One Week Before Election of 2008

To all of our friends!

As I sit here looking out from this warm home, and I see the cold, the clear blue sky and the wind (as it moves through the trees and blows snow skiffs across the frozen lake) I am reminded once again of my utter dependance upon God. We have enjoyed a string of "brilliant days" here on Twin Lakes just outside of Wasilla, Alaska. If you have never experienced this kind of weather you might have a difficult time painting the picture in your mind.

• First, get a sky absolutely blue and without a single cloud- in your mind.
• Next, at ground level place a "woods" of White Birch, Cottonwoods and Ash- with absolutely no leaves on the trees. Intersperse throughout those trees a type of Spruce tree with the green boughs.
• Outside our windows- six huge picture windows, paint a lake- maybe the size of the parking lots at Anaheim Stadium. This lake is now frozen. You cannot walk on it yet, but soon we will be able to.
• Now in your picture paint three sides with Mountains- rugged mountains with jagged peaks covered with snow.
• You now have a sense of what we are looking at and living in!

Sometimes people who have never seen this kind of thing wonder what this might all be about! One of the quickest ways I know how to describe it is for you to open up the freezer part of your kitchen refrigerator and take a look inside. See the ice maker and the frost clinging to the sides of the freezer? Feel the solid block of meat, frozen hard. That is what the entire world is like here- frozen, very solid and below 32 dgrees- like right now it is 19 degrees outside with the sun shining brilliantly! And...it is all beautiful!

In the middle of all of this we are maintaing our daily schedule. The Scripture reading, the prayer time, the listening- all are part of this current journey. Once again, thank you so much for your interest in us and for your prayers!

Blessings, all sent wrapped up with prayer,

Graydon and Judy on a cold October morning from Twin Lakes just outside Wasilla, Alaska!

Monday, October 20, 2008 The beginning of the Second Week

To All of our Many Friends!

Thank you for your prayers, your thoughts, your emails. We begin week #2 of this little journey. Some of our opportunities are beginning to take a little shape! You ask, "How are you listening and sensing?" Or another way to ask it is, "What is your grid for determining what you should be doing in the future?"

Both are excellent questions. Here is a simple grid we put our thoughts through:

• We need to make sure we have some sort of income as in reality we cannot NOT have any source of some sort of income at this stage in our lives. It doesn't have to be much, but it does need to be something. So we keep that thought in front of us.
• Are doors closing on/in certain opportunities? Or, are opportunities changing, to the degree that we would not be challenged and/or able to do the particular ministry where the opportunities are changing?
• How does what we are sensing and seeing fit in to what we understand to be the overall plan of God, not only for our lives, but also for the larger context of the Kingdom of God?

Now I could say more, but I think this gives you a sense of the direction on the opportunities over which Judy and I are watching and praying.

As a result of the grid above, we see one door as slowly closing. A door we thought had "potential" is shutting as we sense and see that others are taking up the mantle and are charging ahead with this ministry and without us. (And by the way, that is perfectly OK with us!) It is one of the "famous four" I listed for Eastside Church and one that Judy and I have been praying about and discussing. Others are stepping up to the proverbial plate of leadership in this particular ministry. And even though we will probably not be "leading" this ministry as such, we will still continue to be involved in one way or another...just not in a specific leadership role.

Is that helpful? I hope it is. So we say, "Thank You Lord," as we see doors closing and others opening. That is what we are here for and truly this is what we are NOT anxious about. The Lord will reveal Himself strong and mighty in the right place at the right time for what we are to be doing in this next chapter of our lives! Remember what I have said: "This ministry could be any one of the four or five we are considering, and it also could be 'none of the above!'" The Lord might have something radically different for us! By God's Grace...we are open to those "radical differences!"

By the way, the reading of the Scripture as I set out in an earlier blog has just been excellent!

Our prayers and love,

Graydon and Judy

graydon.jessup@gmail.com

graydonandjudy.blogspot.com

It's Wednesday!

October 15, 2008 High clouds and fresh snow!

To all of our many Friends!
I'll learn eventually, how to do a picture for this blog. I just wish you could see what we are seeing as we look into God's creation in this October/Winter scene from Twin Lakes, just a couple of miles outside of Wasilla, AK. Everyday the skies and the weather have been different...sort of like walking with the Lord! Every day with Him is different and new!

David "got me" in my reading this morning. "The Lord looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God." Psalms 14:2

What a great word to think through and meditate on for today. "Do I understand?" "Am I seeking God...truly?" I could keep running on what I have known all of my life but that wouldn't be "seeking" that would be "coasting!" In these days in my life I want to fully and completely understand that the Lord loves those who "seek Him!" So what that means is I (we) will seek the Lord...purposefully and with great diligence!

Prayers as you also seek Him!
Graydon and Judy

Tuesday, October 14th

October 14, 2008, Tuesday, 2:08 PM, 32 degrees and snowing

To ALL of our many, many friends!
The "trip" of reading, waiting, listening and "checking" has officially started. I thought it would take us a day to get settled in...but in actuality it took three days...simply because of the weekend and the weather! "Weather, in Alaska?" Monday morning we woke up to fresh snow and it was absolutely beautiful. But the snow also made for some pretty treacherous driving. Through a series of events to long to explain here, I was able to be a Grandfather and make sure our three Alaskan Grandchildren made it to school over the icy and snowy roads. Sure brought back many, many memories!

