So here I sit, in a 20th floor Manhattan apartment overlooking the upper east side. Still I cannot quite make this thing seem real! Today is officially launch day – June 16th. I have a flight number, a destination – Kiev, Ukraine; still the reality of this will not penetrate my thick skull. I know it is real and really happening and is already happening; still I struggle to make it feel as though it is happening to me and right now. My grandest dream, my most burning desire is actually happening and nothing I do will allow me to fully understand this, maybe until I step foot on foreign soil. Perhaps it won’t be until a few weeks or months into this thing. Maybe I won’t realize the full weight of this journey until years after it is over. The most important thing right now is that continue stepping out, get on the plane and open myself up completely to seek the reason the Lord has brought me here. That is all I can do.
Months ago I stopped praying for specific events or items to come and just prayed that I would take each step laid in front of me with a calm spirit and with no anxiety. I can assure you this is the only reason I was able to weather some of the storms and now stand here on the edge of this cliff and jump into the absolute unknown without a second thought.
While I’m still standing on this edge waiting to launch off I want to thank all of you who have helped me through this process and who helped make this great desire of mine a possibility. I won’t name names because there are just too many and all of you know who you are! Thank you for everything from financial support to words of encouragement and peace; help with readying my house to sell and packing up my stuff; all of the prayers that have been prayed over me and in my behalf, for the love that has been poured over me during this process. I assure you, I would not be sitting here in New York getting ready to launch out to the nations at all, much less in a calm state of mind. The Lord is all in and over this journey and I cannot deny this is true. I will try to share some stories in this blog about the journey I have already been on in preparation for this race in order to share some of the wild experiences I have had even before leaving home.
For now I must run… gotta be at the airport in a few hours and need to get in at least one more Dunkin’ Donuts trip before heading out. Until my next update from the Ukraine, I pray for blessings to all of you who have had faith and stepped out to make this wild journey a possibility for me.
-Jeremiah
