February Update

We have had a very eventful last couple of weeks, so I thought it would be good to catch everyone up.

We spent some time in Oregon during the last week of January with Sarah's family sharing laughter and tears as we honored the memory of her father, Joe. The memorial service at Enterprise Christian Church was wonderful and the support of the church family and community was overwhelming. One of my most cherished moments during our time there was spending an afternoon with the family and Pastor Bruce as he encouraged us to tell stories and talk about different memories we had of Joe. It was a blessed time of healing that we all shared. We will miss him dearly and remember him faithfully.

We are headed to San Diego on Friday to participate in another celebration of Joe's life with the large number of family and friends that live in that area.

We will come back on Sunday or Monday because I have to be at work on Tuesday. That's right...this week I got a job! It will be comforting to have some income flow and health insurance! God's timing is truly incredible, as I have been looking for work for 7 months now.

During that 7 months I wasn't able to find a job - but we were able to move ahead quickly with our venture in to the mission field. We would not be where we are at now without God's perfect plan. I traveled to Ireland in July for 2 weeks, then in September, our family went (along with Angela Caprine) to Atlanta for a week of missionary training. October saw the whole family head to Ireland for 2 weeks and in December we were able to visit Oregon and spend time with Sarah's dad over Christmas. In January, Sarah was able to go to Oregon again to spend the final week of Joe's life with him. There is no way we could have accomplished all of that if I had been working during that time.

Starting in November of '08, we began raising financial support for our journey to Ireland. As of today, we are at 35% of our goal. God is moving ahead and we are thrilled to be along for the ride.

If you would like to join our financial support team - maybe at $100, $50, $25, or even $10 per month - please let us know. We would love to get you more information on how you could share in our ministry.

God Bless!

The Old Rugged Cross

This morning at 7am, Sarah's dear father, Joe Collins, succumbed to the cancer in his body and passed from this life in to eternal life with our Heavenly Father. His wife, Diana was by his side along with other close family and friends. There is so much that could be said about this wonderful, God-honoring man who was cherished by so many. We will certainly miss Joe, but are also relieved that his suffering is over and rejoice that he is now in heaven. Although our grief is great, how much greater is the hope & promise that we have!

One of Joe's favorite hymns was The Old Rugged Cross. It is a song that most of us know or at least have heard before. For me, it's easy to sometimes sing these familiar songs on auto-pilot, without giving much thought to what I'm saying. I was looking at the lyrics this morning with a different perspective and wanted to post them here for all to see. It is bittersweet whenever someone you love dies and they are a believer in Christ. The words below help me remember what life is really about and the glory that is to come for those who follow Jesus!


On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
The emblem of suffering and shame;
And I love that old cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain.

So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it some day for a crown.

O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,
Has a wondrous attraction for me;
For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above
To bear it to dark Calvary.

So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it some day for a crown.

In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
A wondrous beauty I see,
For 'twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,
To pardon and sanctify me.

So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it some day for a crown.

To the old rugged cross I will ever be true;
Its shame and reproach gladly bear;
Then He'll call me some day to my home far away,
Where His glory forever I'll share.

So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it some day for a crown.

E-mail from Sarah

Many of you are aware of the health situation with Sarah's dad (Joe Collins). Not everyone received the email that she sent yesterday before flying out today to spend a week with her dad in the hospital. I wanted to post the email here in case you didn't get a chance to see it.

Hi friends,

I am writing this to ask for prayer for my father. He was diagnosed with stage 4 Melanoma over Thanksgiving after a scan revealed spots in his lung. After attempting to start an intense chemotherapy on Jan. 5th, he had a severe reaction and was eventually sent home with the news that further treatment will not be pursued.

After a day at home, he took a turn for the worse and is now in his local hospital where they are managing his pain via morphine drip and in general making him more comfortable. This morning the doctor told my family he has a month at the most and will likely not see February.

I am flying up to Oregon on Saturday morning for a week to be with my siblings and parents and hopefully spend some quality father-daughter time with my dad in the hospital. Please pray for my dad, my family, and me as we attempt to say good-bye for now, until we all dwell together with the Father in heaven.

