Clay Pots ~ Guatemala part 2

My Spanish studies are going well. Two weeks down and two to go! I passed the grade "A" level test on Friday and am moving on to level "B". I appreciate my teacher and his patience. Also, he is going to try to teach me all the vocabulary he can for gardening and cultivation so I can better serve in the upcoming project this summer. What a nice guy!

The following paragraph is in answer to my prayer that God would use me in small ways... I wanted to attend a church today, but my contact fell through and so I found myself out and about today on my own. Well, I thought about going on a mountain bike ride with this outfitting group, but the only trip going today was a 32 mile trip… too much for me today since I just hiked down a volcanoe last night (I was in awe of the omnipotence of my Father in Heaven). So I was like, “Well, where should I go for breakfast since I am famished?” So I went to this little bakery that had some good prices. There were absolutely no tables open except one right next to the cash register. So I sat down there by myself. It was a table for three and I felt a little strange taking up their whole table for only me, but I was hungry and ordered eggs, beans, coffee, juice, and a plate of fruit. Well, this older gentleman (probably my father's age) comes walking in and was looking for a table too and couldn't find one, and so I offered him a spot at my table. Suprisingly, he actually accepted and sat down. He is down here learning Spanish too and so we practised for a few minutes on each other. Then God just opened the door and before I knew it, we were having the greatest conversation which lasted for the next two hours about his life and divorce and kids and about our backgrounds and how difficult life had been up to this point. I told him a bit about who I was and what I was doing here and opened up and told him about some of my struggles but how Jesus has made all the difference in my life. We talked about immigration, our country, and something that he thought our country lacks… and that being an understanding of ‘grace’. So we talked about grace and the grace of God through Jesus Christ. He was appreciative of our conversation and I offered to pray for him before we left and he accepted. So I prayed a short prayer of blessing on his family, kids, and studies abroad. He thanked me and we parted. I was very blessed to be able to sit and chat with this guy… and to share Jesus with him during an incredibly deep conversation - considering we were strangers. I think that he just needed to hear about grace and Jesus today. May the Spirit of God work in his heart to draw him to himself!

Adios,
Jason

Clay Pots ~ Grandpa Knapp

On Monday, December, 27, 2010, at 10:35 am, my Grandpa, Kellogg Knapp, went to be with his Savior, Jesus Christ. This post is a tribute to him.

I believe my Grandpa was great because he found his greatest satisfaction in relationships. He was not concerned with worldly possessions, he knew that they only brought worry and trouble; instead, he possessed a wealth of friendships and relationships, and this brought him joy and peace. His first and most special love was for Jesus, followed closely by his love for his wife Lucille. Now, I would not consider Grandpa a book smart theologian who knew all the aspects of and defenses for all the doctrines in the Bible, but he was an experiential theologian that knew Jesus, loved him deeply, and knew that he would see him someday when he finally passed away. His comments about his Savior were often short and sometimes subtle, but they were frequent, interspersed through almost every conversation, heartfelt, and full of thankfulness to his Lord. Grandpa lived his theology and loved his Savior.

Grandpa had a way of making every person he met feel special. He always had time for people, they were never a bother to him, never inconvenienced him, and you always felt like he would rather talk to you than do anything else at that moment. I loved that about him. And… as everyone can testify, he was extremely funny.

A special bond that I believe I, personally, shared with my Grandfather, was the fact that both of us, in the prime of our lives, went overseas for the sake of something bigger than ourselves, for a cause. Psalm 102:18-22 – We both believe in freedom. A freedom for this generation and the ones to come to have the opportunity to worship the true God and his Son Jesus Christ. And we both believe that true freedom from our sin, freedom from the punishment of eternity in hell, and freedom from the cares of all the garbage in this life comes only through belief in Jesus’ substitutionary death on the cross for us. Without Jesus, we have no hope in this life or in the life to come… Grandpa is EXPERIENCING this freedom and hope in full right now, whereas I continue to believe… that lucky dog (as he would say). Grandpa made every opportunity (even at the possibility of loosing his life in WW2) for us as a family to be able to first believe, and then to declare the praises of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Because this belief permeated his entire life, he exuded a quiet confidence in life. Growing up, I knew that my Grandpa wasn’t afraid of anything in life or in death, and I believe that this is because he knew that he belonged to Jesus whether in life or death and that Jesus would never let him go, no matter what the circumstances. This caused him not to worry about much, and that is why I believe that he was always smiling… confident that his life was in Jesus’ hands. Well, his confidence spurred me on to travel overseas and live among a primitive people group who were in spiritual darkness and who did not have the light of Jesus shining in their lives. But before I left, I remember sitting at Grandpa and Grandma’s kitchen table, worrying, and asking them if I should continue on this crazy journey and head overseas… everything was so unknown and I was fearful. They sat there over ice cream cones and told me about how God will never let you down; how God is your only back-up plan. They told me about how God had provided for them during the depression, after the war, and while raising three kids. They told me that if God was leading me to do this, that I should not fear whether or not he would provide, but to go trusting that he would. So I took my family, and we went… and we never lacked!

These are the qualities of my Grandfather that I wish to aspire to: To continue to live my life for Jesus, in dependence upon him, not worrying about the things of this life, but investing in the lives of others, to demonstrate to everyone in my life that they are special, because they ARE in the eyes of Jesus, and to not be afraid of new challenges in life because I am confidence that the same God who cared for my Grandfather is caring for me.

