On the Road....

After months of planning, fundraising, praying, and preparing for this day, we are finally on the road.  This it is the fourth time that I have lead this same trip to Guatemala, and what I am finding is that no matter how intentional I am at getting everything done ahead of time, there is always a feeling of being overwhelmed by the magnitude of leading a trip like this.  This year it came at the end of last week.  It was that point when all the big things were done, but the seemingly endless list of little things just seemed to taunt me as I remembered thing after thing that I still needed to get done.

In that moment of feeling overwhelmed I found myself at a point of asking, “why do I keep doing this to myself?”…”Why do I keep planning these types of trips.”  The problem with that type of thinking is that the answer is abundantly clear.  I keep doing these because God makes it clear in my life and ministry that this is part of what God calls me to do.   I keep doing these because I believe in the impact that trips like these make in the lives of everyone that goes.  I keep doing these because of how despite the stress, despite being away from my family, despite all the planning that is needed, God absolutely feeds and encourages me in the midst of serving the team and the people of Guatemala.  I keep doing these trips because I whole heartedly believe in the power of being broken before God, and I love watching our team’s hearts be broken not only for the people of Guatemala, but also for serving Jesus. 

As we are preparing to get on a plane to set out on an adventure of a lifetime, I would ask that your prayer for our team (both the individuals and the team as a whole) be that God would break our hearts for what breaks His…That we would come back broken but filled….that we would come back from these two weeks in Guatemala having been remade by the hands of our savior.

The band Sidewalk Prophets have a song called “Keep Making Me” that exemplifies that prayer request and is going to become kind of our theme song for the next couple of weeks.

I will try to update you all when we can get service once we are in Guatemala.  Thank you all for your prayers, your financial support of this trip, and for loving the people on our team.  Your love and inspiration is a huge part of what makes this trip possible. 

Doug