sometimes i think i'm great...

so you know how there are things about yourself that you think are really good qualities? i realized one of mine today- that i plan ahead and love to pack. because of these two things dan and i are almost totally packed (exception of our carry on things that we will use in the morning) with 14 hours until we leave. strange. i even took a nap! :) i do have to credit our parents who were generous enough to pay for an extra bag and extra weight so that we could pack one bag to 70lbs and another extra bag we weren't planning on. i feel like God was keeping me from being prideful by only taking 4 bags and a guitar. so now it is 5 bags and a guitar- still not bad. and the best part is we are taking the stuff we were willing to leave behind but i was a little sad over leaving- like my favorite toothpaste. and my carry on is not so heavy that i will regret all of the things that are in it. so here we go...let's start this adventure.

rejoicing and weeping

i had a moment in church this morning when i was fighting tears, attempting to claim the truths of God in song and pondering this idea of mourning.
tim keller said in a sermon that you cannot truly enjoy something unless you share it with someone else. i think the same principle applies to mourning. in romans 12:15 paul encourages us to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.
i think we were made to do this. as i thought about mourning and weeping i realized that it is so difficult to keep to yourself. we weren't made to mourn alone. so i'm not. i will refuse to take the easy way and the way that the non-christian culture around me want me to react. i will not put on a tough face and tell myself to keep it together. the tears don't always come but the mourning is there.
i will weep and mourn and ask others to join me. and i hope that i will do the same for those around me when the time comes.

-m

a faith that trusts that God will provide

that was the title of the sermon we heard on sunday. it was a sermon dan and i both really enjoyed. he used gen 22:1-19, the story of abraham sacrificing isaac. i've loved this story for a long time but on sunday something new was pointed out to me: "Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.' " verse five. abraham had the faith to trust God to provide that he told his servants that he and isaac would go to worship and both would return! i like that kind of faith. i like the kind of faith that dan and i (and many of our friends) are putting into practice. God always provides and we notice all the more when we are actually trusting Him to do so. i am so honored to have examples of people around me who are trusting God to do big things. i am honored that they challenge me to trust God to do big things.
the second thing that stuck out to me where abraham's words, "here i am". years ago i knew i was supposed to be in missions when i heard the passage in isaiah of him saying, "here i am Lord, send me". when i read these words again my heart jumped knowing i am being sent because i am willing to go.
so this sermon sticks in my head and heart as we prepare these next two weeks before getting on a plane for zim. we prepare and will get on that plane saying, "here i am" and with faith that is trusting for God to provide all that is good.
-m

we all call it vacation

last week i spent a little time thinking about vacation. dan and i have been semi-planning a vacation for the first week of august since may. i wanted something relaxing without much to do and lots of time to rest. that is what we did while camping for 3 days. i know that some would not call this relaxing but it totally was for us.

it was in huge contrast to our friend jackie's vacation the week before. jackie had never been to new york city and since we were near and wanting to see her, she and another friend erin, came to see all we could in 2 days! so we went nonstop doing everything we could think of.

the best part is that we all could call it vacation. we all loved it! and it was exactly what we each wanted for our time away from work.

-m