Blog Archives
Raising A Child On The Road (Video)
This is how Amira likes to travel!
A few years ago I had all the answers. If you asked, I could probably give some [pretty good] advice on being a great spouse, raising practically perfect children, preaching fantastic sermons, and whatever else you’d like to throw my way. I even had Bible verses for all that!
But the old saying I’ve heard said a thousand times now rings true in my life…
“The older I get, the less I know!”
Marriage, ministry, raising children and life in general takes hard work, tireless determination and God’s grace. It is easy to talk about and hard to do.
I remember countless times seeing THAT child at Walmart (you know who I’m talking about!) and thinking… “That will never happen with my kids.” You know, the boy who whines, screams and openly rebels against his parents. The girl who gets what she wants, when she wants, and how she wants it… or else. The kid that is nothing less than a brat.
Well, guess what… God has blessed me with a wife and a munchkin of my own! Suddenly, I realized things really aren’t as easy as I had supposed. Just this week we were at the store and in a moment which snuck up on me like a tiger on its prey, I was that parent with that kid.
And you know what? The more I am blessed to lead a family, the more I realize something… we desperately need God’s presence in each of our lives! You see, no matter how much discipline, structure, schedule and consistency we have in our parenting, it is human nature to rebel. We are born in iniquity and foolishness, and without God’s grace we will continue in that same rebellion until our last breath.
Aubrie and I hope to raise children that fear the Lord, respect his Word, and enjoy serving him. But above all else we want to see them individually submit themselves to God’s loving hand when they understand their need of his salvation. That is why we try our best to have family devotion time. This has been one of the hardest things to keep regular and consistent in while traveling on the road, but the need for us all to meditate on God’s Word and commune with him in prayer is paramount. They need the Word of God. I need the Word of God.
Raising a child while on the road has its challenges. We’re blessed that [as of right now] Amira loves to travel. Going “bye-bye” is one of her favorite things to do! Spending hours in the car going from one meeting to the next is still something fun for her. It’s hard to believe she’ll be two this month, and it’s hard to believe that in just over 2 months we’ll meet her baby sister (who is still unnamed, by the way). With the Lord’s help we hope to live by the principle found in Proverbs 22:6
“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
How do you and your family do devotion time together? What advice do you have and what challenges do you face? Leave your answer in the comments… I’d love to hear from you!
Here’s a recent video of us reading through a chapter in proverbs together as a family. Amira likes to repeat the phrases sometimes, it really is cute. We love you guys! Thanks for following us and for your prayers.
Missionaries Burning Rubber
Saturday we will hop in our van and start one of our busiest stretches of deputation yet. We’ll be in at least 18 churches and 11 states during the month of February (that is an average of over 4 per week!), travelling around 4-5 thousand miles, preaching, presenting our burden for Colombia, meeting fellow believers, and hopefully establishing new partnerships that will get us even closer to reaching Colombia. Here is a map to give you an idea of the travelling we’ll be doing:
Thank you so much for your prayers. I’ll be honest, deputation has been one of the best times of our lives. We have enjoyed seeing our beautiful country, spending time with each other as a family, getting to preach all over the place, and seeing God do mighty things in our lives. I can honestly say, it has been awesome!
October Prayer Letter
Click here to view or print our prayer letter (complete with pictures!)
October 2011
Dear Friends and Family,
Deputation & Family Update
We’ve been on deputation for 6 months now with quite a full schedule, traveling over 23,000 miles, preaching and presenting our burden and plan for Colombia in many churches. Pray that we can raise our needed support quickly so we can get to the field. Each day has been a step of faith, and God has proven himself more than faithful in providing for our needs. Many times we don’t know how we are going to pay for certain bills and expenses, but the Lord provides just the needed amount right on time! He’s a good God!
There are two events I want you to know about: Hell’s Gates, a reality outdoor drama depicting the end times, taking place every weekend in October (hellsgates.com). This is hosted by our home church. The other event is the Our Generation Summit in Pigeon Forge, TN during December 29-31 (bcwe.org). Plan to come and bring your church group!
We are also pleased to announce… our Vance trio is about to become a quartet! We’re excited to be expecting our second child, sometime around the end of May. Pray especially for my wife. Those of you that have ever had children know that the first trimester can get a little queasy, and we’ve got a lot of traveling planned over the next few months.
There is so much more I want to tell you about. If you get a chance, head over to our blog (bemagnified.org) to read more about what’s going on in our lives, and to see our new ministry video. I think you’ll enjoy it!
Out Of The Mouth Of Babes
Speaking of our next child, last week, we asked Amira where the new baby is, and she pointed to Aubrie’s tummy and said “Baby!!” She’s so smart! Well, then she pointed at my tummy and said the same. (I wonder what she means by that?) ☺
Colombian Culture Corner
I want you to be praying about two things specifically for Colombia. First, local elections are now taking place. Many candidates have been assassinated in regions where there is conflict with the rebel groups. Also, last month the rainy season started. They are expecting it to be worse than last year (2.2 million were left homeless and 301 people died last year because of the rains). Most of these people have never heard the Gospel.
Prayer Requests
1. For Aubrie’s pregnancy that things go well without complications
2. For our travels as we present our ministry in many churches
3. For our financial support to continue to increase (now at 14%)
4. For more laborers to take the Gospel to Colombia
For Christ and His Glory,
Aaron, Aubrie, Amira (& Baby) Vance
On The Road Again!
We’ll be leaving Tuesday morning for another long road trip up to TN, OH, PA, NY, MD, OH, SC then back to good ol’ GA before going back up to TN. We will be gone for about a month. I sure hope it doesn’t get too cold!
I thank God for the 13 or so meetings he has given us in these places. Pray that my pregnant wife does well while we are on the road, that our car holds up fine and that these meetings would turn into ministry partners to help us reach Colombia. Nothing’s too hard for the Lord! 🙂
Here are the meetings we have over the next month, so you get an idea of how much driving we'll be doing. At least I get to spend this time with the ones I love!
I Love Church!
We’ve been having a wonderful time with the good people at Crossroads of Life Baptist Church in Canton, GA this week during their missions conference, which ends tonight. What a blessing it has been, with good preaching, good singing, good spirit and good fellowship with other missionaries and church members that are passionate about reaching the world… AMEN!
Well, tomorrow, we get to start another missions conference at one of my favorite churches, Vision Baptist Church in Alpharetta, GA. I spent some time in Peru 7 or 8 years ago with the pastor of this church, Austin Gardner. He is a unique leader with a passion for training young men to reach the world. We are definitely honored to have a part in their world missions team. It’s going to be an exciting week, no doubt!
After Vision’s conference ends on Sunday morning, we’ll make the drive up to Sylva, NC to the Victory Baptist Church for their missions conference starting that evening and going until Wednesday.
All in all, we’ll have been in about 32 church services during the month of September. Maybe more, we’ll see.
You know what? …I love church!
I love the opportunity to worship Jesus, study his Word, promote missions, and fellowship with other people who are passionate about God’s GLORY! It’s wonderful, isn’t it? What is your favorite thing about church?
The Vance Family 