Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 4:20 that “The Kingdom of God
is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power,” and this has become
incredibly true for us over the past year. Some things have gone very much as expected.
Ben is still an engineer at Southern Nuclear in Birmingham, and I a faculty
member at UA’s English Language Institute. Will started first grade in August,
and has thrived. His teacher tells me he loves helping his classmates, and my
hope is that they desire his help as much as he desires to give it. He played
coach pitch baseball last spring and wants to try basketball next. Sidney is in
pre-school and has learned so much. She can even write her name, though she’s
“Sibney” about half the time. She loved taking dance classes this year. We have
been closely connected to the body at Emmanuel Baptist Church, where Ben has
served as a Sunday School teacher and deacon, and I’ve taught GAs. I had the
opportunity to travel to China, Ben had the opportunity to travel to India, and
Will (and I) went on his first mission trip this summer to Canton, Ohio with
groups from EBC.
A couple things, though, have been completely unexpected,
and have left us entirely dependent on God’s power. The first is the adoption
of our precious little boy, Sam, from India. We began the adoption process
almost two years ago in January of 2012, and accepted Sam six months later in
June. At least three times since then we’ve been expecting to go pick him up,
but different obstacles have prevented us from going. Sam turned two at his orphanage in Kolkata this past August,
but by God’s grace he will no longer be an orphan soon. Right now we are
waiting to hear the results of the first of two court dates, after which we
will apply for Sam’s passport and, once we get his passport, bring him home! What
a day of rejoicing that will be! Sam is not the child we were expecting, being
a boy, a toddler, and having more special needs than we were prepared to deal
with, but he’s the precious gift God has for us, and we are so excited for the
day he becomes a Dockery. He is already, and will continue to be, such a
testament to God’s power.
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| Sam |
The second is the unbelievable opportunity we’ve been given to
move across the country to Portland, Oregon to plant a church in a neighborhood
where there are currently no evangelical English-speaking churches. This is the
long story to beat all long stories, but, in brief, after praying for two years
to be used by God, we began discussing in May the crazy idea with our dear
friends the Martins, one of whom, conveniently, is a pastor, to plant a church
in an under-reached area in the United States. Soon after we began discussing
this crazy idea, we were flooded from all directions with affirmation that this
was, indeed, God’s plan for us. The Martins have since been approved by the
North American Mission Board to start a church in Portland, one of NAMB’s 32
priority SEND cities, and we are overjoyed to be joining them in this great
work. All that we need to do now is bring Sam home, sell our house, find a job
(for Ben) in Portland, raise funds for the church plant, get a rental house,
and move across the country. No biggie.
Once there, we will delve into making friends and preaching the Lord Jesus
like our brothers in Acts 11, praying that the hand of the Lord will be with
us, and a great number will believe and turn to the Lord (v 20-21). We can’t
wait to see how God’s power will be displayed through us in Portland, and we
seek your prayers as we begin this unexpected adventure.
We pray for you, like Paul for the church at Philippi, with
joy, that God will be at work within you, that your love will abound more and
more, and that you will be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes
through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God our Father.
Ben, Catherine, Will, Sidney and Sam
