Day 2...

Here begins a second entry on the mission trip that begins in 3 weeks...

This entry is mainly to begin to discipline myself to daily enter a post on this site--both to let people know what is going on and to have a record of the great things God is going to do in these next few months. It hit me today that I will be on a plane headed for England in less than 3 weeks, and I was reminded that I am utterly inadequate in myself to accomplish this task. There is a great deal yet to prepare, and God is making it clear that I seek his face to adequately prepare for this.

All things considered, though, I'm pretty excited.

It's an amazing thing to know you're in the will of God; I've felt like this year has been a year to figure out where and what that will looks like in my life, what it doesn't look like, and what it means to wait. I keep thinking about the verse where Paul writes "I have lost all things, so that I may become everything for which Christ took hold of me." I think it's in Philippians. It's been a year of loss, looking back. Not the physical loss of family members or of friends, but of my desire for control, of my trust in myself, of my stubbornness in demanding my own way--and I think some of these are still in the losing process. Basically, what I've realized is that I'm not who I was a year ago, life is better, it's not because of anything I've done, and it's because of everything Christ has done in my life.

What's nice is after a year of dwelling in/learning that, I feel like I'm moving. My concern, though, is that I don't leave this place of rest in my comings and goings. Instead, God, my prayer is that you would draw me deeper into those quiet waters, lead me to those quiet places more often, and fix my eyes upon you. The world screams to MOVE and GET GOING, but your voice whispers to me to REST. Teach me to, even as the world spins wildly and the future remains uncertain.

I guess I missed a day, it's 1:34. I'll write another entry later.

Welcome!

Hey everybody,

Welcome to my blog for the summer! This blog is designed to give you updates of my summer activities, including (1) the time I'll be serving in Italy and Spain and (2) progress on Redemption Skies, the album I've been working on that will hopefully be finished by June 1st. Thank you for your willingness to stand along-side of me in prayer, your expression of interest in missions and my life, and your constant encouragement. I hope this blog will encourage you as you pray for God's will to be done in and through me this summer. I will do my best to keep this as updated as possible (providing pictures as well, of course), and feel free to write if you have any questions, comments.

Thanks again!

B