Well, here I am. Just as I knew would happen (because He is faithful), Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter morning came and went - each amazing in their own ways. It was fun to watch God do "His Thing" after He had helped me to do "my thing." By His grace, many worshipped together, and many were encouraged as they were reminded of the nearly unimaginable love of God poured out through His Only Son, Jesus Christ.
But now it's time to shift gears. As many of you know, in three days I'll be leaving the friendly confines of my home, town and family, and setting off with 15 others for a country that will be largely foreign to me. What a diverse group we are! 5 men, 11 women, 3 teenagers, 1 senior, 1 brand new Christian, 15 who have known the Lord a while now, 11 missions "rookies," 5 "veterans," 1 who has never flown, 3 skilled laborers, 13 "gophers," 2 medical personnel, 1 couple, 2 singles...the subsets go on and on in this group of 16. But by His grace, WE ARE ONE. In purpose, focus, dependence, heart and mind.
Makes me think of Jesus as He assembled His ragtag bunch of men that would soon be called "disciples" and later "apostles" by so many. But I'm just about sure that they didn't look like that when He called them! Yet look at what He did with them, in them and ultimately, through them. Frankly, I can't imagine our world today without them...without their commitment to live what they believed and their inshakeable determination, their unwavering perserverance to be what Jesus knew they could be when He called them. The Apostle Paul echoes this when he expresses his determination to "press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me" (Philippians 3:12).
You'd have never put together that collection of men...and you'd have never put together the 16 who are just days away from continuing one of the great faith journeys of their lives. But God knew (and knows) exactly what He's doing. If you talked to the team right now, they'd unanimously agree on this, but if they were honest, they'd also each confess that they weren't so sure when they said "yes" to God's call several months ago! I'm constantly reminded that though we sit here now with our support raised, 600+ pairs of shoes donated, VBS materials for 1000 kids in hand, and a fire in our spirits, we certainly didn't start that way.
You see, when each of us said "yes," to this invitation to be used by God (myself included), we had little or no idea of where the money was going to come from, what we'd be doing, how we were going to get there, or with whom we'd be serving. I think it's safe to say that more than one of us weren't even completely sure as to why we were going (that "big" question I always ask). What we did know is that Jesus was calling...inviting us to step out in faith and trust Him to fill in those blanks.
The really interesting thing is that God has answered each of those questions, and about 99% of the time, He's done so in ways none of us could have predicted (He's even answered things we don't know are answered yet!). And I find an incredible attitude has sprung forth from watching God do what only God can do: TRUST. While we might have had our own ideas early on of what this process would look like, the where, what, how and whom no longer matter - we know that God is going to use us (He already has been) and we don't really care at all how. We've prepared, studied, designed, crafted, examined, planned and packed...now it's time to relax and let God do His thing. I can hardly wait to see what it will look like! Probably far different than what we thought, but perfect for His purposes. Pray for us, won't you, as we seek to be whatever God needs us to be...all the time, for sure...but specifically April 17-26. I know that what we look like after this experience will be much different than before we started, for we'll look more like Him (2 Corinthians 3:18). To the glory of His matchless name!
