August 9, 2013 (Amsterdam Airport)

What a plane ride. I was able to get about 1 1/2 hours of sleep...I think.

Sitting for 8 hours is a challenge for me. I went exploring on the 747...It is gigantic! enjoyed the food and movies were good.

So far things are going well. Smooth. God certainly has his hand on this mission. I was mentioning to Nathan that it felt like I was getting ready for a game the day before. Now that I think more about though, the more it probably feels like the Super Bowl or Final Four.

We take off in 3 hours to Nairobi. Everything is on schedule for now. We pray it stays the same way the rest of the trip.

Here is something I wrote from the plane earlier today, tonight, yesterday...who knows.

I am on the plane to Amsterdam right now, and there is about 4 ½ hours left on this flight. I slept a bit, and ate the in flight meal…chicken.

Enough of that.

When I was young, or younger, whatever sounds better, I had a vision. That vision was of me teaching kids to play the game of basketball and to have healthy fun. The vision was in Africa, with a wooden backboard, a rusty rim, and a torn net. I was helping a few young boys learn to make layups. In the vision, it is late afternoon, about five pm or so, with a fantastic breeze in the air.

There is not much more to the vision than that. I can say only that the vision was placed in my heart long ago, by God. That I know for certain. When I was about 22, I had this incredible urge to travel the world helping people to make their lives easier. I contemplated the Peace Corps, which I came to find out can be very difficult to get into. The very next time the vision came to me was in church, when I heard that a group was going to help people that needed aid. That is all I knew. When I read the itinerary for that particular mission trip, I saw the safari 3 day trip and was turned off. I didn’t feel the pull in that scenario.

Along came my beautiful kids, relative comfort, and all that I or my family could ever need. I was content. Seeking is the word that I truly discovered to be a huge part in personal relationship building with Jesus Christ. I began to look for him in everyday things. What a revelation that was. As I got up day after day after day, I looked for him in everything I was a part of. The miracle is…I found him. He is in everything. From birth to death, from light to dark, from cries of joy to cries of sorrow, God is there.

To say that I have changed over the past two years would be wrong. I have changed, but I didn’t change me. God did. I happened because I asked for it. I have been a Christian since I was just a little boy. I have attended many denominational churches, as well as non denominational churches as well.  I was baptized as a baby in a Catholic church, and grew up Catholic. I chose to symbolize my growth with Jesus in 2003, electing to get baptized in front of all of my family. What a glorious day. 

Here is the kicker though. Since that day, I have grown closer to God. Not because I was submerged under water,  but because I went looking for him. So then here is something that I feel has changed me. The word is “Works”. I always looked at my faith as a way for m e to o feel better about myself and my surroundings. Where true blessings come, however, is through giving. Do something for somebody else. Even when you feel you have no time to do it.

Marin Luther, the protestant founder of the Lutheran Church, said something in a passage that astounds me. He said something along of the lines that he did not have enough time during the day to get all things that he had to get done to a completed stage. Too much work, not enough time. Sound familiar? His answer…Pray. Not at night before bed, which I am sure that he did, but pray during the time you feel most pressed for time or a deadline. So you and I should sound something like this, “I don’t have enough time today to finish, I need to stop and pray for three hours.” Boom!

Keep the prayers coming all the way to the 18^tha when we get back. Every day just tell God that he is the greatest and thank him for what he is. Amen…

Thank you, 

David