Author: Jacob & Samantha McRae

Verse to Consider: 2 Corinthians 2:14-15
^“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing”

Greetings
Hello new and faithful readers!  We apologize for the late update. We broke our agreement to give an update every month, seeing that it has now been about 2 since our last post. Given the craziness of travel and the Christmas holiday, I pray you will forgive us. 🙂

Thankfulness
Concerning the title of this blog post, I will first say that these past few months have served as a personal reminder of all we have to give thanks for:

For our beautiful son, Benaiah who has been both the greatest trial and greatest joy of our lives. (He’s doing awesome by the way).

For the ability to see family and celebrate our Savior together over Christmas.

We’re thankful for being able to take part in the marriage of one of our staff members and friends. And also for the addition of two new and amazing staff members, welcome Kristi Marsh and Morgan Phaneuf! (Pictures in that order.)

We’re thankful for the gift of serving in a community of dedicated Jesus followers, and to see God actively working through the teaching of His Word. (One of the ways we were especially blessed this semester was through having Dr. Joseph Okello give us a special lecture on the book of Job, thanks to our friendship with Asbury Theological Seminary. So awesome!)

I also had the awesome opportunity to teach through the book of Ecclesiastes, what a beautiful heart-wrencher!

We started our New Testament semester in January and it has been so exciting! Our students are amazing and it’s been so refreshing to walk with them through the Gospels and the book of Acts, which we’re studying currently. As we look at the first new covenant believers, the missional journeys of the apostle Paul, and the ministry of the Holy Spirit, I’ve been struck with the depth of significance the gospel carried for these people and the cost that came with it.

Where the Jews looked for a conquering king that would lead them into glorious victory against the Roman oppressors, they found a suffering servant-king. When they looked for a God that demanded perfection, they found only grace and a love for all people. In the beginning of Acts, this starting group of 120, imperfect, followers in Jerusalem explodes in a way that it has no business doing throughout the books of Acts. We see thousands of people flock to the message of grace, giving everything they hold dear in this life just to know this man named Jesus: the unclean Roman gentile, the sick and lame, the rich and powerful, and even a murdering persecutor like Saul.

I’m so thankful to know this Jesus. I’m so thankful that the gospel is for each and every person, no matter where they’re at in life. And we’re so thankful that our job everyday is to study and teach others about this man Jesus, through His words. Lastly, we’re thankful for you! If you are reading this, you are important to us and have been a tremendous encouragement to our souls in this mission of ours. Whether you have given to us financially, prayed for us faithfully, or simply invited us over for a meal, you have allowed us to pursue our dream. For this, we are so grateful.

A Call to Prayer
And this leads us to our call to prayer. Over the course of the last year, we have been unable to increase our monthly income to a sustainable place, and if something doesn’t change soon, it will no longer be possible for us to continue our work here. We truly believe that God has called us to help others know and experience the Bible in a life-transforming way. We are praying that God will establish this calling on our lives through an increase in His provision! That being said, we wanted to ask you, all of our supporters, to join us in prayer as we seek God in this need.

In order for our family to work full time in this ministry and live a healthy lifestyle, we need our total monthly income to reach a minimum of $3000. We are currently living off half of this. Please pray that God would bring us the necessary donors to help us reach our goal. We also ask for your prayers to help us continue living faithfully with the calling God has placed on our lives.

If you would like to become a financial partner in this mission, please click here! to reach our donate page.  If you’re new to this blog or our mission, we’d love to tell you all about it. You can find our information on our “Contact Us” page above, or click here! to read more about Emmaus Ministries.

Thank you all for your love and support,
– The McRae Family

Daniel 7:14 – “And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”

Greetings
Hello friends, family, and other readers! We wish you a late Thanksgiving and an early Merry Christmas.

What’s New?
The month that has passed since our last update has been one of great highs and great lows! We started off right with a wonderful Thanksgiving visit to family in Virginia. For the first time in quite a while, my (Jacob) siblings and I were able to gather together with our families under our parents’ roof, along with other wonderful family members. And one of the greatest joys was being able to introduce our new son to his extended family. 🙂 It was truly a time where we saw our blessings before us in every moment.

 

Sadly, we could only visit for a short while. I was due to teach the book of Daniel the very first day that our students’ break was over. Miraculously, Benaiah handled the 14+ hour car trips, to and from Virginia, much better than we had ever hoped or dreamed, and they were made with minimal loss of sanity. Until…

 

We were met with unexpected misfortune about 5 hours from home, when we ran over an unidentified metal object. Thankfully, we were kept safe and saw our tire going flat when we were already stopped on the side of the road (Praise God!). We ended up needing to spend the night in Georgia, but thankfully we had left a day early, and we made it back in time for me to teach my two classes on Daniel.

