We have never pursued ministry as a 9 to 5 job -- we believe that it's not even really a job, it's who we are: we represent God in every activity, in every interaction, in every minute of every day.
Relocating to Egypt hasn't been a 9 to 5 activity either--we are surrounded by the sights, sounds, smells, and people of the city ever day, and simultaneously separated from the familiar, the family/friends, and all we once called home.
That's exciting and challenging all at the same time. We know that there are many praying for us, reading these posts, sending us encouragement, and cheering us on even from a distance each day--maybe even each hour--and we're very grateful for that type of support.
Last night, sometime while we slept, someone read one of the posts on this blog -- could have been you, could be someone we know or someone we don't -- they may have been from Egypt, England, US, Canada, Colombia, Germany or the half-dozen other countries that frequently read here. We don't know who they were or where they were from or even which post they read; but when they read last night, that did something we never expected in the creation of this blog:
We have now averaged a reader per hour for the past 3 months!
We created this site as a way to share pictures, video, and stories with those who have committed to pray for us and those who have had an interest in what we have been called to do here. It's been encouraging and humbling to know that each hour of each day, someone in some way has been thinking of us while we are serving here--even though not all the readers are reading out of support for us, they are nonetheless made aware of who we are and the calling we are attempting to fulfill.
Through the political troubles in the past several months, our reports and updates have been read by people referred by search engines such as Google--our new, most read post has been "The Outcast of My Rival is My Candidate" from April 29, which recently surpassed the George Harrison driven post from last fall. That April 29 post has been read more than twice a day since its posting! The recent "Call Me Maybe" Cover Idea post is the fast growing, tracking nearly 5 readers per day.
Readers are predominantly from the US, as not only our friends and family follow up on us, but our wonderful support base. We have a growing readership in Egypt, followed by the U.K., Russia, and then Germany--someone from at least 16 different countries has visited the blog.
So what, what does it all mean? Not much on a newsworthy scale; but it is encouraging to us, for whatever reason all these people are reading, it encourages us to know that someone is aware of us. Every hour of every day. We may know that subconsciously, and our supporters and family may tell us that from time to time; but in the hectic, day-to-day, trying to live/think/minister as strangers in a strange land, it can get lost in the subconscious--we can forget, we can feel lost or alone or even insignificant. We can type away and wonder if the words will just float through cyberspace, or whether anyone will notice the pics of the kids, or the video of the pastors. And so, even though the stats may seem superfluous to most, they significantly represent some care to us.
So, we say thank you--to you, right now as you read these words, Thank You! You're not just another number in the data--you have encouraged us by lingering here for a moment, whether you know us, agree with us or pray for us--even if by accident--you have encouraged us. Thank You.
And, we want to encourage you to consider following the journey of our new teammates and their beginning blogs--they too will write and post and wonder if anyone knows they are there--we hope that you will encourage them as you have encouraged us:
Thank You!
Relocating to Egypt hasn't been a 9 to 5 activity either--we are surrounded by the sights, sounds, smells, and people of the city ever day, and simultaneously separated from the familiar, the family/friends, and all we once called home.
That's exciting and challenging all at the same time. We know that there are many praying for us, reading these posts, sending us encouragement, and cheering us on even from a distance each day--maybe even each hour--and we're very grateful for that type of support.
Last night, sometime while we slept, someone read one of the posts on this blog -- could have been you, could be someone we know or someone we don't -- they may have been from Egypt, England, US, Canada, Colombia, Germany or the half-dozen other countries that frequently read here. We don't know who they were or where they were from or even which post they read; but when they read last night, that did something we never expected in the creation of this blog:We have now averaged a reader per hour for the past 3 months!
We created this site as a way to share pictures, video, and stories with those who have committed to pray for us and those who have had an interest in what we have been called to do here. It's been encouraging and humbling to know that each hour of each day, someone in some way has been thinking of us while we are serving here--even though not all the readers are reading out of support for us, they are nonetheless made aware of who we are and the calling we are attempting to fulfill.
 |
| readers and searches for the Beatles' George gave way to searches for Egypt political news. |
Readers are predominantly from the US, as not only our friends and family follow up on us, but our wonderful support base. We have a growing readership in Egypt, followed by the U.K., Russia, and then Germany--someone from at least 16 different countries has visited the blog.
So what, what does it all mean? Not much on a newsworthy scale; but it is encouraging to us, for whatever reason all these people are reading, it encourages us to know that someone is aware of us. Every hour of every day. We may know that subconsciously, and our supporters and family may tell us that from time to time; but in the hectic, day-to-day, trying to live/think/minister as strangers in a strange land, it can get lost in the subconscious--we can forget, we can feel lost or alone or even insignificant. We can type away and wonder if the words will just float through cyberspace, or whether anyone will notice the pics of the kids, or the video of the pastors. And so, even though the stats may seem superfluous to most, they significantly represent some care to us.
So, we say thank you--to you, right now as you read these words, Thank You! You're not just another number in the data--you have encouraged us by lingering here for a moment, whether you know us, agree with us or pray for us--even if by accident--you have encouraged us. Thank You.
And, we want to encourage you to consider following the journey of our new teammates and their beginning blogs--they too will write and post and wonder if anyone knows they are there--we hope that you will encourage them as you have encouraged us:
- Holland Bound! Daniel and Christy Kihm as they prepare to serve in the Netherlands.
- And Away We Go!, our dear friends Zach and Audrey Langford as they prepare to return in service to the United Kingdom.
Thank You!
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