Please pray for a gentle passing for Dad, and that he can look forward to that day very soon when he is healed and whole, pain-free, and in the presence of his Savior. My parents both love and trust Jesus; my dad has worked all his life to share that with others.

There are so many who love my dad, including those who are unbelievers. Please pray for these people as this may be a time when their hearts will be touched, and that God will be glorified specifically in that way through this situation. As much as we are grieving, we so want to be able to share with others about our eternal, unshakable hope that ensures my dad's salvation.

I wish I could describe accurately in words what a wonderful, beautiful man my dad is, but I'll just share a quick story - When he was admitted and settled into the hospital yesterday, the nurses asked if he would like to be moved to a room with a mountain view (the same view from his bedroom window at home). He looked straight at my mom's face and with a grin replied, "I have the only view I need right here." So pray for us as we spend this last, sweet bit of time together.

Pray for Dax as he will be tackling the boys alone this week, and possibly sacrificing his opportunity to say good-bye to his father-in-law in order to give me that time. Brave man, and husband of the year, for letting me go!

Love in Jesus,
Sarah Bryant

Update on us!

Time is quickly flying by! Here is a summary of what has been going on with us since our last post:

• We were officially accepted by our mission agency - Operation Mobilization - to serve in Ireland and have begun raising support from interested friends and churches. Currently we are at 20% of our required amount, so there is still much work to do. We are targeting a late spring/early summer departure. If you have an interest in supporting our work in Ireland, please let us know so that we can get information on how to do that.
• We spent Thanksgiving with family in San Diego and had a wonderful time there. However, during this time we found out that Sarah's dad (Joe), who has leukemia was feeling poorly and some spots were found on his lung. This turned out to be melanoma that had metastasized and will need some form of treatment.
• We spent the month of December traveling through Oregon to visit with family and friends, as well as raise support for Ireland. The Lord blessed our time and we spent 3 weeks with Sarah's parents and had a full house for Christmas (19 people!). We spent about 10 days with my family and then returned to Las Vegas on Jan. 6th.
• Sarah's dad began treatment in Portland, OR on Jan. 5th, but his body did not react well. He is currently still in the hospital there and the doctors need to stabilize his condition before they can discuss any further treatment options. We urgently covet your prayers for this situation.
• One of our supporters donated a laptop computer for us to be able to use here and while we are in Ireland. This was really an answer to prayer as our other computer was aging and impossibly slow. We had been talking about our options when out of the blue, a laptop was offered to us - our God provides!
• I am still "between jobs", although I have been actively looking for work. We still have enough in reserves to last us through March, but really need to find some source of income before then. Your prayers in this area are much appreciated as well!

That's quite a bit to digest, I realize. We are glad to be back in Las Vegas after over a month on the road and really enjoyed our 1st Sunday back at Summit Ridge Church today. Until next time...

Election Thoughts

There is no doubt that we just went through one of the historic moments of our lifetimes with the election of Barack Obama to President of the United States. As a believer, I am conflicted about my feelings on this. On the one hand, it is a great testament to our country - that anyone, from any background, race, etc. can achieve their dreams. It is a tremendous exclamation point on the civil rights movement that started not so long ago. And he is certainly a motivational and inspirational juggernaut.

However...who is he and what does he stand for? Below is a transcript from a commentator I heard on Fox News last night during the election coverage. It helps capture some of my thoughts:

KRAUTHAMMER: Obama, the Charismatic New American Leader
As seen on FOX News on November 4:CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST/FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR:
He’s almost entirely a self-made man. Here’s a man that nobody had heard of a few years ago, with no special resources or with “machines” or background or history. And who created himself. He beat the Clinton machine entirely on his own — with the force of his intelligence and charisma, of a kind I don’t think anybody has seen since Pierre Elliot Trudeau did it in Canada 50 years ago. It’s absolutely remarkable. And he carried himself all the way to the presidency. I think it’s that force of personality which is so interesting and so important about him. But it’s also what makes him opaque and unknown. Which way will he go as president, nobody knows. Because we really don’t still know who he is and we’ll discover that after he occupies the Oval Office. We don’t really know who he is and what he believes but we know of his intelligence and ambition. And I think that will probably lead him to be a president who is pragmatic, not ideological. And who may act as a restraint on the ideologues who will now be running the House and the Senate.
What’s so interesting is that all of this is speculation. And the reason is that he has so little history. I don’t think we’ve ever had a president as unknown, as new, as untested as him. And we will see.

