Merry Christmas from the Wood Family

Rod and Bec in China

Dear friends,

We join all of you in giving thanks to our Lord for becoming
one of us and for suffering the death that we deserved so that
we could be forgiven of all of our sins and so that we could
know Him and experience His love forever and ever! We give
praise to Him!

We also give thanks to Him for our family. We are including
pictures of them below.

May the Lord bless each of you and your families with a very
special time of worship this Christmas.

In His great love,

Rod and Bec


Jake and Ashley in Ruston with (left to right) Mary Page (8), Norah Catherine (1 month), Elizabeth (10), and Myles (6)


Jim and Amelia in Denver with Josiah (2) and
Rebecca Blythe (4 months)


John and Kelly in Miami with Lucy Bea (almost 2)

The Mission Foundation Letter

Happy Thanksgiving, friends!

Today some of you are traveling while others are preparing to host friends and family. Tomorrow all of you (with the exception of our friends in other countries) will be gathering around a table for a special time of giving thanks. Someone will be asked to say a prayer of thanksgiving, and everyone will proceed to enjoy the abundance God has provided. Hopefully, as we eat and drink, we will do so in a state of emotional and mental connectedness with our God Who is with us, our God who is watching, listening, and ever working within us and around us. May we be counted among those who are truly givers of thanks!

Genuine thanksgiving is one of the primary manifestations of our redemption. When we fell into sin against God in the Garden of Eden, Paul says that we “did not honor him as God, or give thanks.” We became ungrateful creatures! We refused to give thanks to our God Who had given us our very existence and had provided so perfectly for us. But Paul says that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Jesus suffered the death that we ungrateful men and women deserved so that we might be forgiven and that we might be restored from our ingratitude and become a part of a new community that is alive with ongoing, loving communication with our dear Heavenly Father!

How do we cultivate this new spirit of thanksgiving that we have received by the grace of our Redeemer? There are of course a number of things that might be mentioned, but may I suggest two.

First, prolonged meditation on the Psalms. Meditating on the Psalms in stillness before the Lord will energize your soul. As you quietly ponder words of the psalms, you will be filled with desire to give thanks to God. You will also be enabled to express your thanksgiving by taking up the language of the Psalms on your own lips. In the Psalms, the Lord has blessed us with a means of communicating our gratitude to Him in ways that are beautiful and are full of meaning. This beauty of expression will bring joy to your heart and will of course be a delight to God as you pray in private and when you pray with others (for example tomorrow in your season of prayer before your meal.) Your meditations on the Psalms will also guide your heart into thanksgiving that is much broader in its content as you thank God for the many, many physical, emotional, mental, social, and spiritual blessings that He has showered on you. As I write this note to you, I give thanks to God for the Psalms!

Then secondly, I think of the hymn-writer’s words, “Count your many blessings; name them one by one.” In your prayers tonight or tomorrow morning, how long will you name your blessings before God? How long could you? May I suggest that you try doing what the hymn writer said. Just start counting them out before the Lord. When you kneel, sit, or stand before Him, at first you will find that you are able to name your blessings rapidly one after another. But at some point those flowing prayers of thanksgiving will slow to something of a trickle and at last give way to silence. But if you will wait and think and listen, suddenly your heart will begin to recall other blessings, and sometimes you will realize that there are whole categories of blessing for which you had not previously been careful to regularly give thanks. So let’s count our blessings out before the Lord.

Well, I hope that you will find these two suggestions to be helpful. I also hope and pray that believing families all over our country will remember to give thanks to the Lord not just on Thanksgiving Day but every day for everything. I hope they remember to reverently thank God for His provision when they pick up their breakfast at the drive-through window at McDonald’s on Friday. May we be those people who are constantly, lovingly, and thoughtfully giving thanks to God for every single blessing.

Giving thanks to Him most of all for His forgiveness of my sins,

Rodney

Rebecca Blythe Wood, Born August 10, 2010 in Denver

Rebecca Blythe Wood was born on August 10, 2010. She and Granddaddy had a good time in Denver!

NORAH CATHERINE WOOD, BORN FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2010

My granddaughter Norah Catherine Wood and I enjoyed our first moment just a few hours after she was born. Her older sister Mary Page is looking on with happy, happy eyes. Ashley and Jake now have four children -- Elizabeth (10), Mary Page (8), Jacob Myles, Jr. (6), and Norah Catherine (3 days!). I give thanks to our Lord for each of them.

The Mission Foundation Letter, October 26, 2010

P. O. Box 46358
Baton Rouge, LA 70895

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Dear friends,

What a great weekend we had up in the mountains of Colorado at Camp Idrahaji with Pastor Walt Rogers and the men of Harvest Bible Church! The deep bond of brotherhood among those men and the strong love relationship between them and their pastor was more beautiful than the mountains that surrounded us.

