Three more weeks! We are just three weeks from take off and it is starting to feel so close. It is time for The Lists. Actually, I made my first one yesterday. My family can tell you about my lists. I am not generally an OCD type person, except when it comes to big trips. My husband and kids like to make jokes about my lists, but we get where we are going with everything we need. I start a few weeks out with lists of things we will need to pick up for our trip, and eventually move to the items we pack sorted by bag. My lists have rules, too. No one is to cross anything off the list until it is located in the proper travel location. Breaking the rules of this list gets us to Florida without toothbrushes. Yes, this happened and no, it was not mine. I never break the rules of the lists. Lists are always hand written. I have tried to use the computer, but it just does not have the same satisfaction for me. There is something soothing about crossing items off the list. So it begins. Yesterday, I made the list of items we are in need of for the games and crafts we have planned for the children. This list had the goal of just pricing the items so nothing has, of yet, been crossed off, but we are getting close.
The lists, for me, are really just a way of keeping myself sane during the planning process. They keep me on track, and provide a way of organizing the many thoughts that begin to run through my crazy brain. Yes, I will admit I am still crazy, but just imagine how much worse I would be without my lists. I could argue that the Bible has several lists so I am simply following a good example. I do, however, realize a mission trip deserves an additional list: Pray. Pray for each of us going, our health and personal plans. Pray for the trip and safety. Pray for those in the DR who have been planning for our arrival. Pray for the children who will come to the camp. Pray for the many people we will encounter. Finally, pray for the state of my own heart and motives that they stay in line with those of God. If that last item is followed correctly, then the ultimate list will just get longer and that was the point of this all along, right?
Matthew 28:18-20Jesus, undeterred,
went right ahead and gave his charge: "God authorized and commanded me
to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in
this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have
commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day,
right up to the end of the age."