My concern is will he be the man and President that he says he will be? Or will he be the man that he has shown himself to be in the short time we have known about him? A man who has stood with his party, leans very far to the left, who is able to drop life-long relationships and beliefs to suit his needs (Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, primary campaign remarks)?

Thanks be to our God that only He is in control. As for the rest, indeed, we shall see.

What I do know is that is our duty to support our President when we can and to look for solutions when we don't. I am praying for God's will to be done and for his hand to guide our great country.

Time Coming to an End

How quickly our time here in the Emerald Isle has gone by! We feel that we have accomplished a lot and are excited to get back home to share our vision for ministry here with everyone. We have had a couple of free days that we have used to explore a bit more of the country.

Yesterday we drove to the west coast to a town called Galway and then up to a smaller town called Cong. Cong is famous as the town where the movie "The Quiet Man" was filmed. A great movie, or so I am told by Pastor John. I will definitely have to watch it now. There are also some ruins of a 12th century abbey and some nature paths that wind through the surrounding woods that the boys really enjoyed. Just down the road is Ashford Castle, which is truly a sight to behold. It is very well maintained, sitting right on a lake and is quite upscale. Ronald Reagan stayed here when he visited Ireland and Pierce Brosnan had his wedding here as well.

Today we drove up the road to a small town called Boyle and visited the Lough Key Recreation Area. There were a lot of areas for the boys to explore here, including some tunnels that had led to the basement of a mansion that has since burnt down, a tower to climb that allowed us to overlook the lake and grounds, and a "tree-walk" that wound through the forest about 10 meters off the ground. We had lunch there, and then drove back to Lacken House.

Tomorrow we are leaving to spend the day in Dublin and stay with some American missionaries that I met when I was there in July. Then the next day we are off to the airport early for the long plane ride home. So this afternoon we will be doing laundry, packing, and trying to keep Liam & Finn occupied!

We thank everyone who has been praying for us and can't wait to see you!

God is in the details!

The last couple of days have been a real blessing as God has been revealing more of how we would be serving in Ireland when we arrive. We have had some very good conversations with a few of the team members here about how our vision for ministry fits in with the goals of the organization. We also realized a few nights back that whatever our best-laid plans are, we need to yield to how God would best use us. This lead to a discovery of a need that the team here has for someone who can help recruit, interview, and mobilize Irish people to serve in missions. My experience as a manager in the business world fits very well with this need - and having just gone through the process myself, I'm aware of the particular needs of how this process should look from a missions perspective.

We feel so blessed because as I sat down to put some concrete ideas on paper about sports ministry, I realized that it will most likely take more time than I thought to build the relationships and trust that it takes to get something like that moved forward in this country. It certainly would not be enough to keep me busy full-time at first. So we are extremely grateful that God presented this need and that we will be able to help fill it. We also learned a little about how Sarah can use some of her background with bookkeeping and office work to contribute to the work here. It has just been a fantastic revelation to us and we are so excited.

Furthermore, we were able to nail down some more specific numbers for our financial needs - which are separated in to ongoing monthly support and one-time "start-up costs", which are things like airfare, training, getting a car, etc. It is a great feeling to be equipped with this information as we look to start raising support shortly after our arrival back in the States.

And finally, we learned more about when our arrival time might be - or rather, the flexibility that is allowed. With our organization, they typically send new missionaries at 2 times during the year so as to coincide with international training conferences. In our case, the field here would be willing to accept us before those traditional dates so that we could begin working here and then travel to the conference when it was going.

It has truly been great to move along and get some firm answers to questions we have had and to see how God continues to provide for our needs and light our path. Looking forward to sharing more details with everyone when we return.