Is this really happening?

So...wow. It's all beginning. I'm at last on the path to Uganda and it's all happening so fast! It's truly incredible how so much is out of my control. God has this thing about reminding me that it's He that is in control. I apparently need reminders. Lots of them, in fact. I daily have to give this whole deal over to God. It is insane how He has orchestrated everything up to this point and I trust that HE will complete this in His time. If all goes well and the money comes in (I'm envisioning thousands of dollars flying at my face), I'll be flying out to Kampala in mid-May. The timeline of all of this is kind of crazy. The unknown details are killer for a planner like myself. Killer. I want to plan everything down to the little details. I'll be having WorldVenture training the last week of April in Denver so I have to decide if I need to move out of Lynchburg the week before or wait until afterwards. All of those unknown make it impossible to plan a flight out there not knowing where I'll be flying from. See? Crazy. I absolutely love that Scripture is chock full of people who have gone through this. Hebrews 11 is an incredible reminder of this. There have been so many that have gone before me that have trusted in a faithful God when all of their circumstances around them are out of their control. My pastor used an excellent illustration of this on Sunday. We're going through Revelation and he brought up the inpeccable timing of God. When God parted the Red Sea for the Israelites, His timing was perfect in every way. The sea opened before them at the perfect time. This didn't happen a week prior. It didn't happen two hours too late. No, it opened right when the Israelites needed it. God held back the Egyptians for the perfect time as well. When He let them through, it was just the perfect time for them to get in the sea. It was perfect timing when the seas came back together. Everything was done in God's perfect timing. I can trust that God will take my timeline and change it to His. In His perfect timing, everything will come together. This is His journey. I'm just the traveler following His way.

How Great Is Our God!

It's ridiculously late and I should be asleep in bed. However, I'm sitting on my bed listening to a new version of one of my favorite songs on repeat. Tears continuously filling my eyes. I first went to Kenya in August of 2005. The song "How Great Is Our God" had recently come out and on that trip, we decided to teach the song to the Kenyan children that we met. This was usually in a school setting where there would be a couple hundred or so kids. I wish that I could even put into words what it was like to hear hundreds of Kenyan children belting out those lyrics. Their pronunciation has a slight British sound and their voices, oh their voices! I don't know much that rings more beautifully in my ears. It's a proven fact that I will cry every time I hear an African child sing. I can't help it. It always brings me back to that place. Dirt beneath my feet. The wide landscape of the African countryside. Children clothed in rags singing lyrics that defy their circumstances and praise our Lord. Their voices echo in my mind and in my heart. It is not only the beautiful sound but knowing that these words come from the heart of these children that have experienced far more than I ever have. They know poverty at a level that I have only seen. They know need. They know desperation. They truly know how great our God is. 

Every time this song is sung, I close my eyes and travel thousands of miles away. The greatest worship leader that America has to offer has nothing on these kids. This past October I headed to Atlanta for Catalyst Conference. It was my third year in a row and I'm always thrilled to be challenged by the speakers and overwhelmed by what God teaches me. I wasn't ready for Africa to meet me there. One of the co-hosts has started some incredible work in Kenya and has formed a choir out of some of the kids. They performed a few songs there. The tears overflowed down my cheeks. My heart ACHED. Just today I found the album that they had made: The Daraja Children's Choir of Africa. Different Christian artists sing various worship songs and the choir sings along with them. My heart jumped when I saw "How Great Is Our God" on the list. My throat choked. Tears immediately sprung into my eyes. I listened to the 30 second tease over and over again until I at last clicked to buy it. I can't stop listening. Oh, those voices! I close my eyes and I am there again. It feeds my soul. It stirs my passion. It reminds me that God has put this desire on my heart. I praise Him that He is at last guiding me to what He has called me to! I absolutely cannot wait to head over to Uganda. To see/touch/smell/listen/hug those children. To look into those poverty ridden eyes, see their ragged clothes, walk into their shack and hear how they praise our King. It humbles me to my knees.