 

Getting ready to teach the book of Daniel was easily the most trying process of preparation I’ve ever experienced while teaching for Emmaus, and was probably just as draining on Samantha as it was on myself. And yet, Daniel quickly became one of my (if not my absolute!) favorite books of the Bible. There are many opinions and endless debates over details within the book of Daniel, but one of the lessons I learned while studying was to not let the details overshadow the message, and there is a wonderful message in this book. The story of Daniel’s life takes place during exile of Judah into Babylonian hands. While this exiled people are looking for hope and answers in the midst of their ruin, God’s sovereignty is stamped on every page of that book as a salve to their wounded hearts and broken dreams. Daniel witnesses the rise and fall of multiple kings and nations throughout his lifetime, including his own, which leaves him and the remnant of Israel with a looming question: Which kingdom can we place our hope and trust in? The answer presents itself most clearly in Ch. 7, where Daniel witnesses an everlasting kingdom and dominion being given to the Son of Man and his people, the saints, while even the most imposing and terrible kingdoms of the earth fall hopelessly short.

I’d gladly go on, but I can feel your attention waning. 😉 Suffice it to say that I loved this book and it was a privilege to teach! And never did we need the message more than this past month!

We followed this class with some Christmas decorating and other shenanigans with our students.

Alas, our troubles didn’t end with the flat tire. The next day, Benaiah (who was already exhibiting some cold symptoms) began to develop a terrible cough and difficulty breathing. Over that night and the next, we made 3 visits to the ER and ended up having Benaiah admitted into the children’s hospital with a bad case of RSV (respiratory virus).

 

What we had hoped would be an overnight stay turned into 5 days at the hospital, due to Benaiah’s continued labored breathing. Thankfully, Benaiah’s life never seems to be in great danger, it simply turned into a long and uncomfortable road to recovery. On the 5th day, we were able to come home again. And while Benaiah is still on the mend, he’s doing much better! And he also got a special visit from Nona (grandma) out of it 🙂

 

Thank you everyone for your prayers! We’re so grateful!

Prayer Requests:
– Family: We continue to ask for prayers over our family members whose child is experiencing very rare and terrible medical conditions. Samantha’s eldest brother and his wife (Jamie and Courtney) have a beautiful 5 month old daughter named Ellie who has been facing seeing/hearing impairment along with severe seizures. Please pray for Ellie’s conditions to improve and overall encouragement for them as a family.
– Travel: Because we’re gluttons for punishment, we’re driving to Virginia again over Christmas break in just two weeks. Please pray for our safe travel and no flat tires this time 🙂
– Finances: While Samantha and I are loving the new apartment we’ve been blessed to receive, it has definitely increased our need for further financial support. We’ve been able to make ends meet by working additional hours outside of our work at Emmaus, but it would relieve much stress and pressure to be able to focus all of our attention on what we believe God has called us to here at Emmaus Ministries. If you are interested in learning more about what we do, we’d love the opportunity to share more about our mission and ministry with you! If you’re interested in making a donation, click here! Thank you!

– The McRae Family

 

Verse to Consider: Micah 6:8,
“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

Where we left off…
It’s been quite some time since our last update. If you happened to read our last blog, then you’ll know that we took a temporary hiatus while we awaited the birth of our baby. Thank you for your patience! We’re overjoyed to announce that on September 8th, 2018, our lives were blessed by the arrival of Benaiah Reuben McRae:

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We’re in love. Samantha was a champ and gave birth after 12 hours of active labor. There were no complications and Benaiah has been a healthy boy since, praise the Lord! For all the prayers and the help we’ve received along the way, we are truly grateful. Thank you.

The following weeks
A few days before Samantha gave birth, we had just moved our belongings into our new apartment. We were fortunate enough to have family come and visit for the birth and stay to help us with the baby and get things unpacked in our new home. Just 6 days after Benaiah was born, Samantha and I celebrated our 5th anniversary (Woohoo!). And after 5 years of sharing space with others in one form or another, it’s truly a wonderful thing to finally have a space we can call our own 🙂

It’s probably unnecessary for me to say that the following weeks were filled with many new experiences and very little sleep. And yet, Samantha and I were faced with another challenge. Samantha’s sister was due to be married just one month after Benaiah was born, and so we made the tough decision to take our month old baby on a week long trip to Alaska. Fortunately, we had a lot of people praying for us and received plenty of good traveling advice and God definitely covered us in grace. Benaiah slept almost the entire 16 hours of flight!

