...the adventure begins...

Friends.

Here it is. The morning I leave home to begin the trek to Uganda. I cannot wait to meet the other 21 students I will be sharing this adventure with. We will train for a week stateside before we fly out.

As today got closer and closer, I began to get emotional. I am leaving all that I know for something I really don't know. Yes, I grew up in Europe, so that's foreign...but it is definitely NOT Africa.

In those moments over the past few months where fear has seized my heart and threatened to keep me preoccupied, I am reminded of Jesus' words recorded in Matthew:

"Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." (10: 39)

If I am married to this life: my relationships on earth, my material possessions, my human experiences, I miss the point that an eternally personal God is trying to make. If I cling, I begin to manipulate the course of this life, rendering it solely mine. But, as usual, Jesus proposes something counter cultural, counter intuitive. He asks us to give it all up and trust that he has a better, more full, more shalom plan.

As Paul writes in Philippians, "What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him . . . " (3: 8-9)

It doesn't make sense, does it? Lose everything to gain...everything? It requires a step of faith, but knowing that you will gain eternal life and a further glimpse of the creator of the universe is enough of a carrot for me. So, here I go.

Thank you all for your prayers, your commitment to keep praying while we're gone, and your concern and compassion for others you don't know who have endured great suffering. I don't know what God has in store, but I cannot wait to find out.

Final requests to be covered in prayer (taken from the book Girl Soldier):

• Please pray for an end to over two decades of war
• Security, peace and restoration for the people
• Nearly two millions displaced people to be able to return home and to receive back their land (check out IJM's mission in Uganda: ijm.org)
• Rehabilitation and healing for child soldiers
• Reconciliation for families
• Protection, health and wisdom for relief workers and church leaders
• Lives, homes and farms of the people to be rebuilt

I'll leave you with a quote from one of the great examples, Mother Teresa:

"I must be willing to give whatever it takes to do good to others. This requires that I be willing to give until it hurts. Otherwise, there is no true love in me and I bring injustice, not peace, to those around me."

In love, in prayer and in eager anticipation ;)