Fletcher Steps

I just wanted to let everyone know that we have landed in Ecuador well and we have a Newsletter awaiting delivery that will be posted here on our blog and mailed out to many of you as well very soon.

I needed to post an article today because something happened that has inspired me to write.  When Allison and I became husband and wife 17 years ago, I joined a family that has been a blessing to our life together.  Allison’s parents, her sister, her grandparents, aunts, and uncles, everyone has been been great encouragers, supporting our dreams, callings,  and accomplishments.  They have been a constant reminder of the rootedness that family establishes and the grace of God, which is the soil in which family grows best.

Allison’s uncle just experienced a horrible tragedy. His home burned to the ground along with most of his wildly possessions. In a post on social media we looked with shock and sadness at pictures of the fire and the ashes that were his home and, a place he loved.  However, our sadness for him and for his loss quickly turned to admiration when we read his comments below.  After counting his loss, continually he would write in big bold letter, “I AM A BLESED MAN!”

His perspective of this personal tragedy is of great importance.  His rootedness in the soil of grace gives him a higher perspective. The hundreds of comments below his post proves the impact his testimony has created within his sphere of influence. All the way over here in Ecuador, we were also blessed by his testimony.

Two parts of scripture immediately came to mind when reflecting upon the ashes and the testimony we just witnessed.

In Genesis 18:26-33 we find the story of Abraham and his bartering process with God.  This bartering session was not for Abraham’s benefit.  This bartering with God was for the lives of perhaps thousands of people, all strangers to Abraham (accept for his nephew Lot’s family of course.)

God tells Abraham that He will destroy Sodom unless he can find 50 righteous men residing in the city.  Abraham then says this, “Since I have ventured to speak to the Lord- even though I am dust and ashes- suppose the 50 righteous lack five.  Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?”  God then relents and says he would not destroy the city if He could find 45 righteous people there.  But Abraham, knowing the Lord, continues to barter… and by verse 33 God had agreed not to destroy Sodom if He could find just 10 righteous men there.

Abraham was able to balance two very important parts of his identity and in doing so teaches us a lesson of great importance.  Abraham knew that he was just “dust and ashes” compared to God, but he also knew that his value and position of favor in God’s eyes was much higher than his fleshly circumstances.  As a result, his responsibility before God and others was also higher.

He could go to God boldly and ask for mercy precisely because he knew his Father, knew who he was from where he had come. He used to be called Abram, but now He was Abraham and his identity was firmly established in his relationship with the creator.  The result was a humble boldness that moves the heart of God.  A man who can sit in his ashes and yet boldly proclaim , “I AM A BLESSED MAN!” truly knows who he is and what his Father in Heaven sees when He looks at him!

A man who can sit in his ashes and yet boldly proclaim , “I AM A BLESSED MAN!” truly knows who he is and what his Father in Heaven sees when He looks at him!

Another piece of scripture that shouts off the page for me is Isaiah 61, especially verses 1-4.

This is the set of verses Christ himself recites in His hometown in proclamation that their prophetic importance was about to be fulfilled in Him.  Here we read that the Messiah has come to do many things, not the least of which is to comfort those who mourn and give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, oil instead of mourning, splendid clothes instead of despair, and a promise to name them “righteous trees” planted by the Lord to glorify Him.

Our testimony in the face of hardship and tragedy is very important.  Those who believe in Christ are indeed blessed no matter what the circumstances look like.  Our ashes are an opportunity for rejoicing, for refocus, for renewal, for the comfort of the Lord to have full effect, and the testimony of our faith to stand tall and righteous giving God glory!

Think about this for just one minute.  We who believe in Christ will live forever in heaven with Him where there will be no suffering, no mourning, no death or sorrow.  We will have Jesus with us at all time and we will love Him and worship Him without adversity or opposition forever.  This is a wonderful thing to look forward to, but it also means that we have a very unique opportunity right now. In eternity we will never have the opportunity to love and worship God in the midst of personal suffering, tragedy and loss.  Do not waste the trials of life. Your suffering is a once in a lifetime opportunity.  You will never have the chance to love Him and praise him in the midst of this particular trial or loss again.  Embrace it!  Our love for God while in our most humble of circumstances has great value to Him and it glorifies Him in ways that human wisdom cannot fathom or explain.

In eternity we will never have the opportunity to love and worship God in the midst of personal suffering, tragedy  and loss. 

Do not waste the trials of life.

I am blessed to have married such a wonderful woman and to be accepted into her family. The recent testimony of her uncle is inspiring to us. He has encouraged us to embrace our trials and meet them with humble boldness seeing our sufferings as opportunities that can arise from the ashes of circumstance.  I want to be prepared for the days of ashes by knowing who I am and from where I have come.

May all of us who believe in the resurrected life be prepared for the day of ashes with the sure knowledge that Christ loves us and died for us so that we can stand tall as righteous oaks that glorify His name!

