This last weekend we had the chance to go to a Mariners game in honor of Dan's grandma's 90th birthday. It was a lot of fun seeing family and rooting for our favorite team, even though they lost. As I was watching the crowd perform "the wave" I thought how similar it is to our Christian walk. A few people catch a vision and get others excited about it. These few can have a huge impact on a stadium full of people and soon have thousands following their lead. The opposite is true, too. Just a few people can drop out and get complacent about what they're doing, and soon "the wave" (e.i. active, revival-like Christianity) is forgotten and dead. Let's strive to be "wave" starters through the power of the Holy Spirit and not get complacent in our relationship with Jesus.

We headed to Tennessee last weekend for some missionary training. It was such a blessing to spend time with other missionaries who had been on the field for years and witnessed how God worked through them. We met Dr. Stephens, author of Jesus, MD, a book that influenced our decision as we considered long term missionary service.

We're looking at several language schools in Ecuador right now and are planning to purchase our plane tickets soon. After so many years of training it almost seems surreal that being on the foreign field will finally be a reality.

There's a lot to wrap up here before we leave. I find myself worrying about even the "silly" questions like, "What will we do with our cat?" and "How many toys should I bring for the kids?" to those that seem a lot bigger: "How will our kids adjust and our families deal with us being gone?" I daily have to give it over to the Lord and trust He'll gives us everything we need to take care of the details as we seek to follow Him.

"If we set out to serve God and do His work but get out of touch with Him, the sense of responsibility we feel will be overwhelming and defeating. But if we will only roll back on God the burdens He has placed on us, He will take away that immense feeling of responsibility, replacing it with an awareness and an understanding of Himself and His presence." Oswarld Chambers-My Utmost for His Highest