Pre - Guatemala

Days before trips (or the days of trips) seems to always involve a considerable amount of stress. In the experience of two of the members of our trip - the Smalls (Jon and Jennie) - the Friday morning before the trip to Washington, DC from Hershey, PA in anticipation of the next day's departure from Reagan National Airport fit the mold of the seemingly stressful.

Jon took their dog, Perry (an energetic English Springer Spaniel) into the Pennsylvania woodlands in the early half-light of the dawn for her normal treat of a "Daddy-day off walk." Upon returning to the house, after several minutes of the usual debrief from the "walkie" as Jon and Perry affectionately name their time together - getting water, panting on the cold hardwood floor for a couple of minutes (Jon - sometimes Perry joins him :)), etc. - Perry emerged into the bathroom as Jennie and Jon were getting ready for the day limping with her back paw the size of a golf-ball and red with soreness. Poor little girl! So, even though Jon had planned the day's departure time perfectly, stress entered in. An impromptu trip to the vet and some unplanned expenditures later, and the Smalls were, finally, on their way to Washington, DC.

At least that's one way to look at the morning and, for that matter, at trips in general - in light of the stress involved. Let's re-visit my first statement: "Days before trips (or the days of trips)seem to always involve a considerable amount of stress." Admit it - I had alot of you - you were thinking, "Amen brother! You are right" and then the story confirmed my statement. Then again, I could have just as easily changed the whole perspective of the morning with a completely different phrase. One, for example, such as this: "God always has an interesting way of preparing us for the next step on our journey." Sounds cliche, sure, but seriously - the patience, faith, perspective involved in the outlook the Smalls had to have of their morning is merely a simple preview of what awaits them - and, in general, the team of people travelling to Guatemala - this next week. Not to say that this trip is going to be difficult or trying, but it will be, in many senses different than they expect - as Jon and Jennie's morning was before the trip.

Now, let's take this a step further, a step away from the members going to participate in the work of the Lord on this trip. Let's think about the youth and the Guatemalan mentors that are awaiting their arrival. Imagine what they expect of this next week and/or what stresses they may have undergone in the days/weeks/months recently past. With countless differences between the ways we (the folks coming from America) and they (Guatemalan youth and mentors) live, we can never truly empathize with one-another's experiences. However, one thing that we can compare is that God the Father has, overall, something amazing in the work of this week for all involved - American, Guatemalan, otherwise.

Sure, days before trips might be stressful. But, trips, themselves, when done in the glory of the Lord, are never merely that. They are full of the unexpected. Follow us to find out what we all never expected from this Guatemalan excursion...God bless!