First, a very brief update about my progress.
My first financial deadline (June 12th) has come and gone, I’m proud to say that WE’VE done it! I can’t describe how awesome it is to see the money trickle in at first and then develop into more of a steady flow. In less than four weeks I’ve raised $4,490! You all have made this possible, and this is as much your trip than mine. That money will leave an eternal impact!
My mind is wired so different than most people I know and with that comes a kind of weird quirkiness that has given engineers many of their stereotypes. Thankfully I don’t live up to many of those stereotypes. I don’t remember the last time I wore socks that didn’t match (I had to check just now to make sure though). I pay attention to whether or not my clothes, shoes, socks, and belt go together. I do use deodorant on a very regular basis. I try to make eye contact when I’m talking with people. etc.
The ways that I am different are subtle but fundamental at their core. Not long ago I was at an outdoor concert/show and when everyone else around me was enjoying the show I found my mind at times wondering and begin looking at the building structure and trying to figure out how they built it. You might think that I wasted my experience; however I still enjoyed the show very much. I heard every word that was said and every song that was sung but I enjoyed it more passively than most people. I often get distracted by seemingly random things that others literally just don’t understand. I remember another time sitting in church one Sunday morning. For some reason my attention was brought to the lights in the ceiling. I can’t give a reason but I was curious how much money the church was spending to have these lights on for the length of the service. Who thinks about that? Really! This guy apparently. The room was rectangular so I counted how many light fixtures there were going along in one direction and then the other direction. I multiplied the two numbers to get the total number of light fixtures in the room then multiplied it by 4 because there were 4 bulbs in each fixture. Having worked in a hardware store for 7 years I knew that most of the newer “T8” style fluorescent bulbs were 32 Watts each. I then multiplied the number of light bulbs by their wattage and then how many hours they are on to tell me the total Watt Hours (Wh) aka the total energy. Remembering about how much my housemates and I were spending on electricity based on last month’s electric bill (which I’m sure is different for residential) I was able to roughly calculate how much money the church was spending to have those lights on. COMPLETELY USULESS INFORMATION! haha
Was I distracted? Most definitely, yes. Do I remember what the pastor talked about? Not one bit. Was it worth missing probably a good message to figure out how much the church was spending on lighting the gym that Sunday morning? Probably not. My friend asked me afterward, “Why were you looking at the lights while we were singing…?”, I just replied with a chuckle and a “oh I don’t know…”. I wasn’t even going to begin to explain what I was doing because I knew they wouldn’t understand and they’d think I was even stranger than they already thought.
Those stories demonstrate that my mind is most likely NOT like the person’s next to me. My friends have criticized me for spacing out and not paying attention to conversations at times. I see where they are coming from but unless they had the unique pleasure of stepping inside my mind to witness the craziness that takes place on a daily basis they just won’t ever fully understand why I’m staring at the ceiling in church. I do need to control when I let my mind wonder and when I need to focus on a person and conversation.
I say ALL that to say that I’ve been praying lately that God will be able to use me on the World Race uniquely. I’m not naturally good with entertaining kids, I’m not good at speaking in public, I’m not musically talented, and I don’t really know how to counsel someone. But I’m the first person that knows that I’m not useless. God has given me a unique mind and with it a knowledge and an understanding that many do not have. I am gifted…or cursed depending how you view it, I am an engineer. According to the ever trustworthy Wikipedia, an engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics, and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical, societal and commercial problems.
I don’t fully know what God’s plan is for me yet. We often don’t until we’re looking in the rearview mirror. I do know that He has made me who I am for a reason though. I really hope and pray that I’ll have many opportunities to use my abilities overseas. I imagine being on the Word Race and having an opportunity to help build something or fix something! Just think, knowing that people have a higher quality of life now because of a God-given skill and knowledge that I have and was able to put to good use. How’s that for a sense of fulfillment? It’s not that God did not give people in third world countries skills and abilities, He most definitely did! They simply lack the opportunities and resources to develop and cultivate those abilities. That is why we are so blessed to live in the US. I wasn’t born with my engineering knowledge, I went to school for 5 long difficult and expensive years. I’ve listened to thousands of hours worth of professors’ lectures, read thousands of pages of text books (“skimmed” is a better description), taken hundreds of quizzes and scores of exams, written hundreds of pages worth of lab reports, and given many presentations. It was hard work to say the least. I KNOW that my education will never go to waste. I intend to use and apply my education wherever God has me. Another opportunity that I hope I have overseas is to pass on bits and pieces of my knowledge to whoever is thirsty for it. Enable and teach them to do something that they couldn’t do before. I’ve been advised however to try not to have any expectations for The World Race. Expectations lead to disappointment so I’m going to try to be ready for whatever the Lord brings my way.
Another word on fundraising.
I have three more financial deadlines:
August 21st – $10,000
October 31st – $13,000
December 31st – $16,267
It’s my own goal to be fully funded by the time I leave in September. How nice would it be to NOT have to worry about fundraising while you’re overseas?! If it doesn’t happen its certainly not the end of the world but it sure would be nice!
Prayer is complicated, I don’t really understand it but I know that that should be my first request from everyone. Please pray for me. Pray that God will change my heart in whatever way is necessary for the most number of people to hear Christ and to positively affect other’s lives. Second should be financially. If you have a desire to go one step farther in this journey with me you can donate. It’s very easy. Click “SUPPORT ME” either at the top by the financial progress meter or the link over on the left panel. You may also write a check payable to “Adventures in Missions” with “Greg Dickert” in the memo line and mail it to: Adventures in Missions, PO Box 742570, Atlanta, GA 30374-2570.
