Where We Find Ourselves Now

I am sitting here this last Saturday of May, reflecting on where we find ourselves now: Marilyn turned 60 three weeks ago; I turned 57 yesterday. Oofta! We are not getting any younger, and this past year has been relentless...

Here's what I feel particularly grateful for right now:

1."Blessed are the poor..." – While vacationing on the Bighorn last summer, Marilyn & I learned about a woman in her early forties – let's call her Carmen – alone and in need here in Austin. We were introduced by a mutual friend, a bilingual doctor who met her while doing rounds.

Carmen is from Mexico, and she speaks only Spanish, so our initial phone conversation was stilted – me asking lots of questions, Marilyn translating, Carmen telling her story: she came to the states a few years back, by herself, seeking work to support her teenage boys and aging parents. Like many immigrants, she is hardworking and frugal.

I have never once heard her complain.

At first things seemed to be going well. She had a job, was paying all her bills, and still able to send home money to help with college and provide for her family. But then she got sick – diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer.

Fortunately, Austin has an excellent medical system, and Carmen's cancer was treatable; Carmen could get the treatment she needed, even without insurance. This came with a downside, however: the radiation and chemotherapy made her so sick that she was no longer able to work.

It's hard to pay the bills and buy food (let alone send home money to support your family) when you can't work. And it's even harder when you are all alone...

So over the past year, Carmen has become a part of our little church family. We have been able to cover her rent and food and buy her time to heal. She came over for dinner this past Thursday – she is officially cancer free now, and while she still has a long ways to go (all that treatment wreaks havoc on your body), she is back to work and – slowly but surely – getting back on her feet.

Carmen loves Jesus. She is constantly thanking God for "sending her angels" (us!) to provide for her in this land of her sojourn. We tell her this is just what God's people are supposed to do for aliens and strangers. But I am thrilled to be a part of a little church that is excited about taking this part of the Bible's teaching seriously. (It cracks me up to watch her in church – she understands some English now, but she has figured out how to use technology to translate my sermons into Spanish on the fly; so what do you know... we're all bilingual now!)

This past year, about 70% of our church budget went directly to helping people in need, people like Carmen, right here in our own backyard. This is one of the benefits of being a house church. And our lives are richer because of it.

2. Lazarus has stabilized – The past six years (since COVID) have been one of the most difficult periods since World War II to be in restaurant / retail. And the past three years have been particularly difficult. If you were reading this past fall, you'll remember me sharing an update: We need prayer; Lazarus is in trouble!

The good news is things have stabilized. We were able to raise some money, restructure some debt, create some backstop. Along the way we had to eliminate four full time positions, increase prices, and tighten our spending. (If you pay any attention to the news, you'll know that consumer sentiment hit an all time low just a couple of weeks back – and customer spending in restaurant / hospitality tends to follow that consumer sentiment metric pretty closely). So we're not out of the woods just yet... but we have stopped the bleeding. At least for now.

So we are very grateful for God's good provision (and for your prayers, and a great team all pulling together). But man this past nine months has been hard.

Marilyn and I are tired like we're rarely ever been.

3. What about the girls? – I get that question a lot. Just in case you're new here, this past January we got a chance to help another woman in distress – when Miss B died of cancer, Malachi & Jordan took in her four daughters, and our family got a whole lot bigger:

• Esther (18) – just got her driver's license and is starting work at a coffee shop next week. (She was legally adopted back in March).
• Leya (14) – is still living with her father, John. This has been very challenging: Leya wants to live with Malachi & Jordan and her sisters (and she's been secretly dialing into worship whenever she can); her father is a strict Muslim who wants her to have no contact with our side of the family (or her sisters). And this has made her situation very, very difficult.
  
  There is one silver lining, however – John has figured out how to send her to LASA for high school. This is extremely good for Leya! She graduated from Junior High this past week, and Marilyn and Jordan were able to be there with family and friends to remind her that she is not alone or forgotten. Please continue to pray for John's heart to soften, and for him to be more willing to allow Malachi & Jordan and her sisters access into her life. And pray that God would sustain Leya's faith in the midst of all this.
• Dominah (7) and Gabbi (3) – their dad relinquished his rights back in March, so Malachi & Jordan are on track to officially adopt these two later this year. We are really excited to see them flourishing. But it's hard for these little ones to understand why they can't see their sister. So pray for them as well.
• Ransom (3) and Minnie (.5) – they're doing great too. (They love having all these new siblings!)

So that's where we are on the "Girls!" front – basically, status quo since the last update. But we see signs that God is working, and we covet your prayers on their behalf.

4. What about Malachi's health? – This is the last thing I want to mention. As many of you who have followed along for years will know, Malachi has some serious health issues: he had to have his colon removed back in 2020 (pre-cancerous); since then he's been diagnosed with several serious diseases: he's celiac, has autoimmune hepatitis, along with a (currently untreatable) condition called PSC. Basically, it's a problem with bile ducts in his liver.

At some point, hopefully many years down the road, Malachi will likely need a liver transplant. But for now, with careful diet, meds, and monthly bloodwork, he is in excellent health and doctors are able to manage his condition.

This past December, however, they spotted one particular marker that doesn't seem right. And now, after a lot of different tinkering and tests (including an MRI a few weeks back), they have pinpointed a spot in one of his bile ducts that is either a) a stone, or b) a small tumor. In either case, it needs to be removed, which will hopefully happen this coming week through endoscopy.

Malachi & Jordan would really appreciate your prayers on their behalf, and so would we. Overall, I think they are holding up pretty well – Marilyn & I are so proud of how they are trusting Jesus and walking by faith in all of this – but as you can imagine, it's a constant reminder of our mortality, and I think this is particularly hard for Esther and Leya right now, having just lost their mom to cancer as well.

There are a lot of physical needs in our little church right now. We covet your prayers. But our spiritual needs are even bigger – that our people would learn to follow Jesus boldly in their own lives and work, with friends and neighbors, trusting and discerning and testifying and obeying to the presence of God in our midst. (This is probably true of you and your faith community too!)

So we invite you to join with us in the prayers of the saints, for the saints (along with all those who are not-yet saints!), that we might all come to know Jesus better and be drawn into his orbit, trusting in his Story for our lives, rather than trying to manufacture our own.

That's all for now. Thanks so much for reading!

Much love in Jesus,
Christian & Marilyn

ps – if you live in Montana, we hope to introduce you to this new extended family of ours when we are back this August! You'll know where to find us...