Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Just Enough

Well, I've never written a blog before and have actually always viewed most bloggers as middle-aged men sitting in the parents' basement on a bean bag chair posting the inside "scoop" or their deepest thoughts. But blogs have since advanced past the Dungeons and Dragons stage, and now we utilize them for a myriad of time-worthy uses, including that of mission trips as a way to provide a central place where all interested can come and view and be kept in the loop.

I write this to kick off what I hope will be bi-weekly updates leading to our trip at the end of November, but maybe more. We'll effort to makes posts during our time in Burundi, but internet is limited where we will be staying and we want to also be good stewards of our time for those 13 days. There will definitely be pictures and what not posted after we return, so be sure to check back!

During this time of searching for not only God's calling on my life at this stage, but how He has set out for me to live, I have really struggled with just how much stuff I have and how I hold on to it so dearly. I read through the Lord's prayer and hear Christ saying "give us this day our daily bread" and wander what He really means by that. I still haven't found my answer, and I yearn to live a life where I wake up each morning relying totally and solely on the Father to provide. Christ told his disciples not to worry, as God provides for the birds in the air "who neither sow nor reap nor gather in barns" and the lilies in the field, who are arrayed more elegantly than King Solomon was in all his glory.

And so my prayer has been echoing that of Agur, the writer of Proverbs 30, when he asks that he will be given "neither poverty nor riches," but to "feed me with the food that is my portion", because if he has too much he will deny the Father, or if he has too little he will be in want and steal.

I tell you today, after a month that has passed since sending out support letters, I have exactly $2600 for the trip to Burundi. It was the number that I wrote in the letter, and the number that I will give me just enough to make this journey, but not a penny more or a penny less.

I thank you for your support in prayer and for your support financially, and could never be more thankful.

We will end the blog with a short prayer request each time, hoping that you will lift it up to the Father because we truly know and believe that He is a God who hears our cries and answers our prayers. I have currently been in contact with two people in Burundi who are on the ground and doing the Lord's work in the country. One is a British man named Stephen who lives with his wife in the northern part of the country, currently doing environmental and community work. The other is Yves, who is a coordinator for one of the NGO's we will be connecting with during our visit to Burundi. We ask that you pray for the work that they are currently doing and simply a radical movement of the Gospel in a country that has been suppressed by ethnic conflict and violence for so many years.

Iyo Ngwe