Hey everyone, sorry for the delay in updates. We’ve been a little busy!
We are currently in Germany, resting and visiting with our long-time friends Dave & Amber Hill.We haven’t seen much of Dave & Amber since they moved to Germany two years ago for Dave’sassignment at the Air Force base, so its great to have the chance to catch up, get Chili’s together on base (yum!), and see how much their adorable baby has grown.
We were honored with an invitation to speak at their Hospitality House bible study last Friday, so we quickly threw together a slide show presentation of pictures from our trip, and considered a few highlights to share. The presentation went very well, though our designated 15 minutes soon turned into a whole evening full of stories and questions. We thought it would be a cool chance to share what God is doing around the world, and hopefully encourage others to respond to what God is doing in their own lives. We were blessed to then talk one-on-one with several people, and hear about the passions God has placed on their hearts.
The surprise of the evening was how much Gary and I took away from the event. You see, we’re five months into this trip, and much of the novelty of being a world race participant has worn off. We’re tired, dirty, homesick, and struggling with disillusionment over certain aspects of the trip that haven’t coincided with our expectations. We’ve tried to persevere and keep positive, but discouragement has been a difficult battle to fight. During these times, its hard to hold on to the good we’ve seen.
Friday night, we were honestly surprised by the overwhelming response of those we talked to. We felt able to see the hand of God fresh again, through the eyes of our new friends. We were reminded how extraordinary is this life that’s become normal to us. We realized how blessed we truly are, and why we signed up for this crazy trip in the first place. After too long of feeling forgotten and ineffective, we got a taste of the potential impact of a trip of this nature. I’m grateful for our new friends, for their prayers and encouragement, and the half-time pep talk we so desperately needed.
Praise God for the encouragement of fellow believers, and please pray that we would be able to hold on to this as we go forward into the second half of this trip. May we continue to daily abandon ourown expectations, and remember to always seek God first and foremost with all that we are.
