34 Hours To Go!

First off, I would like to thank the Carroll County News Paper for doing such a great write-up about our group's trip to Kenya.  We have been so blessed to have so much support from our community and even people all around the country.  I am sure I can speak for our entire team when I say we all feel so uplifted in this time and can not express the gratitude that we have for every single person that has said a prayer for us.  We continue to need prayer as we make our final preparations for our trip and for safety and travel mercies.  We appreciate every thought! :)

So, we depart on our first flight in a little over 34 hours.  It, still, is so hard to believe, but it is so very exciting.  We have planted all of our seeds and now are just waiting for God to make it rain . . . so to speak.  We have been planning this trip for almost a year to the day and it is finally here!  I have a feeling that the 9 days will go by way too fast, but I am expecting them to be God-filled and Holy Spirit-led; they will definitely be the best 9 days of my life, I think it is safe to say.  :) 

I ask that you continue to keep us in your prayers if that is not too much to ask and we found out that we will have internet access at the orphanage, so I will continue to update my blog and hopefully add pictures throughout the week.  :) 

A couple boys at Mattaw Children's Village

Kim Phillips, me, Marci Rogers, and Alleshia Fritz. (Not pictured:  Jeff Phillips and Lydia King)

Just a Thought

So, I've been waiting to take a trip to Africa since I was about 13 and now we leave in only 13 days.  Crazy, but I am beyond excited!  Marci and I were talking about it today and we both agreed we are definitely not mentally ready for this trip.  How can we be, though?  We are traveling half way across the world to a place that is so much more destitute than any place in the U.S. and, even then, most Americans can probably only imagine the physical state that some of these African people live in.  So, no.  We are not mentally prepared for this trip.  But then I was thinking. . . that doesn't even matter.  The only preparing that we need to care about is our spiritual preparedness. 

I am proud to say that the 6 of us taking this trip--Me, Alleshia Fritz, Lydia King (my mom), Marci Rogers, Kim Phillips, and Jeff Phillips--just concluded the most challenging Bible study I have ever taken a part in.  We read Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper and did a study that accompanied it.  It slapped me around a little bit.  Piper's whole point throughout the book was, "Do you want to 60, 70, or even 80 years old looking back on your life one day and be having to seriously ask yourself, 'Did I waste my life?'".  I definitely do not want to have to ask myself that.  And even beyond that, I want people to look at my life and be able to tell that I didn't waste my life.  I pray that you have the same dream for your life. 

I was so blessed to be able to do this study at a younger age because I have so many years ahead of me to fulfill, but I can say I still have wasted many years of my life:  trying to please too many people, worrying about what people think, being afraid of uncontrollable circumstances.  None of it is worth it compared to the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ; none of it even matters.  God did not die a brutal, uncomfortable death for us on the cross so we could live comfortable lives.  He died for us so that we could live audacious (Beach Camp reference) lives for Him.  The only goal for our vapor-like existence should be to live for and to please the God who created us.  That's it! 

Obviously this is all easier said than done . . . that's a given.  Living the Christian life is the hardest thing any of you will ever do, but it is SO. WORTH. IT!!!!!! 

I will say this as I jump off my soap box:  I pray for Christ-like ambition to intrude and guide your hearts if you are willing to live an audacious, God-inspired life.  I also ask a favor from all of you readers.  If you would not mind, please be praying for our team that is traveling to Kenya.  We leave on July 19th and return 9ish days later.  Please pray for our safe travels and that the people we minister to can see Christ through us. 

Thank you so much and may God bless your life!
-Meghan

The title of this blog means so many things to me...my mom always told me that she can't take all the credit for the way I am because "it took a village" to mold me and shape me into the person I am today.  In these last few years, that saying has become something more than just a saying; it has become an outlook on life for me.  It can really take a village to raise children in third world countries.  If their mom and dad die, who is there to take care of them other than the the people of the village?  If any one person cares for a child at all, they will do whatever they can to make sure that child survives and thrives. 

I look at this world like a big village, except for the fact that some people could care less...which breaks my heart.  This village we call our world has raised children to become more than themselves.  People thousands of miles away from orphaned children have taken the inititive to support and raise them so that they can rise above their circumstances and become more than conquerers of their situation.

I am going to Kenya in Africa this summer for 9 days and the group of us that is going from my town is doing a bible study called Don't Waste Your Life written by John Piper.  In the previous chapter I read, he discussed what being "more than a conquerer" really meant.  If you have ever been to church you have probably heard that saying before, but has it ever really clicked in your mind?  It hadn't for me.  My mom really brought this to my attention.  Piper writes that when you conquer someone or something that you own it; it is now yours and you can do with it as you please.  But when you are more than a conquerer, you don't just own it, you make it your slave.  So, those flaming darts that Satan throws at you, when you are more than a conquerer over your fears and over those things that tempt you, you now own, but not only own, you control where those darts go. 

These villagers 'raising' these children are helping them become more than conquerers over their situation and the limits that have been put on them.  They are becoming more than conquerers in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Kenya...here we come :)