I heard a sermon this week about life in the neutral zone. That’s exactly where I am right now just waiting between two stages in my life (like high school graduates waiting for college). I still have yet to leave for Europe and I’m becoming restless to get on with this calling. I know I should be stressing over my trip right about now but not having to worry about unsettled teenagers and their parents offers much peace of mind (even if they do make mission trips much more interesting and memorable). So be it that I’m living in the neutral zone and don’t have much to report here are just a few notes that may be of some (little) interest….
1. June 16th Launch Day – This will go down as one of the longest days of my life. I’ll leave at South Bend Regional Airport at 5am and will land in Kiev, Ukraine around 5pm the next day (that’s 36 hours for those that can’t do math)! There will be four stops along the way (Chicago, Newark, JFK & Paris). Crying babies could just tip the scale into insanity for me.
2. Shofar 1:5 Team Name – For all you old testament nerds who actually know what a shofar is you can just skip this section. For the rest of us, “shofar” is a hebrew word for a ram’s horn. It was used by the Jews to signal important events like war, celebrations, Jubilee. The shofar signified action was taking place in the presence of the Lord. That’s what our team wants to represent. We’re ready to sound the horn that something important is going to happen. We’re about to declare war on darkness, celebrate with those that have finally heard the Jesus story for the first time and spend a year bridging the gap between the rich and poor (which in essence is what Jubilee is).
The “1:5” is the scripture verse from Habakkuk. After Habakkuk cries out for justice, God answers in Hab. 1:5, “Look at the nations and watch and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.” Our team wants to be amazed at what God does in each nation we minister in. We want to write about miracles and unbelievable stories from the field (although by putting Hab. 1:5 in context, God’s plan for justice backfires on Habakkuk, which begs hesitation to whether I really want to see the same justice from God).
3. Bucket List – I only have one item on my pre-trip bucket list and that is to eat everything amazing with no regards to how fat I get in the next week. Which means steak, steak and more steak.
PS. As I write this I’m watching a documentery on ESPN (go figure) about the sex trafficking going on right now in South Africa because of World Cup. It makes me absolutely sick that girls are working the streets at 12 years old and committing suicide at 17 because they can’t take life anymore. I have to say that if you ever think you have it bad and God has forgotten you, you need to wake up!!!!! We HAVE to do something about this. How dare the Church sit back while girls are losing their lives for the sake of soccer!!!
