Launch Week: Weak Launch

Quick
practical update: We are currently staying at a YWAM base called
Crystal Springs which is 2 hours south of Auckland. We’ll be here for a
week or so before splitting off into our different ministries around New
Zealand. We have limited internet access here so we’ll be blogging and
facebooking as we are able, but hopefully we will have better access
next week.

We’ve been in New Zealand one full day now and yet it feels as though
there have been weeks of experiences gained in the time we’ve been
here. Things began to strike me the morning we “woke up” to head to the
airport on January 2. I use quotes because that night we were awake
until 3:15am packing and making last minute Walmart runs for things
needed for our trip. We laid down to rest at the end of a long day of
packing and woke at 3:45 to head out to Denver International Airport. We
flew to LAX at 7:00am and landed at 8:30am LA time. After spending
hours at the airport napping, reading, and praying in the food court we
met up with our other team members around 3pm and flew out of LAX at
7:30pm, touching U.S. soil for the last time for almost a year.

After waking up that morning and spending 11 hours at LAX one of the
things that struck me the most was the sense of weakness I had. I
imagined scenes of mighty warriors heading out on epic quests fully
armored up and rested, ready to face impossible challenges with crowds
cheering at their backs. And yet here Catherine and I were, utterly
exhausted, feeling a bit anxious about leaving our comforts, families
and cat behind, and still far below our needed support level.

We are already experiencing what I am sure will be one of the
greatest lessons God will teach us on the race: how to come to the end
of ourselves and find peace in the unseen provision of God. We’ve worked
and prayed and sweat for almost 7 months to follow God’s leading and go
out to the nations. And now we’re here, beginning a huge quest to grow
in understanding of His ways and to spend our lives to bless the
hurting, the poor, and the outcasts around the world. The other great
lesson we are learning is why we are out here in the first place. A few
days ago we were preparing to leave and struggling with the oncoming
immensity of what we were about to do. It was a battle to pack our bags
and we didn’t really feel like leaving so soon, but once we stepped on
the plane (and had a chance to sit and rest a bit), God began refreshing
our hearts and the people He was calling us to began to pop into view
once more. We can’t see their faces yet, but we know there are countless
people around the world that God is preparing for Himself and that
He’ll be introducing us to. We know we’ll be changed by them and we’re
praying that we can bless them through God inside of us and the gifts of
relationship and service. New things are awakening inside us and we
can’t even fully describe how it feels here at the beginning of our
journey. What if we see miracles? What if people get healed? What if
salvation breaks out and hearts are changed all over? We know that it
isn’t our own charisma or power that’s going to make the difference but
the power of God through the Holy Spirit. We are expectant and excited
for Him to shake things up in and around us.

As a side-note and totally unrelated to ministry, we are staying 15
minutes away from the location where the Hobbit town in the Lord of the
Rings movies were filmed. We’re hoping to get a chance to visit before
we leave for our ministry location in a few days. If we do expect to see
some pictures and videos soon. 🙂

Here are a few things you can be praying for:

1. One of our team members was unable to come due to finances. His name
   is Grant and he’ll probably be going on the World Race later in the
   year with a different group of people. Pray for our team and for Grant
   as we undergo the changes in our team dynamic and adjust to living
   together for a year.
2. Finances – We are still waiting on $2,000 to come in to help us
   cover the December 29 deadline. We will have many other deadlines
   approaching over the year and if we don’t meet them, we may be sent
   home. We know that God didn’t bring us out here just for us to turn
   around and go back home so please support us and pray for God’s
   provision.
3. We’re all exhausted from packing, traveling and major time zone
   changes (we are 20 hours ahead of Colorado time). Please pray for our
   energy and our health.