The wedding was spectacular and we had a blast seeing all of our Alaska friends and family!

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Unfortunately, our trip didn’t exactly end on a high note. During the last few days of our travels, I (Jacob) caught a cold and on our (4) plane rides back to Florida, my cold turned into a painful ear infection. To make matters worse, I was scheduled to step back into my role with Emmaus and teach a lecture on the book of Micah shortly after getting back. I promptly visited a clinic upon our return, and a couple pill prescriptions and 3 shots on the butt later, I was well enough to give my lecture.

The Present…
Now that we’re home again, Samantha and I have been working to find some semblance of a rhythm in life. Samantha is still taking it easy (not that it’s easy) and is doing what work she can for Emmaus at home, while I return to my normal teaching duties. It’s definitely been a strange experience figuring out what parts of our old routines no longer fit our current circumstances. Despite this, it’s hard to express the amount of joy that has come with getting to know Benaiah, and even harder to imagine how we ever lived without him.

Concerning Emmaus, we are continuing to work our way through the Old Testament Prophets with our students, having just finished our first class on the book of Isaiah. I absolutely love this portion of Scripture! The fact that we have these incredible accounts of God dialoguing directly with man for the purposes of pursuing his people with love and mercy is incredibly special. Emotive and provocative, the Old Testament Prophets express the depths of sin and depravity, while highlighting the glorious heights of God’s love in ways that are unseen in any other works of literature. It’s been an absolute joy and privilege to spend my recent days studying and teaching from these books. Having recently given my lecture on Micah, I’m currently preparing my next two lectures on the book of Daniel. This will be my first time giving 6 hours worth of lecture on a single book, so I would greatly appreciate your prayers!

We wanted to give you, our supporters, an idea of how this school is impacting our students, so here is a short video we shot of one of our students, asking them a few questions about what they’ve learned with Emmaus.

Prayer Requests…
– The foremost on our minds is a family member who is suffering from serious and unexpected medical conditions. It’s been an incredibly rough time for them and has weighed very heavily on the hearts of those around them. Please pray for healing, comfort, and guidance.
– Samantha and I recently took our car in for some necessary repairs, and it has put a very large strain on our finances.
– We’ve decided to push our luck and make another long journey with our baby 🙂 please pray as we make a 12+ hour drive over Thanksgiving holiday.
– Please continue to pray for Samantha and I as try to figure out this parenting thing while we jump back into managing our jobs and schedules.

Verse to Consider – Luke 24:32
“They said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?'”

Here at Emmaus Ministries, our sole purpose is to help others experience the full weight of the story we read in Luke 24, where Simon and Cleopas are encountered by Jesus in an unexpected and life-changing way after having witnessed the crucifixion. Not only does Jesus take the time to walk with them on the road and listen to their questions, but he reveals HIS story to them through the Scriptures, and even ends their journey together with a shared meal. We desire to see everyone embark on their own Emmaus Road journey — to know the person of Jesus through His Word and allow Him to transform their hearts and lives. This desire is reflected in our three core values: Inductive Bible Study, Authentic Relationships, and Community Life.

What’s new?
It’s been quite busy the past few weeks as we’ve prepared for and finally started our Fall Semester of the School of Biblical Studies. And it’s only going to get busier as Samantha and I prepare for the coming of our baby in the next two weeks and work on moving into our new apartment! Despite the umbrella of anxious anticipation, we’ve had a truly wonderful two weeks of class time with our new and returning students.

(Images left to right: Samantha preparing welcome baskets. Introducing two of our international students to the finest American establishment. Personalized door tags for our resident students.)

The first week of classes involved taking the students through the book of Jonah while teaching them how to use the inductive study method. We use this book to teach the method because it contains multiple genres of literature to explore, exhibits the value of observing historical context, and it’s short. Apart from those things, Jonah is simply an amazing book as an introduction to God’s character! The second week of class was a bit more daunting as our students had to dive right into Genesis while still learning to utilize their new inductive skills, but they’ve been doing awesome!

As you may know, Emmaus Ministries runs other programs aside from the School of Biblical Studies — one of them being our “Narrative Series.” This is the program where we host one night every month for anyone and everyone to come and take a journey through the Bible. Each lecture gives a 2 hour overview of a specific grouping of books in the Bible. This program runs parallel to the books being studied in our School, so this month’s lecture was called “From Creation to Covenant” and covered the first 5 books of the Bible.

