The time is finally here; I'm in Georgia for launch.
This week the Dubs get here. In 3 days all 45 of my lovely ducklings will reunite with one another back in the good ole state of Georgia, where 8 weeks ago they gathered for the first time to meet each other and to learn a little bit about what this trip looks like. They came as they were and left different. They came as strangers and left as family. They came unaware and expecting and left, well, mostly the same. They've seen glimpses of what they're getting into but they're not privy to the whole picture.
What an exciting time to be a racer!
This is also the most nerve-wracking time to be a racer. They're almost there, ready to start. They are saying their goodbyes, grieving the season their leaving and starting to (tentatively) embrace the season they're going into. They're very much unsure of what comes next and how they're going to handle it. They've seen the Lord work but are still struggling to trust him to continue to work and are learning all about this thing called future grace and the idea of the Lord as their provider. They're in a place where the Lord is working but they've yet to see "results".
I've had a few sessions and I'm getting so dang excited for this journey that lays ahead of me. It's going to be messy but it's going to be so good. I get a little fearful when I think about the responsibility that is coming and is already here. Mostly I get fearful when I think about taking it on myself. But then I'm reminded that it's the Lord doing this through me; this is not of my own strength. It can't be. It's only through the power of the Lord that I can be in this place and even think about doing this thing. He is the one who will sustain me. He is the one who will guide me, love me and give me the grace I need to get through these next 5 months of intense, crazy, sometimes dramatic, and usually messy process of helping people walk the path and hear the things that the Lord is telling them.
It's going to be challenging yet amazing.
As the racers start to trickle in, please pray for them. Pray for their hearts as they leave what they've known and traverse into the unknown. Pray for their families as they're saying their own goodbyes and facing 11 months of excitement and terror. Pray for myself that I would continue to seek the Lord and trust his sovereignty that placed me here so long ago and has been preparing me since my first day of birth. Pray for all the other leaders as they also prepare for this journey.
