Baby Investment.

Well, we've been on the MMN payroll for over a year now, and are just a few weeks short of a year on the ground in Hackney.  In typical bureaucratic fashion, that means we're starting (well, finishing, really) our annual reports, both reflecting back on 2013 and making (hopefully) reasonably-sized dreams for 2014.  Writing these is both easier and harder than what I imagined...But regardless, it helps to set the tone for a new year with a plan for a few new dreams.

Meanwhile, we remain very aware of our financial and prayer supporters back home...and not because they're peering over our shoulders, checking our receipts for how we're spending their generous donations. :)  Rather the opposite, really.

Many of you will know that this past Monday was Epiphany -- the day Christians celebrate the journey, visit, and gift of the three wise men to Jesus and his family.  Sunday evening, at our contemplative service at church, we took time to meditate on the extraordinary gifts the wise men brought, and the ordinary ways (the adult) Jesus gave to those around him.

A particular piece of the story of the wise men struck me.  One could surmise that this was a trip of a lifetime for the wise men.  There's no other mention of them in the New Testament, returning to meet the grown Jesus.  No, these men came when Jesus was very little, gave gifts of astounding financial worth, and then left for Joseph, Mary, and Jesus to get on with what they all needed to do.  The wise men invested in a baby.  (I'm guessing most financial advisers today would think this a preposterous idea.)

In a very similar way, we feel like there's a parallel here between Jesus' story and our own.  We have churches who have met us once, before we even left for England, and supported us willingly and generously.  People who barely know us invested in us and our work before we'd even proven we'd get a reasonable return.

Like Mary, we are humbled by that, and we treasure the gifts and prayers immensely.  And we hope we end up giving back even a smidgen of what we feel Jesus gave to the world when he was about our age, walking through the Middle East.

Thanks again for your support this last year!  We cannot say it enough.