Skip to main content

Status report

State of preparedness report: I have a visa for entry, a laptop, and a camera. I have been talked through the arrival proceedings and have a picture of the US family with whom I can connect in Paris. I believe all my funds have been pledged -- thank you to all my supporters, in particular my church which has been amazingly supportive. So I guess I'm ready to go. Just need to start packing. That, and finish my sermon.

My time off is flying by -- I leave Winnipeg a week from today. With every item that gets ticked off the list, the reality of my departure becomes more real. And with that reality, the nerves. "Teaching children?!?! What on earth has gotten into me?!?!" is a common sentiment. But no, I'll be fine -- I'm up for the challenge; I'm needing to be pushed out of my comfort zone...and if this won't achieve that, nothing will.

As during my trip to Ukraine, I remind myself "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" Philippians 4:13. When the tasks seem manageable -- or when they seem overwhelming but backing out is an option -- I rely on myself, thinking it's my own competence that's getting things done. When I'm in completely over my head, however, and have no option but to do it anyway, that's when I recognize it's God who's in control. So that's my prayer for this year -- that the deluge of new experiences, responsibilities and perspectives would not destroy me, but turn me toward the One who holds my life in His hands, and is far more wise and powerful than I.

Comments

lasselanta said…
I will be praying that for you, too.

Which WT family will you get to see in Paris?
July 27, 2007 at 1:24 AM
kar0ling said…
Not a WT family, I don't think, but Cameroon people -- Sparks. I image you know them from FES?
July 27, 2007 at 1:32 AM
lasselanta said…
Yes, I do know them from FES. I don't know them very well (I think I only spent 1 FES with them), but they're a great family.
July 30, 2007 at 3:15 PM
Rebs said…
you left this morning on the plane, if all went well.
hope your travels are going well so far. update and let me know!

love you
August 1, 2007 at 3:54 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Living stones in the holy land

I met Jesus in Israel-Palestine a few years ago. I found him not in the rocky, desert ground he trod, nor in the ancient stones of the towns and cities he visited; not in the subterranean grotto in the Church of the Nativity, nor in the mammoth Church of the Holy Sepulchre, encompassing the traditional site of his death and resurrection. No, I met him in the lives of Palestinians who incarnate his spirit, in humble, passionate people who are convinced that love is the only way. I met Jesus in people who spoke like this: “We need to be soaked in the love of Christ. Love is not a hug and a kiss. Love is to seek the life of the other that the cost of one’s own.” --Labib Madanat, coordinator of the Palestinian and Israeli Bible Societies “Love is not an opportunity to overlook justice. Love is an opportunity to pursue justice…. [But] we want to resist any form of evil with the heart and mind of Jesus Christ.… There is no love without justice. And there is no true justice without lov...
2 comments
Read more

Stand up for Canadian Health Care (such as it is)

Canadian health care is far from perfect — it has never achieved all Tommy Douglas dreamed for it: from tip to toe (teeth are still missing, as are a lot of drugs) — but unleashing unfettered two-tier is the opposite of fixing it.  So I joined with the Canadian Medical Association in pleading for the Canadian government to grow a spine and stop unhinged Smith's attempt to violate our own rules within her province.  As someone on Bluesky observed, if Stephen Harper tried to do this, we'd be at the gate with pitchforks. Where is the outrage. Daddy Warbucks Carney’s latest just-barely satisfactory performance in trade negotiations should not blind us to his failure to prevent this from happening.  The letter to the health minister, CC my MP and the shadow ministers: The Canadian Medical Association says the Canadian government must stand up for Albertans and all Canadians to ensure Alberta's new legislation doesn’t create a new normal of health care haves and have-no...
Post a Comment
Read more

Broken people...

After reflecting with one coworker on how often churches in all their forms really mess up and hurt a whole bunch of people in the process -- and how "we gotta do better" -- I stumbled into another conversation with a coworker which highlighted our brokenness, and I suddenly realized what was wrong with my take in the first. I wanted the church to be better at fixing our mistakes, or better yet, at not making them in the first place. But maybe this "fix-it" attitude is partly the reason we keep blowing it again and again! My friend recollected an experience when a church community was in a terrible place: compounded mistakes, hurts, and frustrations had blown up, spewing pain all over all parties. (I'm sure anyone with a long history in the church can think of one, if not several, such occasions in their past.) A new Christian who observed all these goings on responded in an unexpected way. Instead of "you people are a bunch of screw-ups! How could this pos...
5 comments
Read more