So, it really kind of hit me today…we are leaving in three weeks. I have discovered that as our departure date gets closer, that the emotions and the mood swings are tending to become a bit extreme. I keep telling myself that all my squad members feel the same way and that I'm really NOT crazy. Like seriously, one day I will be so excited and amped up, and really just can't wait to go see my X-squad family and get this journey started. Then the next day, I will be having a meltdown in Best Buy because the sales clerks are overwhelming me with a bunch of techno mumbo-jumbo, and if I am not capable of picking out a memory card for my video camera, then how am I supposed to go and let God work in me, and live in a tent, out of a backpack, with lions and tigers and bears, oh my? Seriously, this whole World Race thing is making me a little wackadoodle.
As it turns out, Esther is like my favorite person in the Bible. She put her life on the line in order to save her people and be obedient to God. She is such an example of what it means to be a woman of faith and a woman of God, and I certainly hope I have some Estherness (I realize that is not a word) inside of me. So, anyway, the book of Esther is just full of awesome wisdom about stepping into a situation that is unknown and a little scary (or really scary). The verse that has always really spokenn to me (it is underlined AND highlighted in my Bible) is the last part of Esther 4:14, "And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" This is where Mordecai is speaking to Esther and basically telling her that, 'hey, you can do something about this situation, and did it ever occur to you that God put you where he put you at the time he put you here because it is his plan and purpose?
In communicating with my squadmates, I am beginning to see God at work. He has taken a large group of individuals and created a family, one body working together for his purpose. I realize now that I was not put on this squad or this route by accident (I originally considered going in August or September). So to all my squad members and teammates (team RISE UP), now is not the time to worry, to stress, or to have meltdowns in electronic stores. It is time to look to God and realize that everthing in our lives has led up to this moment and that we have been put on this squad, these teams, and this route "for such a time as this."
