ghana.

i haven't blogged in a while. my mind is full of thoughts, but i don't know how to formulate them just yet. so for now i will leave you with a "journal" entry i wrote last week...

In five weeks from tomorrow our group will be setting off for a 10-day mission trip to Ghana, West Africa. The reality of this trip has yet to sink in – I’m not sure that it will until we are there in the heat of the equatorial sun, experiencing a culture in a world that despite our weekly briefing meetings our minds could never completely grasp. There is a very specific reason that each one of us is going – some of us have realized that reason, some of us think we have but will be pleasantly surprised, some of us have yet to discover the reason but are following a calling. Regardless, we have all been chosen.

I rarely think of myself as having been chosen. While I am likely to recognize that I am in certain situations for a reason, this idea does not typically translate into feeling chosen. I am part of a culture that has become so comfortable with freedom and the ability to make choices. In fact, we often become overwhelmed by decisions we face. As I walk thru life, I encounter decisions that force me to determine what I want to do. My selfish and individualistic nature is always thinking about me and my wants. I think that while God uses the Holy Spirit to guide me in my decisions, I never arrive at a place with the mentality that I was chosen to be there.

God has chosen me to be a part of the Ghana mission trip. Ever since I made the last-minute decision to go I have been overwhelmed by the sense of being called to go with this group. Over the past several months when I was asked by someone if I was going on the trip, I always had an answer and explanation as to why I was not going. Then suddenly one day I no longer had an explanation – my reasons had no foundation and had merely become excuses. I have yet to discover the reason for my going, but I am following the chosen calling.

I have been chosen to go on a journey that will without a doubt change me. I know that not one of us in the group will return unchanged. Change can be scary and uncomfortable, sometimes even painful. It might mean letting go of things that we’ve clung to for so long that we don’t even realize its damage. It might mean giving up the things we want and being content with what we need. It might mean jumping into uncertainties and unknowns instead of standing still with the familiar. Regardless, it is my prayer that each one of us who have been chosen to follow this calling to serve in Ghana will embrace this change with faith that God works for the good of those who love Him.