Where I’m Going This Year

Many of you know that I absolutely love kids.  Their simplicity, truthfulness and joy encourage me to dig deeper.  I’m a kid at heart, so I can relate to the little boogers I guess!

I am always praying and remaining open for opportunities to minister, lead and just hang out with kids.  I truly think it’s a calling and I don’t want to miss that call when it comes.

Well, in a way, a call did come in the form of my wife’s sweet voice encouraging me to do something…..TO GO TO ECUADOR!  Our church is teamed up with Compassion International and we have sponsored and built a church in Santa Elena, Ecuador.  Many children have been rescued from the grips of poverty because of this church.  We have the opportunity of teaching and playing with these awesome kiddos for 1 whole week!  Plus our family currently sponsors 2 kids through Compassion and I may get to meet them if I go on this trip!

At first, I didn’t want to take her nudging seriously because, well, Ecuador is a long ways away and I’ve never been apart from my family that long.  Also, the flight, money and inconvenience of it all just made things seem out of reach.  So I let it rest and I prayed about it.

Over the next couple of months, I couldn’t kick the thought of embracing small, poverty-stricken kiddos.  I couldn’t kick the thought of playing soccer with them, goofing around with them and loving on them.  I couldn’t kick the thought that maybe God was calling me out of my routine for once…..answering my prayers in a way that would stretch me and challenge me.

SO I’VE MADE THE DECISION TO GO!

There’s something exciting about responding to the call of spreading the Gospel to all the nations.  Whether I’m teaching or loving, or just being present, I’m excited to have hands and feet for God to use.

All this is out of my comfort zone and risk is certainly a possibility.  The “what if” list could grow and grow if I let it….but I won’t…because God’s in this.  I’m just along for the ride.

Strangely, I’m not fearful at all, just anxious…in a good way.  That’s how I know that this is the right thing to do.

I’m grateful for a supportive family.  I’m also grateful for a God who knows me better than I could ever know myself.  He knows how I grow and I’m sure that I will leave Ecuador a broken soul, only to be filled up with a beautifully renewed perspective.

Please pray for this journey, for the team, for our safety and for the advancement of Jesus’s love to even the most afflicted.  I appreciate it very much friends!  More to come.

God Bless,

Paul