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expeditions: GO, GIVE, PRAY

The Little League workers who were very sick a couple of weeks ago have finished out their summer with excellence and antibiotics. As of August 3rd, they’ve all returned to their homes all over the United States. Currently they are excited and preparing for the start of another year of reaching their campus, while reaching their degree. Thank you for your prayers.

Recently I was at retreat where missionaries gathered from some of the least reached countries in the world. The stories I heard over casual dinners were riveting. They shared as if their lives were the norm, the exotic landscape of living has created a new starting place for normal.

Most people I spoke to were highly connected to their call. It drove them and kept them alive.

At one point of the retreat we were gathered together in worship. There were maybe 200 people in attendance representing the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia, the Balkans, India, Nepal and others.

The overwhelming odds of reaching this part of the world settled on me like a blanket of discouragement.

As I listened to stories, each victory seemed like a grain of sand drifting on a seashore. How do we keep ourselves encouraged when the job seems so big and the workers seem so few?

Last evening as a few people gathered in my home for an informal prayer meeting, directed toward the nations and the upcoming World Missions Summit, the vastness of the task seemed to dissipate underneath the bigness of our great God.

A movement birthed in prayer. What a revolutionary thought.

Think it, live it, do it, it can change everything!

H.L. Hussmann - God’s Greatest Passion Ministries

NO DEPARTURE, NO ARRIVAL

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

NO DEPARTURE, NO ARRIVAL

If I want to go to Australia, the first step (after some planning) is to leave my house.

To get to Maine I have to leave Kentucky, and to get to the other side of town I must leave this side of town behind. Or, as my good friend, Chad Everett put it, “Without a departure, there is no arrival.”

It has been phrased in another roundabout way: “You can’t keep doing the same thing you’ve been doing and expect different results.”

No matter how you phrase it, the principal is true. Going forward requires leaving something else behind – always.

So, let’s break it down in practical terms. What exactly does this mean for our lives?

Do you want to be more active in sharing your faith with others? It is going to require freeing up your time to do so. What will you remove from your schedule to make it possible? What will you depart from to “arrive” at sharing your faith more regularly?

Want to be a great preacher? What will you give up in order to study, train, and practice public speaking? What will you leave behind in order to seek God and receive His Word for the people you will share with?

Want a better family life, a better knowledge of God, purity, a positive attitude, or more intimate relationships? What will you leave behind to pursue these destinations? Having something always means not having something else. Having purity means not having impurity. Having more intimate relationships means not having a wall up that others can’t penetrate. Arrival requires departure.

Every goal you have requires sacrifice. But, whatever it takes, be committed to leaving everything behind in order to pursue God’s will for you. Be relentless in seeking out areas of your life you can abandon (sin, wasting time, worthless pursuits) and press forward to arrive at God’s destination for your life.

Where do you want to go?

What must you leave behind to get there?

Whatever it is, leave it behind. You won’t reach your arrival if you miss the departure.

I just watched the “give a year video,” it’s the first I’ve seen that since I was at that WMS. I signed a card not knowing where God would take me and scared of committing an entire year, maybe more, to living overseas.

Two months later God called me to serve as a missionary in Africa. That summer I worked as a Children’s Ministry Intern in SA. I moved home to finish school in Missouri with the call on my life to return to Africa. I haven’t returned to Africa yet, but I’m working as an English teacher in Japan, a country that is less than 1% Christian.

I want to encourage everyone to be open to what God has for you, it may not always be what YOU have planned, but it will always be better than you could imagine. I plan on staying here a few years to teach, but I am also praying for the day God has me return to my home in Africa!

TWMS was the beginning moment in my life where I considered that God may have something more for me than working an ordinary job in my hometown. I encourage everyone to go to TWMS with an open mind for God may have for you!! God Bless!

Urgent time-sensitive request:

If there is anyone who would be interested in teaching at an international school in Africa, click here to send Katrina an email for more information.

We had direct experience with an international school when we were in Central Asia and the kids were some of the coolest in world (literally!). If this is something that has been on your heart previously, or is surfacing as an interest - there is a need!

1st/2nd grade teacher
5th grade teacher
5th -12th Social studies/PE teacher

You would start next month … an opportunity of a lifetime!

:::update:::

They were all able to get antibiotics and are getting well!  They will be able to finish out the last week strong.  Thank you for praying!

Chi Alpha Outreach in Central Asia*:

5 XA Staff who are there to help with the summer Little League program are quite ill with what appears to be a strain of strep; one girl has a burst ear drum. The illness appears to be very contagious, and continues to spread. Please pray with us for their healing. They have a week left of work, and they all want to make the most of their time there. Local workers are looking for reliable local medical help, but they aren’t coming up with much at this point. They are relying on physician advice from the US, and the availability of local medication. E. Scott Martin and his son are headed there tomorrow for the closing ceremonies of this summer-long Little League outreach.

Please pray the Great Physician stops the virus and completely heals all 5!

*Sensitive Nation