On the home stretch...

Well...our graduation celebrations are officially over...and we're wrapping up lose ends as we look towards our departure date NEXT SATURDAY!!!!

Yesterday morning during the church service the team was commissioned with prayer by Pastor Carl and the whole congregation. We felt cared for and encouraged by the words that were spoken over us. And FINALLY...FINALLY we were able to hear the precious words we've been waiting to hear......."OUR FUNDRAISING IS DONE!!!!! WE'VE REACHED OUR GOAL OF $54,000!!!" We praise the LORD for His faithfulness to our team. $54,000!!! That's more than some of us make in a year!!! God is ever faithful.

The reality of the trip is sinking in quickly and we're each realizing how much there is still left to be done. I was thinking yesterday about how much preparation we are doing as a team. Randy, Holly and Melissa have been working diligently behind the scenes making phone calls, emailing, and making lists to keep the team on track and I feel completely prepared with what I need to be doing in the next two weeks...and I pray each one of us is taking that same amount of time personally to be preparing our hearts as efficiently as we are preparing our suitcases.

With the busyness of the summer, the layed back schedules and the routine of life that keeps us busy and sometimes distracted, are we putting as much effort into relationship with Christ as we are in our relationships to our friends? Have we committed to setting aside a period of time EVERY day in which to quietly listen and sit in God's presence? Are we giving Him time to speak to us? To convict us in ways He wants us to grow...to hear the encouragement He wants to whisper in our ears?

I know around my house it is VERY evident when one or many have chosen the busyness of the world over the solitude of sitting in God's presence. When we turn our attention away from Him it shows...it comes out in ugly attitudes and selfish motives. It comes out in complacency and hypocrisy. And the enemy has a feeding frenzy in our lives...

My challenge to my teammates...and the same challenge I give to myself...is to carve out time every day in which you will steal away with the Lord. He didn't get us this far in order for us to take this trip on our own strength. He stands by patiently waiting for us to individually invite Him along on our journey to Africa. I, for one, plan to make this a priority...I don't for one minute want the enemy to convince me I'm good to go, having already done all I need to do. The journey is just beginning for us...we've so much to learn, so much to give out, so much to expand in our own lives. Let's go out prepared and strong...having nothing between any of us that could cause us to be anything but a unified team. Each of us have made a commitment to this team...that we would do what it takes to build one another up and stand beside each other in LOVE.....let's continue on in that--but only after we've been equipped in the silence of extended time with the LORD. It is only at His feet that we will be prepared, that we will overflow with an abundance of LOVE for each other and those we will meet along the way.

Let's push forward...our time is almost come...

we're on the home stretch, but there's still work to be done.