I love you Grandpa! I know you are now in the arms of Jesus and the Father is saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” I pray that you are enjoying a hunting trip with your best friend, Jesus. And I pray that each and every life that you touched is like a gem which you can cast at the feet of your Savior because I know that you would rather give than receive. God bless you!

Clay Pots ~ Christmas 2010

People... we say that they are priceless and valuable, we invest in them, we have profitable or unprofitable conversations with them, sometimes our relationships go bankrupt or we perceive that we received no return on our investment in them. I was reading "Blue Like Jazz" by Donald Miller. In one of the last chapters in the book, the author wrote about Christian love. His point was that we often use our love like a commodity... like money. I stopped to think about this and realized that unconsciously, at times, I did view people as a place where-in to invest my love. And if, perhaps, that investment did not produce a good return (of course, this is in my own estimation of what a good return means), then I would be tempted to remove my deposits of love and place them elsewhere where there would be a good return.

As I mulled on this for awhile, I came to the conclusion that that type of response is human reasoning and human love. It is also a lot of work with not much joy involved. Godly, gospel driven love, however, is not an investment, it is a gift. God loved me, a terrible wretched sinner, so much, that he gave his only Son to me for free. And he gave his only Son to the whole world, out of which there are some that would accept and others who would not. But I don't believe that God looked at His Son's death as an investment; it is a free gift because he loves and appreciates and yearns for all people (regardless of who they are or their backgrounds or what they have done) to be in joyful communion with him. The difference between Godly love and human love is that he does not withdraw his love from those who do not respond.

So as I prepare for Christmas just like all of you, I am struck anew this year with the incredibleness of God the Father's gift of unconditional love and grace upon me. Whether I would have responded or not responded to his loving gift of salvation through Jesus Christ made no difference to him... it is unconditional, and he would have given the gift of the baby born in a manger either way because he loved me. And this is true of all of us. Knowing this makes me feel special and privileged, but at the same time, humbled by the fact that he did this for each and every person on this planet. But what breaks my heart is that this planet is full of people who do not yet know that there is a gift of salvation waiting for them from a loving Heavenly Father. Thus his love motivates me to joyfully love my neighbor in word and deed, and not withdraw it if I don't get a good return on my investment.

May the remembrance of the Christmas story bring joy, peace, and hope to you.
Peace,
Jason, Kellie, Micah, Sophia, and Malachi Knapp

A lot... for Free?

Sight of our home-to-be on West Ave. in Waukesha

Our family's request to God over the past months has been to own our own home. To us, that seemed like an outrageous request. Jason and I have lived either in mission apartments, rental homes, or bush houses ever since we have been married. For us, there was never a sense of permanence or stability, which inherently comes with the missionary status. It was unsettling to see a "for sale" sign go up in front of our rental home this past month and we knew that our kids just can't go through another move again. So, knowing that God can do miracles, we have been continuing to pray to him about this area of our lives.

We have been looking to locate somewhere in the heart of downtown Waukesha in order to live among those whom God has given us a heart to minister to. The city of Waukesha is full of Latinos and other immigrants so it seemed like a logical place to begin to pray about. Through the city of Waukesha and Jason's cousin, Keith Knapp, President of Paradise Builders God has miraculously provided to us a FREE vacant city lot only blocks from downtown Waukesha where we can build a low income home! A free lot is a wonderful blessing but we still didn't have the funds or approval for a loan to build a home... we had already been denied twice for a loan cuz it is hard to understand how we maintain an income... "You mean, people faithfully give you money every month? What happens if someone ceases to donate?" "Well," we said, "God has always made up the difference." (Living by faith doesn't always look good on the books.) But our God is always at work and he has graciously moved in the hearts of certain individuals at our bank, Waukesha State Bank, and they have decided to take us on as a very special case and offer us an in-house loan. I think that they are in favor of the idea of Clay Pots and want to show it by signing for the loan themselves. Seriously we are telling the truth!!! And if that wasn't the icing on the cake, we have found out that at least two of the other adjoining lots were given to immigrant families! So we believe that God is working to put us exactly where he wants us to serve.

So when I get nervous about how we may not always have the support we need to pay our mortgage, I have to stop and laugh. We can't deny that God is making this happen in pretty miraculous ways and so I just better hold on for the ride realizing that he is answering the prayer we have been praying for so long. I feel safe and secure knowing that God is in charge of cities, banks, governments, and people...I tend to easily forget that. I am confident that some day next year you will be receiving an invitation to our house warming party and what a joyous party that will be! Our heart's two-fold desire has been met by God through His people in ways no one (at least I) could have imagined. We consider this opportunity a demonstration of the miraculous grace of God... who knew that he would have this in store for us when we left PNG a year ago? Could you pray for wisdom for us as we move forward with this? That we would continue to trust in God's provision. That we could find good deals on building supplies. That we could cut costs as we and volunteers do certain aspects of the project. That our hope of breaking ground before the snow flies could be a reality... I guess that could be any day now in Wisconsin:-)

Thankful for God's purposeful movement in our lives,
Kellie for the family

To support this ministry,
Send a check to:
Clay Pots
S53W24079 Glendale Rd.
Waukesha, WI. 53189