Christ’s Reward,

Joshua Fletcher

Dearest Friends and Family!  Here is our August Fletchersteps Newsletter detailing our visit to the states coming up this month!  Download it with the link below! We hope to see you soon!

Fletchersteps aug 8-17

Love, -Joshua and Allison

Here is our FletcherSteps June Update!  Download the PDF below to read our latest news!

FletcherSteps Newsletter 6-26-17

Hi Everyone!  I am doing a little housekeeping on our website!  We have just one more trimester here in Costa Rica before we head to Ecuador.  After I graduate form language school it is my plan to write articles and send newsletters and updates through this website.  We want to get as many followers as we can.  Please consider visiting the site and sign up to receive our blog in your email inbox.  The button is on the right or at the bottom of the site in the left hand corner. Go here: Fletcher Steps 4-17-17

Here is our most recent FletcherSteps Update!  Enjoy!

newsletter 4-17-17

My Dear Friends,

During our break from language school I took some time to write.  Here is one piece of writing  have been working on.  I hope that it inspires you to start 2017 off on the right foot. We love you all!

Christ’s Reward,

Joshua and Allison, Grace, Abby, and Simeon

(Click the line below)

how-to-engage-in-the-healthy-practice-of-self-reflection-

Our newest FletcherSteps prayer letter below!

Click and enjoy!  -Joshua

fletchersteps9-15-16

It has been almost two weeks since we arrived here in Costa Rica and it been great.  It has been a whirlwind, but really great.  We are all settled in now and beginning to find our way around the “San Francisco de Dos Rios” area.  Things we want are not as easy to find here.  Certain stores have one thing while other stores have another.  And the cost of living is much higher here, but we knew this would be the case.  We are living simply and learning from it.  We are adjusting to not always having what we want when we want it. There is no Amazon Prime with two hour shipping. There are no 24 hour Walgreens or CVS Pharmacies here, and even though there is a Wal-Mart, it is much different than those back home in the USA.  We do not have a car either so there are some limitations when we go shopping.  I was hit with this truth about four days after our arrival.

There will always be something that we do not have and want. If we allow ourselves to be unhappy because of what we lack, we are in danger of falling into a bottomless pit of want and discontent. Lord let this never happen!

One of the lessons I learned right away came from the building (a quadriplex) where we are living with three other families.  This building is unique in that the missionaries who constructed the compound long ago dug out a cistern for times of drought. If there is a water shortage in the city, we will have water which is a good thing because this does happen sometimes. It is a sure bet that we will never have need of water during our year in Costa Rica!  Jesus said this about our need for water in John 7: 37-39,

On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, he should come to Me and drink! The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.” He said this about the Spirit. Those who believed in Jesus were going to receive the Spirit, for the Spirit had not yet been received because Jesus had not yet been glorified.”

These “streams of living water” Jesus talks about are available to us and that means that we have a well inside that will never run dry, not a bottomless pit, but an everlasting well because we can be filled with the Holy Spirt.  It is gratitude and contentment that cap off the bottomless pit of want adn discontent and help us find and draw from the well of the spirit Jesus has placed within every believer. Our wants will trap us so we must learn to overcome them with gratitude and contentment.

The pit of want is safely covered by gratitude and contentment and the tree ythat is happiest is planted by God’s always full and never shallow well. This blessed tree produces many different fruits like Joy and Patience! Lord let me be that tree!

We have also learned about making adjustments.  It seems that living in a city of 2 million is a little different than living in Rimer-town in Cabarrus County, North Carolina. We left the quiet countryside for the noisy city.  And we left wide open spaces for concrete walls, razor wire fencing, and ever present traffic.  Our bed is hard, things smell much different, and we are 4000 feet above sea level so the air is a little thinner.  Adjustments are a part of life.  Sometimes they are scary.  Sometimes they are huge and sometimes they are small, but everyone faces adjustments.  If we cannot learn to adjust with the adjustments it is going to be hard for us. Our four days of orientation to the school were meant to help us adjust to life here in Costa Rica.   

I have learned that humility and a teachable spirit are very important qualities that I must ask God to keep developing in me if I am going to learn a new language and culture. God is moving and changing hearts and minds by His Word and His Spirit.  How can I expect others be open and teachable if I am unwilling to be open and teachable myself?

The Fletchers are going to learn a lot this year in Costa Rica, much more than language and culture!  I cannot wait to share some of these things here on this blog.  Please pray for our learning this year, for a humble,open, and  teachable spirit to come and stay with us throughout the year.  And pray for all of our adjustments, known and unknown, both the ones that are here and those that will come.  We will pray for you as well as things change while we are gone and as God moves in you and through you as you draw deeply from the well inside that God has given you.  You are all very precious to us.  Thank you for your prayers and support!!