The Big 3

Now that I’m less than 60 hours from leaving, everyone I run
into who knows what I am doing has one series of questions that is always the
same when they realize I am so close to departure. Are you excited? Are you nervous? Are you terrified?

 

The answer, after I refrain from the urge to say “I’m sick
of everyone asking me the same questions”, is yes to every part of the
question.

 

1. I am excited.
My high school graduation present from my parents was a large rolling duffle
(which now just barely fits my pack, hah). Looking back, I think it was
prophetic. They told me at the time that it was because it looked like I would
be going places.  I have gone places.
That duffle went with me to Oklahoma,
Alabama, and Dearborn,
Michigan. Its last trip before retirement
was to Georgia
back in October for training.

 

Not only have I gone places, but I am going places. New
Zealand and Australia,
to touch the tip of the iceberg. By the time I get home, I’ll have set foot on
most every continent on the planet (the only two exceptions being South America
and Antarctica). I’ll have experienced a million different
time changes, worked with a million different ministries, and have learned
about a million different cultures. All of this excited me to no end.

 

2. I am nervous.
This is my first venture off of American soil. Yes, I am nervous. In spite of
all the stories, I have no clue what lies ahead, and the obsessive detailist in
me is a nervous wreck. What do you mean,
you don’t know what type of ministry you’ll be doing when you get to New Zealand? How can you be okay with knowing that at
the end of month one, AIM could decide that your team isn’t working out and
change things around? I’m learning to shut the detailist off, though, and
be okay with all the unknowns.

 

3. I am terrified.
I get terrified every time I look in my support account and see barely enough
to cover the first leg of the journey solidly in that account. I get terrified
when I transfer funds from my savings into my checking account and realize that
all of my reserves, and the money I raised to cover my expenses here at home may
not be enough to cover everything this year. And don’t even get me started on
the nightmares I’ve had about all of the diseases I’ve gotten shots for in the
last six months. Every ounce of faith I possess is straining to trust God will
provide what I need as I need it… but at the same time, I know it will be taken
care of.

 

So now that I’ve answered the questions, I am asking
something of you.

Pray for me.

 

Pray for safety in my travels. Pray my immune system will
hold up under the barrage of strains on it from bacteria and viruses and bugs it
has never seen before in my lifetime.

Pray peace over me as I finish packing and saying goodbye to
all the family members I won’t be seeing until November. That I’ll make peace
with being unable to physically say goodbye to some of the people I love. And
that I will be at peace with the things I will or could be missing. Like
Monstro, Travis’s high school graduation, and friends’ weddings.

Pray for God to take care of all of my finances – World Race
support and personal.

Lastly, pray that He will give me joy when my immune system
hiccups, grace abounding when I should have reason to be irritated with anyone
on my team/squad, strength to open up when everything in me wants to shut down,
and love for the least loveable… the pimps and the men who come into the bars
every night in Thailand, the rapist who gave a twelve year old girl HIV, the
officers of the law who turn their back and look the other way in cases of
mistreatment or abuse, etc.