Smith-age 10
Zaisy-age 8
Davis-age 4
Ax-age 2
Me and my pumpkins
Great Riches
The dollars in our bank account come and go. It’s never very much, but it’s always enough. Yet, at the end of the day when my children crowd onto my oversized lap, all talking over one another, vying for the attention of their father, I understand in my heart that I am one of the richest men in the world.
Along this journey of life I have proved to be a terrible communicator, as well as a terrible fund-raiser. As we are State-side awaiting the birth of our newest little guy the Lord has supplemented our dwindling support with a variety of jobs. One of my aunts suggested they should start a show about it all. I was reminded of her idea when I caught a commercial of, “Dirty Jobs” and I thought, “Wow! That’s my life right now.”
Here’s a short list of my most recent job descriptions: mover, ranch hand, granite guy, bike parts builder, and most recently, a piano teacher. What a crazy variety. Crazy experiences. Crazy life!
Like David fighting his lions and his bears, like Daniel-son painting the fence and sanding the deck, I sense it’s all for a reason, a greater purpose of training us for the next step. My late, great, father-in-law use to humorously say, “I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor. I’d rather be rich.” While in
We refused to live off of credit. Partly, or mainly because I had burned our only credit card over a camp fire a year before as a step of faith. At times it hurt. We didn’t get to always eat what we wanted, buy what we wanted, or do what we wanted. But it was good training and allowed us to come out of
As we seek the Lord about where He would have us go next, I often wonder, “What the heck is all this training for?” Inwardly, I’ve also come to realize that with me it’s never the exotic, dangerous, adventurous places I struggle with saying, “Yes!” to. Rather, it’s the times of boringness, relative ease, and quiet that I wrestle with.
I will not lie. There are times when I stand in a long hot shower, travel down smooth highways, or visit with friends and family nearby, that I am tempted to give up and become a full-time American once again. However, it’s not the adventure, travel, or excitement that keeps me going. It’s simply the call…the desire to lay down my life and be used for a greater purpose. Like the seed falling to the ground to die that it might bear much fruit. To go to the ends of the Earth and share the love of Jesus with those who would otherwise never hear.
I am the richest man in the world not because of the dollars in my bank account. I am rich with love, with hugs and sticky kisses. I am rich with the knowledge that none of it is about me. We use to have the house, the cars, the steady flow of income…and we were always so poor. We have none of that now…and we are richer than ever!
Great Expectations
Celebrating Ax's 2nd birthday
It's a boy!!
Rachel & I leading worship.
I’ve taken a sabbatical from writing blogs. I’m back. As I grow, learning to recognize seasons of life for what they are, not getting hung-up on longing for moments of the past, or yearning for the adventures yet to come, I find a certain amount of contentment creeping in on me. It’s good.
When we came back to the States, our marriage was dangerously off-track and both Rachel and I could barely tolerate our children. We were burnt toast.
Finding ourselves unexpectedly State-side expecting our fifth child was…unexpected. A couple of divine appointments took place which I now can see as points of healing and restoration for us.
Some of our good missionary friends with YWAM set up a meeting with some professional debriefing counselors. I was skeptical. They were old, disabled, and strangers. What could they possibly know? Within minutes of meeting them at the local Village Inn, they saw into our souls. It was one of those weird/wild moments in life where you believe that some people may actually have super-powers. They shared with us all kinds of practical tips, ideas, and suggestions to help us out of the tangly underbrush and get back to the daylight of the trail. Then they prayed for us and great things were accomplished.
The other appointment took place in the form of a parenting book Rachel picked up one day. It’s called, “To Train Up A Child.” The great chasm between where we were as parents, and where this booked encouraged us we could be, slapped us in the face like a cold, Wyoming-winter-wind. You mean you’re actually supposed to enjoy your kids and desire more? What!? Yet within weeks of instituting some of the techniques and training ideas presented within…we began to notice startling changes in each of our children, in our hearts. It was good.
Here we are months later. Living in a basement we are renting from friends in Colorado Springs. On plan “X” or possibly “Y” at this point. The Lord continues to provide for all of our needs in radical ways. Rachel and I are communicating in ways and on levels unknown to us before. We are enjoying our kids and so excited to meet our newest little guy, scheduled to arrive in late-December. We’re actually enjoying our kids so much that we’re realizing that number five may not be enough. How wild is that?
We’re not where we thought we’d be…but we continue to do all the things the Lord has called us to. Through deep, fascinating times of intercession and leading worship, we’re seeing the Holy Spirit minister to us and through us in ways that we could have never imagined before. Through these times we each began to discover our own super-powers.
I began to remember yesterday with a flavor of tender-fondness. Today I embrace with a content, adventurous spirit. It is with great expectation I look to tomorrow.
Where the HEY are the Nagels?!
We stopped by to see Uncle Sonny for a pizza break!
Zaisy got a haircut
We got to go to a wedding at the Zoo!
Cousins trying to figure out who's taller. Zaisy or Charley?
Carousel was free at the Zoo Wedding
We got to visit Storybook Island in South Dakota. The coolest!
Uncle Dave found a kindred spirit
Nagel boys monkeying around
Allie loves Pooh Bear
Silly ol' Bear
Eight AWESOME guys
Rachel and Christina at Mount Rushmore, South Dakota
The sisterhood of the traveling pants:Story goes, three sisters ended up buying the same exact pants from Penny's.
They fit all body types fabulously.
