We have some exciting news to share about the next major change in our lives.  Be prepared, this post is unusually long, only because there is so much to share.

For readability, we have broken it down into three sections:

>>Audrey’s Heart
>>Matt’s Heart
>>All the Details

We are so glad to share life with you all, in great and small ways!

>>Audrey’s Heart

This walk with Jesus, it’s a life changer. Life outward changes, life inward changes. This life with Jesus is different. It is a life of freedom. A freedom to live creatively and fully.

It is absolutely clear that God has called us (and you!) to a free life…he has called us to use this freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom. (Galatians 5:13-15, MSG)

In this life of freedom we are able to be the ones God has created us to be. To fully embrace the person we are in Jesus. To live full lives, full in the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:19, MSG)  It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for! Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone. (Ephesians 1:11, MSG)

In Galatians, Paul tells us to “make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.” (Galatians 6, MSG)

We have prayed and asked. Where do we belong?

God led us to Thailand. As if He said, you belong here; sink yourself into this work.

We groped our way through that murk once, but no longer. We’re out in the open now. The bright light of Christ makes our way plain. So no more stumbling around. “Get on with it! The good, the right, the true—these are the actions appropriate for daylight hours. Figure out what will please Christ, and then do it.” (Ephesians 5:8-10, MSG)

We have made a choice and we’re embracing a new life-changer. Embracing this freedom. We’ve made the choice to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God has called us to travel. (Ephesians 4:1-3, MSG)

In February 2015 we will begin a year serving and loving in Chiang Mai, Thailand with Faithful Heart Foundation (FHF). Last year, through our journey, God led us to Dave and Shirley Callahan. This godly and loving couple established FHF in 2008. Their Christian compassion ministry is focused on rescuing orphan children and helping the poor & disadvantaged hill tribe people of Thailand. Dave & Shirley have invited us to come alongside them and serve with FHF. We are eager and excited to be a part of the work God has set before them; their work so resonates with our hearts.

(Please read more about FHF’s background, objectives, vision and statement of faith here. The information listed on this page is just the surface of the work FHF is involved in!)

In Acts 26, Paul is giving an account to King Agrippa of his run-in with Jesus on Damascus road. This is what Jesus spoke to Paul, “‘I’m sending you off to open the eyes of the outsiders so they can see the difference between dark and light, and choose light, see the difference between Satan and God, and choose God. I’m sending you off to present my offer of sins forgiven, and a place in the family, inviting them into the company of those who begin real living by believing in me.’”

This is the thrust of the Way Jesus has called us all to.

 Paul goes on to say, “What could I do, King Agrippa? I couldn't just walk away from a vision like that! I became an obedient believer on the spot. I started preaching this life-change—this radical turn to God and everything it meant in everyday life—right there in Damascus, went on to Jerusalem and the surrounding countryside, and from there to the whole world.” (Acts 26, MSG)

As we embark on this way, we need you. We need your love, prayers and support. We do not take this step lightly, nor easily. We love our families so much, it will be the hardest thing to leave them and be thousands of miles removed. We need prayer for strength, closeness to God and that his hand will be upon us and this work that FHF is dedicated to.

Thank you for all of the love and support you all have always shown us. We are so blessed to be a part of this family of Christ.

This is our prayer, for us and for you--
We ask—ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy, boundless strength! (Ephesians 1:15, MSG)

>>Matt’s Heart

I love what Audrey quoted:

“Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.”

It’s a good word for any of us.  Too often we are bogged down by questions of income, standard of living, comfort, and fear. We never come around to living.  We go through life mechanically, logging time and seeking happiness.  That strange rumor of joy evades us.

I’m speaking from experience.  Even in the moments when my happiness should be fullest, it isn't quite complete and it never stays.  My life has been a jumbled, stumbling, wandering journey.  It has not gone the way I would have expected and certainly not the way I would have chosen.  There have been a lot of painful experiences, difficult lessons, mistakes, and lots of change along the way; as there will also be the future.

I am absolutely confident that the future will not be what I’m expecting it to be and that I will be wrong often, but that doesn't discourage me anymore.

We cannot control life.  If you imagine you can, wait until someone you love is diagnosed with cancer.  Our responsibility is ‘to do the creative best we can with our own lives’. What that means is that we need to look at ourselves and ask how our lives can contribute to Life.  If I think about it, everything I have done moves me, and those around me, either towards life, wholeness, and joy or towards death, fragmentation, and sorrow. We are desperate to believe we are isolated, neutral parties. But we are not! We are all connected, all family under God:

“Have we not all one father?  Has not one God created us?  Why then are we faithless to one another..” (Malachi 2:10)

In our fear, we grasp at our own happiness and those things we imagine will make us happy.  We look suspiciously at the person next to us.  Will you contribute to my happiness or take away from it?  Dare I risk caring for you, for then I might have to carry more sorrow and sadness, and will not that rob my happiness?

