My summer partner, Kristen in a small village called Yungar. She got married last weekend!


This summer, Kristen, my partner and a recent graduate from Oklahoma State as a Journalism major, wrote all of the updates (save 2) on the Awe Star website for the Peru team.

This was a significant blessing to me, and one I did not think about before the summer. She did very naturally, what I have to labor over to accomplish.

The way the Lord gifts people is an amazing thing. Certainly writing is a skill that can be developed over time, but if there isn't a raw ability in there somewhere, it won't be enjoyable to read and can be agony for the author.

I must then confess, that being out of the routine of writing frequently, finds me feeling largely, out of sync. What to say and how to say it, seems to evade me.

I checked in on prayforbj occasionally while I was away, and was greatly blessed at the contributions by Deanna and Brad. They really did a nice job, and I found myself enjoying the seemingly effortless flow of thoughts they ascribed here.

This morning, as I sit before a blank screen, I feel I should have so much to pour out, so much to share. In fact I do, but I cannot seem to unstick the flow that is bottlenecked somewhere between my thoughts and my fingers. Honestly, it is a bit frustrating.

I know it will come in time, and I need not to force it.

I am quite amazed at how very different each of the last three summers has been. Each team has had a different personality. The dynamics on each have functioned in very different ways. The goal of each was to bring Glory to God, but that is not always accomplished as we would like, or in the same fashion.

I find myself thinking a great deal about this last summer...processing, over and over again. To be sure, processing is important. Overthinking is a pitfall of processing, and I think I have gotten a bit 'out of bounds' in the course of this procedure.

God was brought glory this summer. His faithful ones were active in bringing thousands to Him. I am so very thankful to have seen this happen, to have been a part of it. Our God is truly amazing.

I struggle though to tell our story. I wish that you could hear from the students themselves.

Much of my time this summer was spent in warfare against the enemy, trying to assure that our team was free to do what they had come to do. I did not expect it. I did not choose it. I was compelled to do so, as without it, my team could not have moved forward. (The result left me exhausted much of the time. Being exhausted and yet responsible for a team of 22 brings about challenges...ones I did not always overcome with the joy of the Lord.)

I would like to think that I have always been faithful in this arena, but I know better. My eyes were opened significantly to what the Word calls "spiritual forces of evil."

These battles are raging around us, but somehow we have been lulled to sleep, ignorance or indifference by our fleshly pursuits.

To speak of these battles in detail would make most, very uncomfortable...yet they are such and integral part of my experience this summer, that I am left wondering how to convey them, and keep the focus where it needs to be.

It needs now and always to be on Jesus.

"...there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12

Suffice it to say, that I am most thankful for those of you the Lord kept in the trenches praying on our behalf this summer. I do not like to think about what may have occurred had you not been faithful.

The level of the battle has increased significantly this summer over previous ones. I do not know if that is an indicator for the future, but I do know now more than ever, we must be faithful to our King!

brent