The Risk is Worth the Reward

So, as some of you may know, my Dad is an engineer. One evening not too long ago,my sister and I were trying to convince him to go to the movies with us. He, largely for our entertainment (I think), took out a pen and paper and made out a list of possible pros and cons to seeing a movie that night.

 I have made some pro/con lists- I think most of us mentally do so when making any decision. I have a friend who is a successful salesman. I had lunch with him, and he gave me some good advice- "When the risk is worth the reward, take the risk."

One of my good friends just told me she is going to have a baby. I am so excited for her and her husband! But then I started to think about how I won't be here to watch that baby grow up, then I started thinking about all these other things I will miss with friends and family while I am halfway around the world. Missing births, weddings, graduations, birthdays,funerals, Christmas, etc- these are the cons, or the risks involved in living far away with an unreached people group to bring them the Gospel.

But, what are the pros, the great reward? Seeing people saved from eternal darkness and brought into the Kingdom of God- poeple who may have never been given that choice before.

Picture in your head a set of hanging scales- like the kind Lady Justice holds. Now on one side a big pile of feathers- these represent the earthly events I will miss out on with loved ones. Then, there on the other side of the scale, someone suddenly places a brick. This brick represents the salvation of those who were before unreached by the Good News. What happens to the risks/cons/feathers? They go flying, they aren't even on the scale anymore!

The risk is worth the reward, so I will take the risk.

Restless

    Do you have people in your life that are such good poeple, but they aren't believers? I do. They embody so many traits that followers of Christ are called to have, yet they are not in love with Christ.
     I am thinking of one family in particular as I type this. They are so friendly, generous, loving; but Jesus is not the anchor of thier lives. And even though they are a strong family, wealthy and sucessful by the world's standards, I get this sense of restlessness every time I am with them.
       I heard the above song in the car on the drive home a couple of night ago. Now that I have seen the lyrics, I think the writer is actually talking about being restless to see Jesus, which is great too.  But when I heard it I could not stop thinking about my friends are not a part of the Kingdom of God yet. This song talks about a feeling of never being satisfied, always searching, waiting. I truly believe if I could get my unsaved friends to drink some truth serum, they would confess to feeling empty despite thier best efforts to remain fulfilled.
    I have heard it called a God-shaped hole, a vacuum, a void, an ache-whatever you call it, it is the idea that we are all created to worship our Creator, and until we do we are restless.
   And so I pray for my friends, and share Jesus with them when I am feeling brave (not as often as the Spirit leads, because I can be cowardly).
     The thing is, a lot of my friends have been exposed to Jesus from childhood. And I am left to wonder what about the thousands of unreached people who are feeling restless for someone they haven't even heard of yet?
  So, thanks Switchfoot for reaffirming my calling! I want to go introduce some of these restless people to someone they have  been waiting for thier whole life. He will change everything in them and they will become my brothers and sisters in His name, what a thought to wake up to in the morning!

Prayer and other good things

And yet it is as old as humanity itself. Peoples of every tribe, tongue, and nation have spoken of it- the "imaginative longing" to contact that which seems above and beyond nature." Arthur F. Glasser  An update on my training to work overseas to spread God's Glory. Thanks so much for your prayers, I am so thankful to have a team of people lifting me up before the throne of God! That is a huge blessing. Greg Pruett, president of Pioneer Bible Translators stated "prayer is our number one strategy." I love this strategy, though I still need to improve on carrying it out in all areas of my life! PBT as an organization has a list of strategic prayer requests. I would like to share a few with you and invite you to lift these petitions  up in prayer as PBT works to see lives tranformed through God's Word in every language.   That God would inspire great progress in the 49 translations we have started That God would show us how to maximize the impact of these scriptures to grow the Church For perfect unity of purpose and heart in our team That God would expand PBT International to send teammates from other countries        The picture to the left is in our front yard in the house I lived in while training in Dallas. This is Brittany Bedford, my teammate. Texas is gave us a beautiful springtime, so a lot of afternoons we read and did homework outside. But it was chilly sometimes (hence Brittany's blanket).I miss that weather!  As I have mentioned, I am now home to continue support raising and partnership development. I hope to be in contact with many of you recieving this email to meet with you to discuss partnering with me as I prepare to go to the field. From July-September I hope to be meeting with people, speaking at churches, small groups, prayer groups, or whoever else would like to hear more about the Bible-less and unreached peoples around the world. I am excited about this time as not only will I be raising the financial support I need to be in ministry, but my prayer and hope is that I can also spread the vision and passion of God's people here sharing their blessings God has given them to bless those who may not have even heard the name of Jesus! I have posted a couple of great short vidoes, they are both great reminders of how life-changing God's Word truly is! I hope you can check them out!   http://youtu.be/VXV9iJ8C2Cs  http://youtu.be/OBJd7voS49Y    To contact or support me, or both, my mailing address is   PBT  c/o Dean Tyler 240 Green Valley Rd Inola, OK 74036 When writing checks, please make them payable to Pioneer Bible Translators, and do not put my name on the memo line.My forward agent recieves these checks, and makes out a deposit memo that ensures it goes to my account. To give online go to http://www.pioneerbible.org/, click on "give" then "give by credit card" on the drop down menu, at the giving page select  "teams" from the drop down menu, then "Ministry of Tyler, Shelly" I have two email accounts, I check both, shelly.tyler@pbti.org, and shellytyler00@gmail.com. Thank you so much for your prayers and support, I would love to hear how I can be praying for you, prayer really is the best strategy to use first, I am finding:)

Goodbye Dallas!

The picture below is from the Village Healthcare class I took with PBT. I volunteered to have a fellow student drop a nasogastric tube from my nose to my stomach. It was….not fun, but not awful either! am glad I did it. This 9 day course is sooo helpful and practical; we have great teachers and a great textbook to take with us on the field.  We give shots, learn catheterization, sterilization, simulate deliveries, and a lot of other procedures that we should know when living out in the bush away from medical care. We also have case studies and lectures on basic healthcare principles.
       After this course ends next week, I will move home to finish raising support. My goal is $3000/month. I have almost 60% pledged in monthly gifts by churches and individuals who want to be part of my ministry with Pioneer Bible Translators. Our goal is to reach the people and see a network of churches planted as the Word of God transforms their lives. This is a huge task, but 2 things I want to emphasize - 1. It is God’s mission; it is His will and heart for the nations that drives us. 2. It takes a TEAM! Not just overseas missionaries, but the entire Church involved through prayer and support.Ways to join my financial team:
      
               1.   Mail a check made out to Pioneer Bible Translators (DO NOT put my name anywhere on the check) to
                          PBT
                          c/o Dean Tyler
                          240 Green Valley Road      
                          Inola,    OK 74036                2.  Go to www.pioneerbible.org,

                Automatic withdrawal-click “give” and choose “bank authorization form,” print and fill it out and include a voided check to the address listed for automatic withdrawal option

              By credit card-click “give,” “give by credit card,”  then “teams” and select “ministry of Tyler, Shelly” in the drop down menu 

          So, from now until my support needs are met I will be meeting with individuals and groups. I will share my vision and plans to see if they want to be a part of my ministry through financial and prayer support. My teammate Brittany and I have set a goal of leaving for language school in France this fall, so we hope to be fully funded by then. If you would like to meet with me or have a Sunday School class, small group, etc. that I can present at I would love to! Email me at shellytyler00@gmail.com  or call me at 918-894-3583. I also have some documents that detail our plans that I can send to you via email if you would like.