Isn't happiness the absence of sorrow?  What else can we do but seek a protected life?  You insulate yourself from me and I from you.  But where does this lead? Does it lead to happiness, wholeness, and joy?

What if our pursuit of happiness was the very thing that prohibited us from attaining it?  What if in order to find life, you had to lose it: to give it away?  What if the surest way to find your own happiness was to seek someone else’s?

It is easy for me to talk big.  It is much harder to live a life of giving to other people.  What about money, bills, kids, friends, health, retirement?  Where do you start?  I start with God.  Someone has to tell me who I am (I’ve been wrong too often).  We are all far too unique to not have been made for some specific work.  I need direction to get there.  Otherwise I will pass my time working for money, security, prestige or some other illusion.  I will live, but miss Life.

There are so many reasons why Audrey and are choosing to work with Faithful Heart Foundation, but God is the fullest explanation.  Who led us to Thailand though we never planned to go there?  Who helped us discover our own talents and interests?  Who showed us a place where we could use those to help kids have a chance at a good life?  Who gives us hope when we feel crappy about ourselves and our world?

This is our diving-in, sinking-in, to the work which has been given to us.  Trying not to be impressed with ourselves, trying not to compare ourselves with others; it is simply us seeking our happiness in the welfare of others, especially those who are vulnerable and in great need.  We have been wrong so often about how we thought things would work out. Who knows what the future holds?  

We are going to try to live fully as the people God made us to be.  Right now, we see how we can explore, learn, grow and be involved in this work in Thailand. This is us seeking the creative best for these lives we’ve been given.  How can you be living your creative best?

>>All the Details

Where:  Chiang Mai, Thailand

When:  February 2015, for an initial year.

Who:  Faithful Heart Foundation – Dave and Shirley Callahan

http://faithfulheartministry.com/
https://www.facebook.com/faithfulheartfoundationthailand

What:
>> Helping where we can in the administrative and planning work within FHF.
>> Interacting with and loving on the Thai families within the care of FHF.
>> Agricultural development to help finance the orphan care work. FHF is well underway in many agricultural projects that we are excited about!
 >>Exploring the possibility staring a coffee/tea shop to sell Moringa tea, handmade crafts, etc. also to support the orphan work.
>> Language Learning

How:
Audrey and I have worked for almost 7 years, saving money to do this.  We purchased two investment properties which provide an income for us.

If it would make your heart happy to support us financially and the work we are doing, we would be very grateful.  (Go the “Give” tab at the top of this page or on the right sidebar.) We've never done anything on our own; many of you have helped us, encouraged us, and given to us.  We are the possessors of your generosity and kindness, and we always will be.  

Random Extras:
Would you consider giving us your name, email address, mailing address, and phone number?  We want to send out brief notes, prayer requests, updates, etc. and it would be handy to be able to get them to you.
 
Would you like to talk directly to Audrey or Matt?  We would love it!  You can reach us a number of ways:

Phone:
720-308-1099

Email:
matthewdavidpound@gmail.com
audreypound@gmail.com

Letter:
Matt & Audrey Pound
4218 Idledale Dr.
Fort Collins, CO 80526

We've printed a prayer card with all of our information on it; if you'd like one just ask and we can get one to you!

Can we encourage you on your own journey?  Please let us know about your lives and what is happening so we can rejoice when you rejoice, weep when you weep, and pray together.

We love you all so much, thank you for journeying with us!

In hope of Life,
Matt & Audrey Pound

15 1-2 Friends, let me go over the Message with you one final time— this Message that I proclaimed and that you made your own; this Message on which you took your stand and by which your life has been saved. (I’m assuming, now, that your belief was the real thing and not a passing fancy, that you’re in this for good and holding fast.)

3-9 The first thing I did was place before you what was placed so emphatically before me: that the Messiah died for our sins, exactly as Scripture tells it; that he was buried; that he was raised from death on the third day, again exactly as Scripture says; that he presented himself alive to Peter, then to his closest followers, and later to more than five hundred of his followers all at the same time, most of them still around (although a few have since died); that he then spent time with James and the rest of those he commissioned to represent him; and that he finally presented himself alive to me. It was fitting that I bring up the rear. I don’t deserve to be included in that inner circle, as you well know, having spent all those early years trying my best to stamp God’s church right out of existence.

10-11 But because God was so gracious, so very generous, here I am. And I’m not about to let his grace go to waste. Haven’t I worked hard trying to do more than any of the others? Even then, my work didn’t amount to all that much. It was God giving me the work to do, God giving me the energy to do it. So whether you heard it from me or from those others, it’s all the same: We spoke God’s truth and you entrusted your lives.

