As the moment is here, being my last night in America for 11 months and trading my place of feeling secure to go out into the world on a journey to share the love of Christ, the overriding emotion I am feeling is captured in one word, peace. I think of John 14 where Jesus speaks of the peace He leaves with us, not as the world giveth, I am so incredibly filled with His comfort, and I want to praise Him for His love and patience. As I think of what Jesus is saying, I think of the storms of life. The peace I have is not that there won’t be any storms, but when they come He is there, and that is enough. The journey to this point has been difficult because of the tension between my vain desires of serving myself and God’s example of serving others. I think back to the turmoil and anxiety caused between those forces colliding in my heart and so many times choosing the former over the latter, but as God has shown His Grace to me and I have begun to let go of the things I thought made me secure and truly step out in faith and reliance on God, He has met me every step in affirmation, comfort, and love.
I also want to truly thank everyone who has been a part in helping me arrive at this moment, whether that be the wonderful support of my family and friends, the kind words of a stranger, or those who have sacrificed their finances, I want you to know my gratitude and more importantly, we are all walking this journey together. While there is still much in terms of the “what” I am unsure of over the next 11 months, we can all be assured of Philippians 1:6 in that the good work God has begun He will complete. My hope in this blog (and essentially my life) is to serve as a witness and testimony of how God, through His love for us, will touch and transform the lives of others, and that the part we all play will all work in unity to glorify Him. With that I must share a quick story of the conversations I have had with a gentleman here in Atlanta. He was inquiring about the mission we were all embarking on and I was able to share the story of how I got to this point. What resonated with him was when I shared that ultimately I was tired of the turmoil and tired of fighting. As we began to talk about how God pursues and loves us, we both agreed we cannot be lukewarm. I am thankful to say I witnessed God working in his life and was so joyful to hear him say the following days I saw him that he was going to be “hot” for God. So I ask in closing that you pray for Erick that God will use him to touch others and that over this journey you pray for each member of the squad and team that we will trust God, be obedient, and His will be done.
