ABC....it's as easy as 1-2-3.

Years ago I purchased from the store a plastic model kit. On the front was a really impressive photo of an F-4 Phantom fighter jet that had caught my eye. With anticipation and trembling I cut away the cellophane wrapping and unloaded the contents of my kit out onto a folding table, carefully laying out the little plastic frames side by side.

I organized my modeling glue, set out my little paint pens, and opened the instructions to step one, and after 10 seconds I promptly threw away the instructions. "C'mon, it's a fighter jet, how hard can this be right," I said to myself.

I made two mistakes that day, one being that you should not paint and glue together an entire model in 38 minutes. When I finished my fingers were mostly silver and black, my index finger was glued to my thumb, and instead of admiring my F4 Phantom, I was staring at something that seemed more to be an ugly paper weight, than anything that could actually fly, which was clearly impossible with so much glue all over the cockpit glass.

I learned something else that day, my second lesson. Start at the beginning and take it step by step. Years later as an FAA certified aircraft mechanic I can appreciate this approach.

When we arrived in Hungary I was faced with this question, "What is step one?" We arrived on a field that has had its shares of struggles. Our church has shrunk dramatically over the past few years, and many of our hungarians that we ministered to have simply vanished. In a way it feels like we're starting over, and in Corinne and my ministry, we found ourselves looking at a blank page. So where do we begin? This job didn't come with the well laid out instructions I've come to appreciate.

As we prayed and contemplated our first steps, Christ's example really seemed to point us in one direction. Christ knew that his days were numbered. He understood that at an appointed time He would pay the price for mankinds disobedience and sinfulness. In many ways, though far less critical, we understand that our days in Hungary have a number. Though we intend to be here for a long time, we're Americans, the day will come for us to go home.

So what did Jesus do? He started with what he had. He knew that after he left he would need someone to carry on the ministry. So he called his disciples and he formed his Church. He poured himself into his disciples. He ministered, and he mentored. He modeled for his disciples a life lived for God, and how to continue the ministry.

Corinne and I can't be every Hungarians best friend. I also realize that we can't be directly involved in saving them all. So we endeavor to follow Christ's example and pour ourselves into those he's brought to us. This has meant everything from short Facebook posts to long conversations at a local coffee shop. This has involved opening up our apartment twice a week for ministry, and simply spending time on our knees in prayer in the darkness of our bedroom.

What we do here isn't simply for our group. I have fallen in love with these people, but my hope isn't simply for them. It's for the friends, family, and someday children they will have. It's for those who come in contact with them that they will minister to, and for those that those people will then reach. I'm not interested in a moment, I'm interested in eternity. This isn't about 12 - 17 people in a apartment in Budapest on Friday nights, or throughout the week. This is about the countless lives that will be changed because of them.

I consider being involved in the discipleship of many as the greatest honor God has given me second only to my role as a husband and father. So where have we begun? Well Step One of course. Laying the foundation for the salvation of many. Praise and Glory to God.

Taking it one step at a time,

Jonathan for the Longs.

Spiritual Climate Change is Coming

I read a story recently about tropical plant life found frozen in the ice of Antarctica. This story caught my attention because when one thinks of the frozen tundra down south, we have thoughts of ice flows and penguins, not tropical vegetation, but here was a scientist discussing some tropical plant they had found. Fascinating.

I also considered the Garden of Eden. When I think of the Garden I think of lush vegetation, a rainforest like land of sorts. Have you ever seen the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers? I don't know that I would consider it anything close to that sort of topography.

So when I recently watched a TV show on the cycles of the planets as far back as they can study them, I was fascinated. Turns out that where once great rain forests stood, deserts now lay across the expanse. Where tropical climates once thrived, ice now covers the landscape in thick sheets. I was wrapped into the show, and though I disagreed with some of the political implications of the show and perhaps some "scientific" conclusions they came to, it really got me thinking.

I think sometimes the spiritual condition of our world seems to go this way. We look around our world today and see the Spiritual Climate in some areas rapidly heating up, and yet, in some areas, we perceive rapid cooling.

Looking around the world you see areas of the globe that were once spiritual hot spots. I enjoy reading letters from missionaries who share about distant spiritual wastelands being opened up for Christ. Where once icy or desert expanses ruled, we are now seeing revival fires being lit and the Gospel spreading.

But then consider places also like Europe. Where once the soil was ripe for growth, and produced tremendous crops that spread around the world, we have now seen a hardening of hearts. A cold breeze has blown away the top soils, and we find the work in these fields now to be very challenging and at times it appears fruitless. This in a land where much of our theology came to light.

This week I was taken back to a message that God had for Solomon at the completion of this Temple in Jerusalem.

II Chronicles 7:13-16

"When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there."

Spriritual climate change is not permanent. God, who set into motion the physical changes and cycles of our world, also desires to change our spiritual climate as well. Where he finds hard hearts of ice, it's His desire to set them ablaze for Him. Where deserts rule and vegetation is non-existent, he desires to see fields of flowers stretching up to the Son.

How is this accomplished? If we as His people, will humble ourselves and pray. If we will turn from our ways of sin and seek his face. He says that He will hear us from Heaven, forgive our sins, and heal our land. This last week in Hungary, a place that seems to often be spiritually desolate, I found some flowers. In between rocks and sand, I found delicate vegetation growing for the Lord.

The Lord is really speaking to us lately about humility and prayer. If we're going to the spiritual waste land changed into a thriving tropical spiritual climate, we must be willing to humble ourselves and pray. We must seeks His face and His holiness.

I've recently begun a pray walk through the city ever morning. Will you join me in Spirit? I am passionate about the spiritual revolution that God wants to see here. I am expecting change lives, and a changed country.

This is our goal. Nothing short of this will make the difference that we all long to see. In Hungary the wind is starting to turn, please join our prayers and help us turn a light breeze into a strong wind of revival.

God Bless You,

Jonathan

Life Goes On

One of the realities of living abroad is that like or not, life goes forward. Events occur, both in our lives and the lives of those back home, that are of importance or significance. These times are poignant reminders of the sacrifice we have made to do God's work here in Hungary.

In the three months since we arrived here, we have celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary and Jonathan's 30th birthday (just this past weekend). Our boys have continued to grow and change. Grant is getting more teeth weekly it seems and he has begun to babble incessantly. He crawls now and can even pull himself up to stand. Carter has developed so much as well. We can see it and hear it in his problem solving, his conversations and his observations. (We've add some family videos of these moments under the Links)

And too, many things have happened back at home that we have missed. Corinne's parents moved into a new home. Babies have been born and others are expecting. Our good friends are getting married in just a few weeks. The emails and phone calls and Facebook photos are gentle reminders that you too have experienced so much in our absence. Our hope is that you realize you are greatly missed, but that in a way you are here with us.

Each day we live and work in Hungary is put into motion in part by your sacrifice as well. Your prayers and support are the fuel for our ministry. Part of the reason we write is so you may know what a difference your contribution has made. Sure, we feel a sadness to celebrate without you and quietly wish to partake in your special occasions, but God replaces our losses with new joys. Thank you for sharing your moments with us in whatever way you can. We love to see what you are doing! Would you continue to pray that God would make special moments in ministry for us here?

Going On,

Jonathan, Corinne, Carter & Grant