Dear friends and family,
Yesterday was my last day on staff with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. I never thought I would transition from InterVarsity to something less financially stable... But here I go! I am excited for the way so many of you have stuck with me these last number of years and it is my hope that we would remain connected as the journey continues. I look forward to discovering afresh my role as an amateur teacher and preacher. I hope to serve the church and the world as a volunteer, and to support and pray for those who are setting themselves aside for the sake of God's mission. As always it is my prayer that the work I do will make a positive impact on the world and bring glory to God. In the midst of all this, I long for continued growth as a child of God, a husband to Jane, and a father to my wonderful boys.
Below are some ways we have recently experienced joy and received answers to prayer. I also share a bit about what I have planned for life after InterVarsity.
Tears of Gratitude
Over the past couple weeks I have taken time to reflect on the years I have had the pleasure to love and serve university students at Berkeley, USF and Stanford. I have been brought to tears through the words of affection and affirmation I have received from students, alumni and friends. During a farewell event I had this past Saturday, I realize that the experience I was having - of people coming around me to celebrate my life - is incredibly rare. It is something that most frequently happens after someone dies! I cannot express enough gratitude to all of you who took time to write notes, speak encouraging words and even give to a going off staff present.
When I came home from the party I took time to read some of the kind words that many of you wrote and I started to weep. Joey noticed at one point that I was crying and came to check to make sure his daddy was OK. I told him that sometimes people cry when they are filled with joy and gratitude. He seemed to just file that idea away and go back to jumping from couch to couch. In that moment I was overwhelmed with how incredibly privileged I have been to spend so much of my life sharing with others the wonders of God and the ways of his kingdom and how loved I have felt in doing it. It has been a tremendous joy having a front row seat to watch how God is working in students' lives as they transition into adulthood. I am incredibly grateful for the years I have been able to witness student after student experience and respond to his love and grace.
Thank you for the ways that through your love, encouragement, prayers and financial support you have given me the privilege to live this life - to dedicate what Jane describes as "my first fruits" to God's work on campus.
Clarity about housing ... for now
Thank you to all of you who prayed that God would give us clarity about our housing situation. The short answer is we withdrew our offer because we believe we received a sign from God. What was the sign? It is a story of its own - visit our blog to read it. http://www.kuoparis.com/2009/07/clarity-about-housing-for-now.html
What is next for Jon
Many of you know I started GracefulTools.com as a suite of online applications for event management and appointment confirmation. One of the things I am looking forward to in these next months is to provide some much needed updates these tools.
The bigger part of my life in this next season involves some work I am doing with two of the smartest and hardest working guys I know (Tim Su and Abe Parvand). We are working on something that I believe will help those of us who are lazy and disorganized, undisciplined and overwhelmed, forgetful and prone to procrastinate - to start achieving our goals and to become more who we want to be. Sound intriguing?
We plan to launch early this August. In the next 24 hours you can help us confirm what we will call our website. Visit: http://namethis.com/name_this/projects/2103-servicecompany-bring-self-improvement-to-mobile-devices.
You can also visit the website of the first project that we have worked on together at weloveastrid.com. Astrid is the #1 Todo List/Task management application on Google's Android platform and has been downloaded over 100,000 times. If you have an Android phone be sure to check it out.
What is next for your relationship with InterVarsity?
It is my prayer and longing that the ministry of InterVarsity would continue to thrive and grow as I leave. Whether you have supported me financially these past years I would love it if you would consider joining me as I continue in financially supporting the ministries at Stanford, Berkeley and USF. To do so simply visit www.ivcf.org/donate.
This mailing list
While some of you might be happy for the occasion to remove yourself from my typo-infested mailing list others of you have requested that I continue to send updates. I am happy to share about my life and family and shamelessly solicit prayer - so I will keep sending updates!
With love,
Jon
Clarity about housing ... for now
I want to thank all of you who prayed for us on Friday after I shared that our offer for a house in East Palo Alto was accepted. In that email I asked you to pray for clarity. A couple hours after I sent out the email we received some clarity in an unexpected way. I went with a student to go see the house and planned on working in a cafe nearby to get a better sense of the neighborhood. Upon arriving at the house we discovered that the side gate was open and someone had broken into the house and stolen some of what was inside.
While this was annoying, we understand that vacant houses getting robbed is fairly common. Still a couple things gave me the sense that I was to receive this as a sign from God.
1) The fact that it was robbed hours after I invited all of you to pray and not during the months it had previously been vacant.
2) The officer who came to do the police report described the area as a "shooting gallery" and told us it is two blocks away from what is thought to be the center of activity for one of the more dangerous EPA gangs know as the "Taliban."
3) Two other houses on the street were robbed that afternoon one while residents were inside.
4) The observation that the this robbery happened on such a open street demonstrating which the officer noted was less common and may indicate an emboldening of those who are committing these crimes.
Because our primary sense of calling as I am leaving staff has not as of yet been to ministry to urban youth but instead to raise our boys and engage the world through some entrepreneurship this news lead us to believe we should not purchase this home so we decided to withdraw our offer. While it wasn't the result we were hoping for we are grateful for clarity and answered prayer.
Please pray for Jane as she continues to explore. Please pray that we find a home that is both a blessing to our family and can provides some stability from which we can be a blessing to the world.
While this was annoying, we understand that vacant houses getting robbed is fairly common. Still a couple things gave me the sense that I was to receive this as a sign from God.
1) The fact that it was robbed hours after I invited all of you to pray and not during the months it had previously been vacant.
2) The officer who came to do the police report described the area as a "shooting gallery" and told us it is two blocks away from what is thought to be the center of activity for one of the more dangerous EPA gangs know as the "Taliban."
3) Two other houses on the street were robbed that afternoon one while residents were inside.
4) The observation that the this robbery happened on such a open street demonstrating which the officer noted was less common and may indicate an emboldening of those who are committing these crimes.
Because our primary sense of calling as I am leaving staff has not as of yet been to ministry to urban youth but instead to raise our boys and engage the world through some entrepreneurship this news lead us to believe we should not purchase this home so we decided to withdraw our offer. While it wasn't the result we were hoping for we are grateful for clarity and answered prayer.
Please pray for Jane as she continues to explore. Please pray that we find a home that is both a blessing to our family and can provides some stability from which we can be a blessing to the world.
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