As I wrote to one person, "We are here not only to discover the God of the heart, but also to fully discover the Heart of God!" We believe that this is critical for this next chapter of our lives. Consequently we have put ourselves on a loose, but defined, daily schedule. This includes reading the Scripture, praying, discussing the options currently on the table before us and also making sure our hearts are open to whatever the Lord might have for us in the future- that "whatever" possibly being something(s) completely out of our current view and understanding.

It is my purpose to read the entire Bible while here in Alaska. If I have added them up correctly that means reading all 1,189 chapters of the Bible. So I am reading 26 chapters daily. This time in reading the Bible I am not reading it "cover to cover" as good as that might be. Rather I am reading according to the natural divisions of the OT and the NT. So here is the daily reading schedule:

• Law 4 Chapters
• History 5 Chapters
• Psalms 3 Chapters
• Other Poetry 4 Chapters
• Major Prophets 4 Chapters
• Minor Prophets 2 Chapters
• Gospels 2 Chapters
• Acts/Revelation 1 Chapter
• Pauline 2 Chapters
• General Epistles 1 Chapter

That adds up to 26 chapters per day. I have been especially drawn to the readings from Job, Isaiah, Hosea and Romans. All of the other reading has been good, but these four especially are speaking to me. When Hosea writes, "I wrote for them the many things of my law, but they regarded them as something alien" (Hosea 8:12) I could not help but think of our very current situation. "Many things" of the Word of the Lord are considered to be "alien" to our "modern" culture!

Well, these are some things we are thinking and doing in the very, very early stages of this portion of our '"Chronicles!" May God's peace be on you all!

Graydon and Judy from Twin Lakes in Alaska

We are on our way!

October 10, 2008
Dear Family, Friends and ALL who are interested in what is happening with Graydon and Judy-

I say "good morning" this October 10th. This morning we are heading out to LAX and we will begin the air journey part of our trip to Anchorage. Once we arrive and settle in (the "settling" ought to be done by tomorrow the 11th) we will set ourselves a "loose" daily schedule so that we purosefully accomplish what we have set out to do these next 49 days. Here is the "49 Day Mission Statement:"
Judy and I plan to pray, read, listen, rest, and exercise daily. We want to hear the Lord and His Heart for us in this next chapter of our lives. Part of these 49 days will be to connect with our grandchildren in Alaska as well as with long term Alaskan friends. And finally, part of this journey will be to reconnect with Alaska..."the Last Frontier!"
So, there you have it in a nutshell. At present we are praying over five different ministry possibilities and we always add a sixth possibility which is, "none of the above!" We think (at least that is what we keep saying to ourselves -:)) we are entirely open to #6 but we also know how human we are. Saying it and then living it are really two different things!
Once again, Judy and I cannot thank all of you enough for your emails, your cards, your thanks, your expressions of love.

A "Chronicle" sent with prayer and in love,
Graydon and Judy
P.S. If you click on to the link at the top of the original Chronicle you will see a picture of our family, which also includes Carole, Curtis's wife. This picture was taken at our final Eastside weekend when all of our children were able to be there with us.

soccer 037.jpg - Gmail

soccer 037.jpg - Gmail

What a Celebration! September 27/28, 2008

To all who might read this blog!
This past weekend (September 27/28, 2008) was OVER THE TOP! Eastside Christian Church simply "outdid herself!" Judy and I were honored, in our opinion, in a way we could only describe as AWESOME! From the music in the worship, the video stories, the hugs, tears, words of encouragement and endearment, the prayers, the ovations and the final song "FRIENDS" were handled with such grace and power! But that was not the end of the story!

Eastside, under the leadership of Arty VanGeloof and his Brew Crew (along with so many others) put together a lunch and program all held in the West Parking lot of the church AFTER the Sunday morning services. Todd and Kelly Roberts donated a covered awning arrangement so that the 1500 people or so were essentially sitting under shade! Officials from the City of Fullerton, from Hope International University, and two local Pastors, Dale Burke from EVFree Fullerton and Matthew Cork from Yorba Linda Friends (Church on the Hill) came to give brief words of congratulations. Judy spoke and our daughter Carolyn spoke for the four children! My brother Wes, and his wife, Nancy were with us. There were various Staff MC's and we heard from Tim Bond, Chairman of the Elders of Eastside.

A very special and significant presentation was the gift of a picture taken during one of our Communion Services on Good Friday. The picture captures our ministry here. Surrounding the picture are Sermon Themes I had preached here at Eastside over the years. (We will have a picture of this gift in another blog!)

Judy and I have been overwhelmed with the outpouring of love and kindnesses. People were given the opportunity to write short notes- it has taken us the better part of two days to read all of the cards! We are a blessed couple, indeed!

All four of our children were able to be with us for this event: Curtis (and Carole) from Fullerton, California; Carolyn from Wasilla/Palmer, Alaska; Wesley from Boise,Idaho; Melanie (and baby Stella) from Boulder, Colorado. The three children came by themselves leaving their spouses to care for our Grandchildren in their respective homes. (Many thanks to those three wonderful spouses for making sure our adult children were able to get here!)
I know, I know- not all of the blogs will be like this. But I would be less than honest if I did not say that Judy and I were totally overwhelmed by the outpouring of love!

All we can say is "Thank You All and We Love You!" Graydon and Judy