“For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him?’’ but we have the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16). This quotation from Isaiah 40:13 reminds us of our inability to attain to God’s thoughts and ways. Does God check in to “run something by us” before he acts? Does God submit his plans to any of us for approval? Does God need any of us to proofread his ideas before he publishes them? Of course not! His judgments are unsearchable and his ways inscrutable (Rom 11:33–34). How then can we know what God thinks? While his thoughts are completely inaccessible to us, Paul reminds the Corinthian church that in Christ, God has indeed revealed his purposes and his ways—he has chosen to do so through the inspiring work of his Holy Spirit (2:10). These inscripturated truths, given by God through his Spirit to the apostles of Jesus, are available to those of us whose eyes have been illumined by the same Holy Spirit. Apart from that eye-opening, life-giving work of the Spirit, no human being will ever welcome God’s truth, but when the Spirit “turns on the lights” in the heart and mind of a sinner, he will embrace the Spirit-inspired Word of God as the mind of Christ and hungrily devour it. How could we ever know the mind of the Lord? Through the wisdom we find in God’s Word, we have the very mind of Jesus Christ.

This past month we had the opportunity to take a week of vacation in Viña del Mar, a city in central Chile. It was a good time to rest and to spend time together. When we came home, we jumped back into Bible studies and visits. We are thankful for all the opportunities to encourage others to know the mind of the Lord through his Word. We have had several opportunities to receive visitors: Daniel, a young man from South Carolina who is spending two weeks with us on a short-term mission trip and a young family who filled in for the Flincks in Arica the past two months. It was exciting to hear how Jesus is building his church in Arica. We celebrated the Fourth of July with another missionary couple: hamburgers, baked beans, potato salad, and apple pie!

The upcoming months promise to be busy: our church will be having a one-day marriage seminar, Bekah gets to attend a pastors’ wives’ retreat in the south of Chile, Mark will travel to Temuco for a weekend to instruct a group of elders and pastors, we will be hosting the annual GMSA Chile winter meeting, and our church will host the northern pastors’ meeting. We appreciate your prayers for us.

This is our July 2024 email update. You can sign up to receive our updates in your inbox here. You can download a printable PDF here.