About to go to Africa

Yeah, so, about to go to Africa. I can't begin to explain how exciting is to not only go to Africa, but I am taking 5 people who have never been. I want more than anything for them to have a great experience and see God move in His majesty in ways they have never seen.

God always seems to teach me a little more about His character every time I lead a project. This is a medical project to a remote village in western Kenya. There will be times when we will have no running water or electricity so it will be exciting.

I will do my best to journal so when I return you can share in some of my African adventures!

Devour the instruction book.

So...I just got a new cell phone the other night. You know how it goes. You were all familiar and happy with your old one. Finding the buttons was no problem, even in the dark. If you are like me, you have even used the glow from your phone to make your way to the restroom in the night. I knew all the functions that my phone was capable of and could easily and quickly maneuver around its menu screen, set special rings for all my friend, use my calendar, set alarms and I knew just how long it would beep with a low battery till it died. Familiar.

Then I got a NEW phone. I can't even answer it without stressing over which button to push. There was no way I could figure out all the features on it flying blind...I had to READ THE BOOK. I didn't just read the book, I devoured it. I dug through to figure out how to send and receive texts and calls. I am still figuring out the camera and other cool features. I have put the book down now. I got what I needed and the book will be put away, unless I somehow lock it up and can't get the keypad to work again. Now that I have the basics down, I can ask others who have my same phone how do do some of the higher tech things.

After the big night at the phone store I pulled out my Bible to prepare for a lesson and thought about the previous hours. I "needed" information from the phone's instruction manual and I could not think about anything else until I figure out the basic functions. I thought about the analogy as I opened the ultimate life instruction manual and draped it across my lap to study.

How many times do we truly devour the scripture to find the answers in life. Do we just get our basics of "salvation" and then chat it up with our friends over coffee to get the higher tech issues resolved?

Our church is gong through 50 days of focus on God's Glory and through it my passion for devouring the instruction manual has been renewed. I want to have my facts straight before my next cup of coffee.

btw...got the new enV2.

Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes.

So...I saw this on a piece of flair recently and it really resonated with me. I have been in leadership nearly all my life and it has never been easy for me to speak my mind. I seem to always be worried about everyone's feelings and hold back when I should probably speak the truth.

Does it make me a bad leader if I hold back? I think it does on some level. There is a fine line between when we should speak and when we should be silent, but it must be the Holy Spirit and not our fear that drives us to silence or to speak for that matter. A good leader will set aside fear to speak the hard words that people do not want to hear.

So, to all you shaky voices out there; take a deep breath and speak your mind if you truly believe it is necessary for the situation. Trust the Holy Spirit and let the chips fall where they may.