I bet some of you have been wondering, "What happened to the Nagels?" "Where are they now?" "Why haven't they called?"
To answer your questions, I ask this question: What happens to a space mission upon returning to Earth from it's orbit? Answer: Re-entry. I've heard this analogy being used to describe missionaries coming back from the field to their native homeland. I think it's a wonderful analogy. I felt many times in the last month like I would completely "burn up on re-entry". Any of you who have been on the mission field can relate, I'm sure. There's a strange feeling of being a foreigner in your own land.
Some friends of ours referred us to a couple who specializes in this type of counseling. They have worked for twenty years in this field. Now they travel around doing "debrief counseling" all over the country. They were able to meet with us one evening about a week ago. After just an hour of listening to who we are and what happened in the last year, they completely nailed all the feelings we've been feeling and struggling with and fighting through. They gave us a strong prescription for the next few months to help us work through some issues, complemented us on our kids (total miracle how well behaved they were), and gave us their contact numbers seeing as they'll be in Boston until November. I think God is going to use this time in our lives as a healing and restoration so that someday maybe we'll be meeting others at Village Inn for a much-needed counseling session.
So, as to the quesions... we made it home safely. We are staying with friends in Colorado Springs, CO. Trying to decide about putting the kids in school. We are still full of a ton of questions ourselves, so please forgive our lack of answers. We are all still reacclimating to our environment.
faith,
hope,
love,
Nagels
Crazy Adventures in Nagelland
We spent the month of April seeking the face of God and asking Him about the “next step” in our lives. It’s ALWAYS amazing to me how much the Lord can change your heart in a single hour of solid prayer. It’s ALWAS amazing to me that when you seek the Lord with your whole heart, He is faithful to meet with you.
We were hoping to be able to stay on with our current ministry down here through the summer to continue to intercede and lead worship. But with the recent discovery of our fifth baby on the way, and the small, little fact that the ministry leaders said, “NO.”, we have decided it’s time to move on.
And yes, you did read that right, numero cinco is on the way. Rachel and I often feel like terrible parents, but the Lord must see something worthy in us that we do not see ourselves. Though the patterns and ways of the world tell us that children are a burden and a nuisance, we believe that children are a blessing and a reward from the Lord. We are excited to be found worthy of the responsibility of another life. And EVERYONE knows that the world needs more red-heads!
It’s funny when the pieces all began to come together how the peace of God surrounds you and everything seems to make sense. We’ll be spending the next few days selling all of our belongings, once again, and then we’ll be making our way up to the States. All of our pregnancies so far have been smooth however; Rachel does have a unique medical condition with her blood, during pregnancy, that the doctors always like to keep a close eye on.
So, you may ask, is this the end of the Nagel’s mission’s career? Not at all! It’s just the beginning. It’s not all clear yet, but with the many people who have come to us and said, “Just choose a country and we will follow you guys anywhere.”, we begin to catch the hint that perhaps the Lord is leading us to put together a team or teams of people to take over the world for Jesus. We’ll give you more details as it all comes together.
Anyways, we are excited to catch up with our many faithful supporters, take some long hot showers, and of course, flush our toilet paper. We should be to Colorado by the end of this month and it will be so good to see you face-to-face.
We are overwhelmed with excitement and can’t wait to see where the crazy adventure of following God leads us next! See you soon.
My Two Bears
These two little boys keep us hopping but are also a constant source of joy in our lives!
Hunger in the land
A few of the books I had the pleasure of reading during training.
To desire to hunger after God and to actually have a hunger for God are entirely two different things. One may lead to the other, but they should not be confused as being identical.
Having finished our formal missions training earlier this month, we’ve been spending the last several days seeking God and His next step for our lives. One morning I was awoken by a phone call from my friend Jordan. He had traveled down to Oaxaca City with several teenagers to attend a youth conference. His excitement was contagious on the phone and within half an hour I had kissed Rachel and the kids, and with a change of clothes and my sleeping bag I made the 3 hour trip down the road.
I haven’t hung out with a lot of teenagers in the States, but these kids down here really blew my mind. Many of them were dressed like punks, but any time we started praying or worshipping, they were hard to keep up with. The two nights I was there, we didn’t stop singing or dancing until after 1:00 in the morning. Wow! Being in a stadium where all 7,000 people are dancing at once is an experience I will not soon forget.
As I think about church history and the different revivals that have taken place, the tangible presence of God seems to be the common denominator. Yet, it doesn’t seem to be something one can conjure up. I always crack up a little bit when I drive by a church and see a big banner advertising the upcoming, “REVIVAL.”
So…if it’s the presence of God that truly changes people’s lives…what are we doing about it? Is there anything we can do about it? Maybe.
The Spirit of God seems to come in a tangible form to those that are most hungry. To those that hunger and thirst for Him and Him alone. It brings me to my original point: I think many of us desire to be hungry for God…yet that’s where it ends. To push through that and get to a place where I want nothing else, no one else, where He is the only thing that will satisfy…is where I want to be. I’m not sure how to get there, but that’s what I want.
After a year in Mexico I think we’ve developed many valuable friendships and relationships. But it’s also becoming blindingly clear that if all of Mexico, or even just all of our little city here in the mountains is to come to know the Creator of the universe, they are going to have to have an encounter with His presence.
Anyways…just a few of the thoughts currently bouncing around in my head. When you think of our family this month, please pray for us and our future direction. We’re not sure where or when to go from here. We’re excited about the future…just a little unclear right now.
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