Yesterday was a very long day. We had a Malawi team meeting followed by dinner together at a nearby restaurant. As we move closer to our departure date, we are focusing on the future. The amount of preparation that goes into a trip like this is staggering. Each meeting we receive reams of papers filled with things to know...things to learn...things to remember...many are overwhelmed, and I can't blame them, there is much to do.

I do not, however feel overwhelmed in the least. And I am keeping the peace God has given me (thank you very much). Each day I wake up and intentionally look towards where I am going. I ask the Lord to help me to go where He has asked me to go, in His strength, with the leading of His spirit, in His timing. When you lean on the Lord, the unknown isn't fearful or worrisome...The Lord actually knows everything that is going to happen. Nothing is a surprise for Him. When I remind my self of who goes before me and makes a way for me, I am at peace.

With a team as large as ours, creating community has been a challenge. Many of us go to different campuses (Our church is one church with two locations) so we don't have the benefit of seeing each other every Sunday. At the Lord's prompting, I had begun an e-mail forum for sharing prayer requests that has become helpful in bonding us together. Yesterday 15 of us went to dinner together, and it was fantastic!

We sat at a long table underneath a series of plate glass windows. As we were waiting for our food we shared stories of how God had provided for each of us. We asked questions and answered them... and there was quite a bit of silliness after our 2 hour meeting. When it was time to order, the waitress stood listening as one team member recounted how God provided him 3,500.00 at a yard sale he had. Neighbors and friends donated items to him to sell along with his own treasures and the end result was a fantastic story of what God can and will do for us when we trust in him. The waitress was listening, the customers were listening...God received glory. When it was time to eat we had prayer together. Imagine a table of 15 people praying together in a busy restaurant...once again, God was glorified.

By the time we were through, the boisterous laughter emanating from our table would indicate that we were indeed bonding. The different personalities and talents mingled and knit together and we left in unity and friendship. Every face had a smile...worries and fears had dissipated, and as they dissolved, a sense of hope replaced them. Sitting around the table together we became as one.

It may seem a small thing, taking a break together from the "memorizing" and the "remembering" to relax around the table...but this is where unity comes from. Families are meant to talk at table, sharing and laughing and being silly...yesterday was a glimpse through the windshield of where we will be going and how we will get there.

You get out of something what you put into it...yesterday we made time after a long day, for what turned out to be the more important meeting. We need to continue to invest in each other as much as we can before we arrive at the airport on July 29th. We desire to carry the "good news" to Malawi and we need to be able to show the people there that we love each other, before they will believe that the Love of Jesus is true. They will be watching what we do...how we treat each other and how we treat them. If we don't go as a family, as a community, we will lose credibility.

Many of us have concerns and fears about going on mission. But God has planned this trip long before He put it in our hearts to go. Every detail has been well thought out and organized by our most perfect Holy Father who loves us and knows our hearts better than we know them ourselves. If we focus on looking ahead in trust and faith, and do not turn back to speculate and wonder, He will share with us treasures that we cannot fathom. He will mature us and use us for service in His kingdom. We must choose to look forward with confidence.

When we agreed to go on mission to Malawi, we promised to follow. God's word tell us what is expected when we follow:

"Still another said: 'I will follow you Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family'. Jesus replied, 'No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God'." - Luke 9:62

God asks us to follow Him. He has a plan, and His plan is good. When we agree to follow, we must go in denial of our own "wants and desires" and allow the Lord to replace them with His. When we do this we are truly His disciples.

"Then He said to them all, 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it." - Luke 9:23

We have a choice to make here folks...stay in charge and continue driving while constantly looking in the rear view mirror (and go off the road over and over and over....),Or, look straight ahead through the windshield, and follow the one who made the road and knows every turn and bend up ahead.

As for me, I am looking forward and following...