and health. We leave tomorrow at noon, flying from Austin to Houston, then to Los Angeles, then to Tokyo, then to Bangkok, then to Bangalore, and finally on to Kolkata.
We love you and want to hear from you. We’ll be able to check email every few days. Look for our updates. Until then,

Dennis