Good Guys Win (by Jimmy Buffett)

I've been back a week as of today (Monday, July 23). I have to admit, it's weird to make such a fuss about having been gone for only two weeks. However, God has certainly done a whole lot more with a whole lot less time! It was an interesting dichotomy between how wonderful it was to be back to some of the places I love with some of the people I had grown so close to while at the same time being a bit frustrated and disappointed at having such a short amount of time back. What's especially surprising to me is how the jet lag has been hitting me. I sleep fine but I keep hitting a wall every afternoon/evening. Hopefully I'll be all caught up soon.

Traveling with a team was filled with surprises for me. It's been so long since I've traveled with so many people. Isn't it strange how after so many years of traveling alone and desiring to have travel companions that I would have struggles with traveling with a team? I've gotten so accustomed to traveling alone that I had to relearn how to travel with others once again. As is true with so many things in life, it was filled with so many pros and cons.

On the one hand, I had to deal with being responsible for a group of people who, for the most part, were inexperienced in traveling and were unfamiliar with the far side of the world and all that's involved in getting around, communicating, and dealing with cultural differences. Add to that the fact that the dynamics of traveling with a group provides so many more opportunities for Satan to use his favorite weapon against me: discouragement.

On the other hand, traveling with this team allowed me to see God at work in some truly awesome ways! I was blessed to be able to watch most of my team members, a few in particular, grow in their faith and experience God like never before in their life. One team member has a distinct new level of maturity and confidence in who he is in Christ; another team member is struggling with how to manage her newly recognized spiritual gift of compassion - a real blessing in disguise; still another team member emerged as a clear and distinct prayer warrior, instilled with a bold confidence in who God is and just how powerful and loving He is! And this is only a quarter of the team.

My trip was filled with blessings and discouragements and I can only hope and pray that I wasn't too much of a distraction for my team and the work God was doing in and through them. He is very clearly continuing to work in their lives now that we're back in MN - for some team members this is more of a struggle than would be expected. Please continue to pray for this team and all the goings on in their hearts, minds, souls, and lives. And, of course, continue to pray for the people who's lives we encountered while on the far side of the world. God is doing a mighty work in a global way!