Second time around

3,200 miles so far and about 1,000 more to go!
This is our second time making it over to South Dakota and Minnesota.
I guess we just loved it so much the first time around that we really wanted to go back and do it again.

Tara and I were in Whitewater for a week after making our way through South Dakota and Minnesota. We were able to get some rest and time with our friends there in Wisconsin.
A couple of our students were married in Illinois while we were back and the following Saturday Tara was in a wedding.

Throughout this summer I have had a lot of time to think in the car, alongside talking with Tara. It has been a good way to think about what God has been teaching me and what He has been challenging me in.

Throughout our lifetime there may be times when we don't follow God's plan and we choose ours. We choose to do it our way, trust our way of doing things, and end up unfulfilled and dissatisfied. God's plan is the only one that will succeed. So God brings us back for a second time around or third or fourth or etc. until we get on His path headed in the right direction to learn and experience the things He wants for us.

So in this second time around I am encouraged and excited about the things we'll learn and experience as we go through South Dakota and Minnesota. I'm so thankful we have a God that doesn't give up on us, who has a steadfast love for us, and is gracious to us when we sin.

Thank you Lord for sending your perfect Son to be the savior of the world!

Tim and Tara Chamberlain
-For the sake of the Gospel

Let us celebrate our freedom in America and in Christ!

As I (Tim) was thinking about this upcoming holiday that we all share in this country, I wondered why we as Christians don’t celebrate the freedom we have in Christ like we celebrate the freedom we have in America.

I was reading a couple weeks ago about when the Emancipation Proclamation that was signed and put in affect by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 to abolish slavery. The problem was that many slaves didn’t find out that they were actually free until 1865! They lived as if they were slaves yet they were really free!

Similarly the Roman believers had lived for almost 25 years after Christ’s death thinking they were still in bondage to sin. Apostle Paul reminded them that what ever they submit to becomes their master. Paul says in Romans 6:17-18

“But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.”

Tomorrow we will celebrate the 4^th of July and our freedom we have in this country because of the many people that died and shed blood for this country. Let us also remember Christ’s death and the most amazing freedom and salvation we have because of his shed blood! I pray that we as Christians would never forget to celebrate the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

For the sake of the Gospel of Jesus,
Tim and Tara Chamberlain