The Anxiety sets in, BUT GOD...

I am not feeling quite as articulate as I would like to be this evening so bear with me through this entry. Support letters went out this week, finally. That means, people will actually begin to read this. Perhaps I should post something of significance... we'll see where the Spirit leads.

This week, a compassionate and sacrificing friend began teaching (helping me self teach) arabic. I have been informed time and again that it is a beautiful language but right now, I am slaughtering this language like a butcher who doesn't know how to use a chainsaw. Its gross but fun. Soon I'll be spitting and gargling words with the best of them. The person teaching me just returned from a semester in Israel. All I can do is trust that she is not teaching me to say things like "Your family smells like dung beetle carcass." Thanks for taking care of me Alaina.

A couple of weeks ago, Travis and Kelly (the YMs - youth minister) were in Abilene and we all got a chance to become aquainted. They began telling me about my family I will be grafted into. Dad is a military guy; Mom is "bubbly"; and there are two sons in high school. I've never "lived" with a new family before, leaving me a bit anxious yet intrigued to see how a "nuclear" family functions. Knowing only the life of a blended family, nuclear is somewhat foreign (as is Egypt).

Kelly and Travis also enlightened me to the recreation oppurtunities of the Maadi community. Not far from where we live is a place where we can breathe - Wadi Degla (http://www.care.org.eg/CHLGSeries/Triearthalon.htm). It is a place to ride, climb, or just relax. Hallelujah! This excites me more than almost any other aspect of this journey.

There is one thing that I yearn for more than anything else, especially since the conversation with Travis and Kelly. In Maadi/ Cairo, there are a couple of different schools for children of international families to choose to attend. Many of our program participants attend school, acquiant, and befriend their peers as would any other child anywhere else in the world. Here is the difference - many of the children attending these schools are future world leaders of Muslim countries. As we mentor and walk alongside our MCC (Maadi Community Church) friends discipling them more and more into the image of the risen Christ, so they pierce the lives of their peers with the Light of Truth. Even if they can build a minor tolerance for Christianity in these future leaders, that will open flood gates for future Gospel experiences in countries currently openly hostile towards the Redeemed. The thought of the Kingdom breaking into outwardly persecuting countries makes my soul sing with words of greatest Praise and Beauty to our God and King.

Daddy, we love you. Bring me closer to union with you. I believe, help my unbelief. Prepare my heart, soul, mind, and body for this adventure so far away from everything that I know and am used to. I was not actually expecting you to take me into a real desert when I prayed to be in a desert but you do have that kind of sense of humor. Funny guy, huh? Put me in a place, even now, where I am required to rely and depend severely on you and nothing that I can do. Burden me to pray for your children. Let me see this world through the wounds in your hands. Give me oppurtunity to be the scent and taste of Christ today. Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me, Christ in the eye that sees me, Christ in the ear that hears me. We need you. I can't do this without you. Even if I can, its worthless if you are not in it. Daddy, do not turn a deaf ear to our petition. Let our prayer be incense before you; our uplifted hands an evening sacrifice. I love you. In the precious and powerful name of Jesus Christ, our risen Lord, we pray these requests to fruition. Amen.