Curves of Life: Balancing Family and Forever

Dear Missionaryish Family,

It’s been almost two weeks since Levi was born. Thank you again for your prayers and continued support. Reagan was a champ, making it through the laboring process. This was her first time going completely unmedicated. Much has happened since then.

I was continuing my classes amidst all this, but only until this week. After much prayer and trepidation, I’ve decided to step back and refocus on being present with the family. As you know, caring for the everyone made it increasingly difficult to keep up with my studies, especially with Levi so tiny. So, I’m stepping back for about a month to recoup and support Reagan as she gets back on her feet. Pray for strength as I continue to persevere with preparations for RUF, seminary, fundraising, and caring for the family.

Our nanny, who usually helps Reagan during the day and is present with the other children while I focus, is currently on vacation. This is her annual trip home to Denver to see family and friends. She was going to cancel, but we insisted she go. So, I’ve stepped up, along with a ton of help from my in-laws. We’re so grateful for the help we’ve received. And, of course, your prayers—we’re deeply thankful. They’ve made it possible for us to continue the work we do.

Life Is a Curve

One thing I’ve been reflecting on is the concept of investing. In light of what’s happening in the world and markets, I can’t help but think about how we start with nothing and gain a little in this life—some more, some less. We all live out a bell curve: we increase over time in assets and relationships, then level out and return to zero when we die.

Scripture reminds us of this:

It’s sobering. The secular world believes we start at zero, maximize assets, power, pleasure, and happiness, then die, and it zeros out. But that’s it. You sorta just disappear, but that is not what Scripture teaches.

For those who don’t know Christ, the bell curve exists, but after death, it crashes and continues to lose and accelerates into infinite loss. Even for trades that are considered “infinite losses” are still technically finite in this world. For the unbeliever, it falls infinitely in every aspect of their existence. It is the true infinite loss since God maintains the permanent separation.

The volatility in markets also reminds me that life has ups and downs. We fear recession and collapse but forget the biggest crash: death. That crash wipes out everything. Even within ourselves, we know we’re not who we should be. We long for more but often fall short. That’s the crash.

So, life is a curve—volatile, uncertain—but it always leads to a final crash. The question is, what happens after?

The Christian perspective isn’t devoid of joy, but it’s different. Our curve doesn’t end at death—it accelerates into life. Eternity begins, and our joy and investment multiply forever.

The ROI of the Kingdom

For the Christian, the crash isn’t the end—it’s the beginning. And the beginning doesn’t even start at death it starts the day a person repents because of the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. The seed that was planted by God’s workers break the soil of death. Everything we have in Christ fully realizes after that moment. Think about compound interest. We understand this financially: invest early, let it grow. Silicon Valley is always hunting for unicorns. They want startups that return your investment tenfold, a 10x bagger if you’re an investor.

Take NVIDIA, for example…one of the hottest stocks in the last decade. If you got in early, you’ve seen over 13,000% returns. That’s massive. People celebrate that like it’s the pinnacle.

But then there’s the miracle of the loaves and fishes. Five loaves. Two fish. Jesus feeds 5,000 men, probably closer to 15,000 people, and there were 12 baskets left over! That’s an estimated ROI of 214,000%. In our economy, a 40% return is incredible. In God’s hands? Exponential.

That increase is ludicrous yet that is what God does. He takes the ordinary, limited, insufficient and multiplies it beyond anything we could calculate. Not just financially, but spiritually. Eternally.

We understand compounding in money. But how many of us think about compound interest in personal relationships? In the poor in both the material and the spiritual? In sharing the Gospel?

Henri Nouwen said:

When God takes meager scraps, a boy’s lunch no less and multiplies it to feed thousands, it’s a picture. Yes, it’s a miracle. But it still happens today. Maybe not with bread and fish, but with love, time, prayer, faithfulness. The Gospel compounds.

Gospel Compounding Starts Now

That compounding doesn’t start after death. It begins the moment someone turns from their old life and follows Christ. The gift of Christ to us is the imperishable asset. Gains may be slow in this temporal realm, even volatile, but the trajectory is upward. Eternal. Worth investing in. It’s like a buoy that never sinks or an olive tree that burns to the ground only to come back to life (If you know you know).

The compounding effects of investing in people, in the Gospel, outlast you. It’s not a pyramid scheme where only the top wins. Everyone transformed by Christ overflows with the riches of the Spirit and it spreads: to their children, their community, generations. It brings utter destruction to the evil principalities that ravage our cities.

That kind of compounding dwarfs 214,000%. It’s an infinite compounding. Yea there’s no end. No possible market headwinds to take it down because of Christ.

This is what we’re after. This is what your prayers and support have made possible.

We’ve been able to continue walking with families like Sarah’s because of you. We’ve worked alongside our church community group to deploy the funds that some of you have prayed for and given to for her family in addition to what our group has given. Thank you for making the kingdom visible for her.

I’ll close with another quote from Henri Nouwen, one of my all time favorites:

Let’s keep investing where it counts as we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord this coming Easter. That asset that we’ve received already is Christ himself. There is no scarcity in him no matter what the markets say. Let’s keep looking for the face of God and bring his truth to call our brothers and sisters home.

With love in Christ,
David & Reagan

P.S. Thank you for clicking our sponsor’s link! By the way, I forgot to mention that only clicks within 72 hours count. Thanks for helping us raise $43 last month—it really helps cover transaction fees for other donations! Help us continue to prepare for RUF someday. If you’d like to support us directly, click here: www.missionaryish.org/give

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