Come Fly With Me

If you know me very well, you know that I love old music. We're talking 4o's big band, Frank, Ella, Louis, Rosemary, record playing music. You also might know that I think in song lyrics, so it may not be a surprise that as I think about the fact that I finally have ordered my plane tickets, songs like Come Fly With Me and Fly Me To The Moon are going through my head. Did you catch the important part there? Yes! I have plane tickets! That means I have a departure and return date. I will be leaving Thursday, June 17th and will return Friday, July 23rd.

This will be five weeks all together: four weeks volunteering in Brasov and 1 week to travel. To say that my travel plans are not firmly set yet would imply that I have some plans. This is not true. Right now I don't have specific plans, but have the travel time built into my schedule, and I am excited about the endless possibilities! But let me backtrack first and expand on the flight scheduling process.

Projects Abroad arranges flights for their volunteers if desired. I chose to let them do the scheduling, but when they sent me the itinerary with the cost, I thought the price was really high. So I started looking around for myself on the internet and decided to book the tickets myself and was able to save close to $400. Booking my own international flight was new to me, and was actually a little stressful since I didn't know what airline to choose or what price to expect. But this whole process has been one of faith and trust. The Lord has always been so faithful in His provision for me.

In the last couple of days I have been dwelling on 2 Timothy 3:16-

All Scripture is breathed out by God

and profitable

for teaching,

for reproof,

for correction,

and for training in righteousness,

that the man of God may be competent,

equipped for every good work.

Oh, how I long to be competent! I need to know Scripture. To learn it. To memorize it. To write it on my heart. So that I may be ready to give a reason for the hope that I have. (1 Peter 3:15)

I told someone the other day that even though I am not going with a Christian organization I am still going in the name of Jesus. He is my everything, including my motivation. But I'm afraid that I have been neglecting my "here and now" while planning for my trip. The verses from above offer insight for being equipped. I certainly want to be equipped for the summer, but what about right now? Why am I waiting for the summer? I am in contact with people everyday who need Jesus: my friends (Christian and non), my family, my coworkers, my roommates, acquaintances, strangers... everyone needs Christ. My love for these people is genuine and spills over from the love I have received from God, but my courage fails me time and time again as I say nothing about my Savior.

This is why I long to be competent. So that at the appropriate time I will be equipped to be the messenger of God. Oh yeah, that's my favorite part! There is a footnote on the "man of God" phrase that adds the translation "messenger of God." It's mind boggling that even though I fail so many times, He still allows me to be part of His plans- here and now, there and then. Send Your message through me! Let me be Your little pencil!