OUR DAY so far.....
So Josh and I were really ready to start our journey to Uganda. Check out wasn't so smooth at the Sheraton this morning, for some reason in Europe they like to add surcharges to everything, I mean everything! We felt like our patience was being tested and tried..... And I just had to bite my tongue at times. Then we proceeded through to the checkin process at the airport and again we reached a point where the lady wanted to make us check our carry-ons..... that wasn't possible. We had two bags a piece. One of my bags had ALL my electronics (laptop, kindle, ipod, nikon camera) and the other bag had all our medicines and toiletries for the week. I had managed to get all my personal belongings into 2 carry-on size bags. On my Guatemala trip last fall one of my bags never made it (same airline we are flying now) so I was hesitant to hand it over. We basically followed her directions to the counter only to find a man behind a desk. I explained our situation and he was totally cool and told us that we could proceed on to the gate with two bags a piece. This guy was by far the nicest person we had come in contact with this morning. I didn't want to have to rearrange and unpack stuff in the middle of the airport. Plus risk one some of our bags not making it. PLEASE pray that our 4 previously checked bags (that we checked in back in Bham) make it as well. We haven't seen them in 48hrs but have been assured their destination is Entebbe...... These bags are the most important because its stuff we have brought for the kids! Praying that they will be waiting on us at the airport.So we finally make it to our gate, get some breakfast and coffee. Josh met another not so nice person in the store where he wanted to buy more water. She basically refused to sell it to him because he had left his boarding pass behind with me and as he describes it she was plain rude.
Thankfully we were greeted in line to board the plane by three different mission teams.... It was so nice to see their smiling faces and to talk about the different work that each team will be doing in Uganda. The Lord is moving in mighty ways! And its cool to see dozens of people from all over the USA with the same heart to travel across the world to share the gospel and the love of Christ. This got me very pumped, after hours and hours of travel we were about to board the plane to the last leg of the trip out there!!!! Regardless of the minor bumps we had this morning to get to our gate, it was settling in that we were almost to Africa to serve our Lord. Ever since my first mission trip during college in 2003, this has been a huge part of my heart..... loving those in need and traveling to the ends of the earth. On our flight it has a tracking device with a map to show you how fast we are flying and the distance. I calculated and once we land in Uganda we would of traveled 8, 500 miles!!! Wow, thats a lot of miles......its 17,000 miles roundtrip.
FAITH:
I have started a bible study called Faithful, Abundant, and True by Kay Arthur, Priscilla Shirer, and Beth Moore, The first section talks about Faith and finding rest in our faith. When you think about rest in the midst of our busy lives its sometimes hard for us to just stop rest and have complete trust in Him. In Hebrews 11 it states "Faith is the CONFIDENCE that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us ASSURANCE about things we cannot see. Through their faith the people in days of old earned a good reputation. By faith we understand that the ENTIRE universe was formed at God's command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen." Hebrews 11:1-3. Then it goes on to list examples of people in the bible who placed their faith and trust in the Lord (Noah and the ark, Abraham leaving his home and obeying God, Sarah trusting that the Lord would fulfill his promise and bare her a child, etc.) Jesus Christ is the author and perfecter of our faith and regardless of life circumstances He makes all things work together for the good of those who hope and rest in the Lord. Think about the rest you can find by completely surrendering control of your life to Him, all the little details and worries, at times I know its not easy. But His ways, His plans, His purpose is ALWAYS better that anything I could do myself. So what stops us; we have a loving and sovereign Lord who wants us to be so close to him that we can REST in FAITH!
Matthew 13:31 talks about the parable of the mustard seed.
"Yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation. The Sovereign Lord is my strength, He makes me as surefooted as a deer able to tread upon the heights." Habakkuk 3:18-19
"Peace be with you, dear brothers and sisters, and may God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you love with FAITHFULNESS. May God's grace be eternally upon all who love our Lord Jesus Christ." Ephesians 6:23
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