IT WAS PROVIDENCE

Lisa and I just received a phone call this morning from our dear friends in Scammon Bay, John and Carolyn Uttereyuk. It was wonderful to hear from them as I was just thinking about Scammon Bay (actually, a day doesn't go by when I don't think about Scammon Bay, at least two or ten times); and I even had to wipe away a few tears about an hour before they called because I was really missing everyone in Scammon Bay.

I'm so tremendously blessed that they called as it has given me this opportunity to write a follow up to Rodney Sawyer's Chilling News article informing all that I was sick and had to leave Alaska... and writing this article will also allow me to say thank you to all of you who have prayed for my family and I, as well as for my beloved Yup'ik brethren and sisters in Scammon Bay. We are so grateful for your loving support and unreserved generosity throughout our 28 months of ministry in Scammon Bay and our transition out of the Alaskan bush in the last weeks of January 2008.

We flew out of Scammon Bay on January 16, 2008 and out of Alaska on January 23^rd with many of the same symptoms that had been coming to me on and off since about March 2006: extreme fatigue and occasional cramping in my hands and feet; muscle weakness, especially on my left side; muscle twitching; occasional loss of dexterity and coordination. Since ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, aka Lou Gehrig's Disease) was suspected, we went through some extensive testing with the top ALS specialist at Loma Linda University Medical Center. Because my electromyogram (EMG) did not yet show any abnormalities (which it should if I have ALS), there can be no official diagnosis without the EMG corroboration. The neurological team also eliminated every other possible cause of my symptoms and because my symptoms are real, albeit intermittent (causing me to even occasionally fail certain neurological tests), the prognosis is that I may have a rare form of ALS that has a slow onset and a slow deterioration rate. In six months, a year, or even five years from now, the disorder may show up on the EMG. What that means is that I'll be around for a while, unless a truck or something hits me.

Where does that leave us? With certain medications prescribed to me, I can still function in a ministry capacity; and even return to bush Alaska, if that's what the Lord wills for us. I still have a heart for ministry within the local church, so we're praying about whether the Lord will open up the pastoral ministry for us again. And because God has placed within our hearts to see the local church exalt Christ by growing in His Word and in the knowledge of God's grace and His work on Calvary's Tree, I've been blessed with opportunities to preach as an itinerant minister. So with that, we will be reworking our websites (www.vayahiy.com and www.sermonaudio.com/vayahiy) to provide contact information for any church or gathering of believers interested in inviting us to preach Christ and Him crucified... or speak about what God is doing in bush Alaska.

When we were leaving Scammon Bay, we knew that God had been growing the congregation to minister as a fully functioning body of believers. We knew that God had identified certain leaders within His church. We knew that John Uttereyuk had as solid a foundation in God's Word as anyone in Alaska, and was gifted by the Lord to express His truth without compromise. Yet, we also realized that the sun didn't rise and set with the Cardwell's. God had been doing His work in that village for years, through many of His servants, whether home grown in Scammon Bay, like David and Irene Kaganak, or called from elsewhere like some of our predecessors, such as Pastor Harvey Fiskeaux and Pastor Wassilie Mute. We were just blessed to be a part of what God was doing.

So when John and Carolyn Uttereyuk called this morning and told us of what God continued to do in Scammon Bay; how the choir has grown again and ministers to other villages; how members of the local body just step up and fill in whenever there is a need; how the centrality and importance of the Cross continues to be preached; how the exhortation that Jesus Christ is EVERYTHING and not just something is the very real truth of Biblical Christianity in Scammon Bay Covenant Church, and etc. The news of those things brought tears of joy to Lisa and I. Those are the things that are truly reminiscent of the acts of the Holy Spirit in the first century church!

....And that John and Carolyn called us on the phone because they were thinking about us; that they wanted to tell us that they love us and miss us; that they wanted to tell us that they are still so thankful to the Lord that He sent Lisa, Rachel, and I to Scammon Bay just to be with them, to love them, to encourage them with the truth of God's Word; that they wanted to let us know that we are still as much a part of Scammon Bay, and as much a part of their hearts as when we were there with them. O, how God shares His love for us through one another; and how precious was His love manifested through John and Carolyn's call!

In Anne of Green Gables, as they watched the train roll away with their beloved Anne Shirley heading off to college, Matthew Cuthbert said to his sister Marilla, "Miss Spencer made a lucky mistake, I guess," referring to their being sent Anne from the orphanage instead of the boy they had requested. Without batting an eye, and trying so hard not to cry, Marilla replied, "It wasn't luck, it was providence.... He knew we needed her."