12-15 Now, let me ask you something profound yet troubling. If you became believers because you trusted the proclamation that Christ is alive, risen from the dead, how can you let people say that there is no such thing as a resurrection? If there’s no resurrection, there’s no living Christ. And face it—if there’s no resurrection for Christ, everything we’ve told you is smoke and mirrors, and everything you’ve staked your life on is smoke and mirrors. Not only that, but we would be guilty of telling a string of barefaced lies about God, all these affidavits we passed on to you verifying that God raised up Christ—sheer fabrications, if there’s no resurrection.

16-20 If corpses can’t be raised, then Christ wasn’t, because he was indeed dead. And if Christ weren’t raised, then all you’re doing is wandering about in the dark, as lost as ever. It’s even worse for those who died hoping in Christ and resurrection, because they’re already in their graves. If all we get out of Christ is a little inspiration for a few short years, we’re a pretty sorry lot. But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first in a long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries.

21-28 There is a nice symmetry in this: Death initially came by a man, and resurrection from death came by a man. Everybody dies in Adam; everybody comes alive in Christ. But we have to wait our turn: Christ is first, then those with him at his Coming, the grand consummation when, after crushing the opposition, he hands over his kingdom to God the Father. He won’t let up until the last enemy is down—and the very last enemy is death! As the psalmist said, “He laid them low, one and all; he walked all over them.” When Scripture says that “he walked all over them,” it’s obvious that he couldn’t at the same time be walked on. When everything and everyone is finally under God’s rule, the Son will step down, taking his place with everyone else, showing that God’s rule is absolutely comprehensive—a perfect ending!

29 Why do you think people offer themselves to be baptized for those already in the grave? If there’s no chance of resurrection for a corpse, if God’s power stops at the cemetery gates, why do we keep doing things that suggest he’s going to clean the place out someday, pulling everyone up on their feet alive?

30-33 And why do you think I keep risking my neck in this dangerous work? I look death in the face practically every day I live. Do you think I’d do this if I wasn’t convinced of your resurrection and mine as guaranteed by the resurrected Messiah Jesus? Do you think I was just trying to act heroic when I fought the wild beasts at Ephesus, hoping it wouldn’t be the end of me? Not on your life! It’s resurrection, resurrection, always resurrection, that undergirds what I do and say, the way I live. If there’s no resurrection, “We eat, we drink, the next day we die,” and that’s all there is to it. But don’t fool yourselves. Don’t let yourselves be poisoned by this anti-resurrection loose talk. “Bad company ruins good manners.”

34 Think straight. Awaken to the holiness of life. No more playing fast and loose with resurrection facts. Ignorance of God is a luxury you can’t afford in times like these. Aren’t you embarrassed that you’ve let this kind of thing go on as long as you have?

35-38 Some skeptic is sure to ask, “Show me how resurrection works. Give me a diagram; draw me a picture. What does this ‘resurrection body’ look like?” If you look at this question closely, you realize how absurd it is. There are no diagrams for this kind of thing. We do have a parallel experience in gardening. You plant a “dead” seed; soon there is a flourishing plant. There is no visual likeness between seed and plant. You could never guess what a tomato would look like by looking at a tomato seed. What we plant in the soil and what grows out of it don’t look anything alike. The dead body that we bury in the ground and the resurrection body that comes from it will be dramatically different.

39-41 You will notice that the variety of bodies is stunning. Just as there are different kinds of seeds, there are different kinds of bodies—humans, animals, birds, fish—each unprecedented in its form. You get a hint at the diversity of resurrection glory by looking at the diversity of bodies not only on earth but in the skies—sun, moon, stars—all these varieties of beauty and brightness. And we’re only looking at pre-resurrection “seeds”—who can imagine what the resurrection “plants” will be like!

42-44 This image of planting a dead seed and raising a live plant is a mere sketch at best, but perhaps it will help in approaching the mystery of the resurrection body—but only if you keep in mind that when we’re raised, we’re raised for good, alive forever! The corpse that’s planted is no beauty, but when it’s raised, it’s glorious. Put in the ground weak, it comes up powerful. The seed sown is natural; the seed grown is supernatural—same seed, same body, but what a difference from when it goes down in physical mortality to when it is raised up in spiritual immortality!

45-49 We follow this sequence in Scripture: The First Adam received life, the Last Adam is a life-giving Spirit. Physical life comes first, then spiritual—a firm base shaped from the earth, a final completion coming out of heaven. The First Man was made out of earth, and people since then are earthy; the Second Man was made out of heaven, and people now can be heavenly. In the same way that we’ve worked from our earthy origins, let’s embrace our heavenly ends.

50 I need to emphasize, friends, that our natural, earthy lives don’t in themselves lead us by their very nature into the kingdom of God. Their very “nature” is to die, so how could they “naturally” end up in the Life kingdom?

51-57 But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I’ll probably never fully understand. We’re not all going to die—but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes—it’s over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we’ll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true:

Death swallowed by triumphant Life!
Who got the last word, oh, Death?
Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now?

It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God!

58 With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don’t hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort.