I feel like when two friends give you a piece of advice, and then there is a sermon that relates in the same twenty-four hours it is time to stop and listen.
I have gotten incredibly excited about the adventures that await me in Africa. Africa has surrounded almost any conversation I have had, every prayer I have spoken, and probably 75% of my thoughts. I am currently using my one track mind to think about something that is still 8-10 months out.
A few friends mentioned (in separate conversations) Saturday night and early Sunday morning that it is okay to be excited but I need to enjoy life here in between now and then. After all there is a reason it is 8-10 months out and not tomorrow. Wise words from two very good friends, and then I went to church...
The sermon yesterday rocked my world. It was all about how we need to be prepared daily for the mission (to serve, love and worship God) not just right before a big mission trip but always. The amount of praying and Bible reading I've done since this Africa mission really bubbled over is probably double the amount of my day to day prior to all of this. I know over the next 8-10 months I will be seeking God a whole lot more as I look for answers and seek advice from God, but I hope that after this trip is over I continue to seek God just as much.
I guess what I have gathered is that every day is a time of preparation regardless if there is a mission trip in the future or not. All throughout the bible we are told to be prepared, because the day that Christ returns is unknown to us but will surely happen.
My favorite parable in reference to this concept is the Parable of the Ten Virgins.
25 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps[a] and went to meet the bridegroom.[b] 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5 As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. 6 But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. 11 Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ 12 But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
Being prepared at every moment is so important. So I am going to try my best to spend the next few weeks/months not so much thinking about what awaits me in 8-10 months, but rather what God needs me to do now so I can be prepared for whatever he throws at me between now and the day when my plane takes off. Obviously prayers and thoughts of what Africa will look like may still overwhelm me because I am incredibly excited. But I do want to take each day here for what it is, and I want to use every day to prepare for the overall mission that God has created us for.
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