On Friday evening, we began our study of the life of Joseph by first looking at the extraordinarily difficult environment in which this young seventeen-year-old received his dreams. As one man has said, Joseph’s family wasn’t exactly the Brady Bunch! Incest, rape, murder, looting, favoritism, jealousy, hatred, and the death of his mother when he was only twelve: this was Joseph’s family experience. Yet Genesis 37:5 says, “Then Joseph had a dream.” Through Joseph’s experience, we received an important reminder that I now pass on to you: whatever your life situation has been or now is, no matter how difficult, God has purposes for your life that He will reveal to you as you trust in Him and listen to Him. This is true not only for young men like Joseph, but for you, no matter what your age may be.

Then on Saturday we continued our study as we considered all of the great challenges and temptations that Joseph faced – things that could have prevented him from fulfilling the dreams that God gave him:

• jealousy and open hostility from his brothers,
• distress as he cried out for mercy to his brothers who had thrown him down into a dry cistern,
• displacement, both geographical and vocational, as he was sold and taken down to Egypt as a slave,
• seduction “day after day” by Potiphar’s wife,
• wrongful accusation of sexually assaulting this woman whose advances he spurned,
• despair during his lengthy time in prison, and
• bitterness which could have poisoned his soul when the cupbearer, whose dream he had interpreted, forgot about him and put in no good word for him to Pharoah for two full years.

Joseph overcame all of these things because, as the Scripture says, “The Lord was with Joseph” (even as He promised to be with you and me “always”).

But then came what was arguably his most difficult temptation – revenge! Joseph was no longer in prison: he was in the palace as vice-regent of Egypt. Revenge was his for the taking. Instead, when he at last revealed his identity to his brothers, he said these mercy-filled words to them: “Please come near to me.” And as they came near, Joseph declared his solid confidence in the sovereignty of God: “It was not you but God who sent me here (to Egypt).” Three times he said to them, “God sent me. God sent me. God sent me.” Years later, in his final conversation with them, he said, “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.”

Brothers and sisters, we must learn to think and trust like Joseph. As Alexander MacClaren says, “We must learn to look beyond man to God.” We must also learn to love as Joseph loved. The Scripture says he “kissed all his brothers and wept on them.” Is there anyone to whom you should go with such love? May the Holy Spirit fill us with mercy and kindness.

I wish that I had time to write each of you a personal letter. I hope that you don’t mind that instead we rely upon monthly letters such as this one to maintain regular correspondence with you. If you have a moment to send a quick email with some news or prayer requests, we would love to hear from you.

In the Savior,


Rod (for Bec and me)

The Mission Foundation Letter, September 23, 2010

Dear friends,

I enjoy all of the seasons, even the hot, humid summer. But I must admit that these cool, dry days of the early fall are really invigorating, especially when we are out for a walk or run. Even more invigorating are the opportunities that God is granting Bec and me in ministry.

Young Women's Bible Study: Yesterday Becky began leading a Bible study for young women in the home of Adria Heroman. As most of you know, Bec has always greatly enjoyed teaching younger women, and she is very much looking forward to the weeks ahead. Would you please take a moment to pray for her and for those who will be in this group?

The Life of Christ: Our Thursday Morning Men's Bible Study is continuing to study "The Life and Ministry of Jesus Christ" by the Navigators. We began to study the life of Christ two years ago and hope to finish by spring.

Colorado Men's Retreat: On October 15th-16th, I will be speaking at a retreat for Harvest Bible Church, a thriving congregation in the small town of Elizabeth, Colorado. HBC is pastored by our dear, long-time friend Rev. Walt Rogers. I am grateful to Walt for inviting me to be with the men of HBC again. I am also very happy that our son Jim, who lives in Denver, is going to be able to join us!

Greenwell Springs Baptist Church Men's Fellowship: On October 19th, I will be speaking at a men's dinner at Greenwell Springs Baptist Church of Baton Rouge. Executive Pastor Sam Raney (who has been a regular participant inour weekly Gathering of Men luncheons) has invited me to serve as their guest speaker. Our son John and I have been speakers at GSBC in the past.

Crossroads Church of Ruston: On October 24th, I will be preaching at Crossroads. As always, Bec and I look forward to being up there in Lincoln Parish!

"You shall be my witnesses": A close friend of mine goes out for walks on a local university campus in order to get some exercise, and each time he also talks to whomever he encounters about Jesus. When he sees an individual or a small group, he greets them, engages in friendly conversation, and then politely requests permission to ask them a couple of questions. In every case, they have granted this permission, and he has begun by talking to them about their future beyond this life and what they anticipate. Where will they go? Why do they think they will go there? And so on. No matter what the individual's background or philosophical views may have been, as far as I know (and we do speak very often by phone), all of his efforts to engage people about Jesus and His Gospel have been well received and have led to excellent exchange. Now other men in that community are beginning to go to the campus and do the same thing, and they have great, great stories to share. I hope this will encourage you to talk to people very clearly and directly about Jesus. He is there with you, just as He said He would be. He will use you as He does His work.

In the Savior,

Rod and Bec

P. S. We are very grateful for the financial support of our ministry that has been provided by friends like you. As we enter this final quarter of 2010, we are praying and trusting that our Lord will meet all of our needs. Would you please pray with us?