What’s Next
Whenever the baby comes in the next couple of weeks, Samantha and I will be taking a break from our work in order to get to know our new family member. It’s a bittersweet moment as our excitement builds for meeting our baby and as we think about leaving our new students for a while. And while Samantha and I also look forward to having our own living space for the first time, on the eve of our 5 year anniversary, we’ll also greatly miss living on the beautiful Canterbury Campus.

We’re so grateful for all the love and support that we’ve been shown during this time of change in our lives. We look forward to sending you a greeting from our child in the next blog and giving you update on our work with Emmaus Ministries in the future after.

Prayer Requests
– We’d greatly appreciate your prayers for the pregnancy and birthing process. Our obvious concern is for the baby to come out safely and healthy, but we’d also love your prayers for us as nervous first-time parents, and Samantha specifically as she prepares physically and emotionally.
– Please keep Emmaus Ministries in mind as they pick up the extra load of work in our absence, they’ve been so gracious and supportive towards us having ample time with our new baby.
– Please pray for our new students as they continue to familiarize themselves with the study method and dive into God’s Word.
– Samantha and I have a car that runs, but is in need of some costly repairs in the next few months.
– While we’re excited to be moving into our new apartment, the rent is going to really stretch our budget. Please pray that God would increase our support.

Donation Info:
If you’d like to partner with us in helping others take their own Emmaus Road journey, follow this link to our Donate Page for instructions.

Thank you,
-Jacob & Samantha McRae

Verse to Consider– Micah 7:18: “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love…”

Hello and happy Summer! Forgive our silence, our summer has been full of traveling and we wanted to wait and sum it all up at once; here goes!

Travels
Our summer started with a two week trip to Samantha’s home town in Homer, AK. Despite our luggage taking a 3 day detour in Japan, we had a smooth trip over, even with Samantha being in the late stages of pregnancy, she’s a champ!

During this trip, we were able to see friends and family, have a wonderful baby shower with our AK church community, and even teach an Inductive Bible Study class for the church. We’re so thankful for that community and have been incredibly blessed by their support! We were a bit negligent in our photo taking during this part of our summer, so forgive our lack of documentary pictures!

As soon as we got back, we had the opportunity to celebrate with one of our Bible School students as they got married to their new spouse, who will also be joining us for the Fall semester, woohoo!

The very next day after the wedding, Samantha and I repacked our luggage and headed to Virginia to see more family and friends, watch some fireworks, and have yet another awesome baby shower!

Along with this, we were also able to help the church get some new flooring down.

Coming Up
After a couple weeks in Virginia, we headed back to Florida, where we are now gearing up for some big life events. The most exciting new event being: we finally got an apartment!!! For all you who have been following our posts and supporting us, you know this has been quite some time in coming! For the first time since we’ve been married (5 years in September), Samantha and I will have our own place. Meaning we will also be able to finally open most of our wedding gifts 🙂 Much of our next few weeks is going to consist of moving and getting our apartment ready for our new family addition!

Along with this, we are also jumping right back in to our Emmaus Ministries work, leading into August. As you might know, we ended the New Testament portion of our School of Biblical Studies in May and said goodbye to our students until the start of this coming semester. On August 13th, we will begin the Old Testament portion of our school and take our students from Genesis – Malachi, we’re so excited! While many of our students will be returning to finish their studies, we will also have a handful of new students who will be beginning their 10 month Inductive Bible Study journey with us this coming semester!

Our semester will start with a couple weeks of seminar classes where we will (re)acquaint our students with the Inductive Bible Study Method and walk them through their first couple books. One of my (Jacob) first duties will be teaching our students about the different literary genres within the Bible and how to approach them. It’s been really fun studying for this and if any of you reading are interested in learning more about that sort of thing, along with some of the other principles we teach in our school, I would highly recommend looking at this book: It’s a book we recommend to all of our students before coming to our school and it does an excellent job of setting you up to read your Bible well.

Prayer Requests
– We have a lot to do in preparation for our new students, pray for the Emmaus Ministries staff as we work hard to get it all done.
– Samantha and I also have much to do concerning our own preparation for the baby and moving into our new home. Pray for grace and patience as we adjust, and more specifically, for the pregnancy and delivery process as a whole (safety and comfort for Samantha and the baby!).
– In light of all the changes coming to our life, Samantha and I really need to increase our monthly support, please pray for our provision. (If you’re interested in giving, check out our Donation Page).

Exciting Pictures
While we were in Alaska, Samantha and I were truly blessed by our friend Joshua Veldstra, who gifted us with a maternity photo shoot. Enjoy!

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– Jacob & Samantha McRae (and baby)