We were asked to write a
blog about how we felt before leaving on this mission trip. Here is what
I am expecting…
the topic has just been overwhelming to me. Where do I start? How do I
even think about conveying all the ways I feel before the trip? So to narrow it
down a little bit I decided to put together a good old-fashioned acrostic to
share with you some of my expectations for the year 2009:
Experience of a
lifetimeX-treme
ChallengePersonal GrowthExhilerating adventureComfortable with being completely uncomfortableTaste and See that the Lord is
GoodAuthenticity in an Acts 2
communityTake up my Cross
Iron sharpens ironOverall ROCK my worldNext year to be
the most amazing year of my life!!!
Now for a little explanation! I expect the World race
to be an experience of a lifetime, a once in a lifetime opportunity to
abandon everything I know and literally live out the Great Commission, going
into all the world making disciples and sharing the good news to all people. I expect the world race to be an extreme challenge physically, mentally,
emotionally, and spiritually. I expect personal growth like never before. I look forward to blogging and journaling
from now until the end of the trip and being able to look back and read and see
how much the Lord grows me and stretches me in the year 2009. I expect the world race to be an exhilarating adventure almost like an
intense roller coaster with extreme highs, but scary drops/lows, back flips,
upside down, smiles, tears, laughter, and fears! I expect my motto to become
something along the lines of learning to be
comfortable with being completely uncomfortable. This is something the Lord has been teaching
me over the past year, basically that we are not called to be comfortable, so
that as long as I’m uncomfortable and being challenged, I’m growing and in God’s
will for my life. I expect to taste and see that the Lord is good!!!!
This one just fires me up without any explanation, God is good all the time and
I expect to see firsthand just a glimpse of how good our God really is. I
expect authenticity in an Acts 2
community; what I mean by this is I expect to experience true, real
Christian fellowship as I live and work alongside my brothers and sisters in
Christ. I expect to have to truly take up my cross daily to follow Christ’s
call on my life. I expect to deny my
desires daily in pursuit of the Lord’s will for my life. I expect to die to
self from the moment I abandon everything “normal and convenient” and leap to a
life without the materialism I’m used to. I expect Proverbs 27 to come alive as iron sharpens iron on our team. I expect to be surrounded by a group of individuals that God hand-picked
to go on this trip and to daily be sharpened by what the Lord is doing in and
through each of his children! I expect
the world race to overall ROCK my world!
I expect to blow my tiny little southern Alabama
worldview out of the water and open my eyes to a God so much bigger than I’ve
ever even been able to imagine. Ultimately I expect next year to be the most amazing year of my life!!!!
excited about; of course I am terrified of the reality of this trip, sad to
leave those I am so close to behind for 11 months, curious as to what life will
look like after the trip, etc. etc. but currently I have been challenging
myself to look Big Picture and I am so excited about the opportunity to
radically abandon the commodities this world has to offer me as I take a leap
of faith into the unknown with one main expectation: to expect the
unexpected!!!
