Ready or not...

Well, it's official at this point. I just finished taking care of our last major detail, purchasing our plane tickets from Ubon back to Bangkok on the last day of the trip. We had been holding off on this (somewhat nervously, I might add) because the airline we hoped to fly was requiring passport numbers to be entered for the passengers, and as you know if you've read the rest of the blog, Ted doesn't have one of those yet! Anyhow, we heard from the voice of experience today that they don't really check about that, and so sometimes they just put the same passport number in for everyone. With that knowledge at hand, I got those tickets purchased tonight, and praise God, there was still room left on the flight!

Today was a very special day for our team. As it was our last Sunday prior to leaving, it was our commissioning Sunday, and we were prayed for and commissioned in both the morning service at McBIC, and at CrossWalk. Making today especially special was the fact that Kris, a member of the team of workers we're going to minister to in Thailand who is home for 6 months on home ministry, was with us. Kris is the "voice of experience" I spoke of in the first paragraph. We were able to meet with her prior to CrossWalk, and it was a very special time. We peppered her for a few last minute tips and instructions, and then she shared with us from Ephesians 6, encouraging us to put on the armor of God in preparation for the battle which lies ahead. We closed our time with a special prayer time, as we prayed for each individual member of the. Kris then shared during CrossWalk about what's going on in Thailand among the Issan and with the team. It was really just a special night all around.

Continue to pray for Ted's passport situation. We're confident that he'll be coming back from Philly tomorrow with this all taken care of, but prayer never hurts! Also pray for our team as we go through final preparations like packing and the like. I know from experience it can get rather crazy from now until the time the van rolls out of the McBIC parking lot on Friday, and so pray for calm and rest, as well as effective time management and wisdom in preparing and packing. Pray also for our spiritual preparation, as we look to God for what He has in store. One thing that I felt God really saying to me tonight was that I need to be willing to be bold and dare to ask and expect Him to do big things on this trip, knowing that He is just ready and wanting to work, though not always according to my designs or wishes.

So, I extend that same challenge to you - dare to pray for God do big things on this trip - big things in our lives, big things in the lives of the team working in Thailand, and big things in the lives of the people of Thailand. Do we really believe in a God that can do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine, and are we willing to pray that way? It's my desire for that answer to be an emphatic yes for our team, and for you all as our supporters!