From Anxiety to Peace

Today was generally a stressful day.  I leave tomorrow for S. Korea and had a lot to accomplish.  I had to print out my ticket, book a hotel room because my contact over there told me that he could not pick me up from the airport so now I have to get a hotel room for the night and then make my way to a bus terminal the next day and buy a bus ticket to travel across the entire country, I had to buy a converter for my laptop charger, I had to get iodine tablets for the radiation, I had to Dramamine so that I don't throw up all over the plane...it was a lot to get done. 

This list made me think about all that I had to go through just to get to where I need to go, Sokcho.  Thinking about it made me feel so anxious and stressed.  When I get anxious and stressed, I tend to feel depressed, I want to separate myself from the world, and just sulk in my anxiety.  However, as I just finished up my nightly prayer time and read about Abram's journey in faith (Gen. 12), I have been given peace.  No, nothing in my external circumstances has changed.  I still have to navigate a ginormous city without being able to speak the language.  However, my God is good.  He is faithful.  Given my ignorance and general lack of common travel sense, I don't really have a choice.  I couldn't do this in my own power even if I wanted to.  Chances are fair that something doesn't go the way that it should.  But that's all right.  Here was my final conclusion tonight on anxiety and the dangers it brings:

 Anxiety has the nasty habit of turning us inwardly

Anxiety takes our eyes off of the brokenness, off of the hurt, off of the pain that we find rampant in our world.  It causes us to forget the great call that God has put upon our lives to reach the dead and dying world and puts the spotlight onto ourselves.  Well, if you haven't figured it out yet, this world is not about us.  We have been called to something greater, something more glorious and worthwhile.  We have been called to advance a Kingdom.   Good luck doing that if you're thinking about yourself.  Freaking out about something and then praying and receiving real peace is kind of like that "duh" moment when you find yourself doing something so stupid and have remembered that the solution was so ridiculously simple. 

Regardless, God paves the way.

"By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.  by faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.  For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God" (Heb. 11:8-10).

Korea!!!...Whhaaattttttttt???

Yeah, so I'm going to S. Korea this summer.  It sort of came out of no where.  My theology professor, Dr. Chung, asked me if I would want to spend my summer in Korea and I immediately said "Yes!"  I'll be leaving June 6 and will get back August 20.  I'll be there preaching at an English worship service at a church there and will also be teaching Bible classes.  If I'm honest with you and me, I'll say that I feel pretty inadequate for the task.  I've never formally preached before and I've never formally taught Bible classes.  However, I most definitely see God's hand in this and I will stumble through the door.  I'm not walking through the door...lets be honest.  I feel like God opened it, I stood there and stared at Him opening it, I took one baby step towards it, then He shoved me through it.  Something like that.

Anyways, I'm going to be needing lots of prayer while I'm over there.  Please be praying for me.

• That I would study diligently and be a good steward of the position I've been given.
• That God would help me to preach and teach with a deep passion and conviction.
• That God would open the hearts of those I teach and preach.
• That God would enable me to teach and preach effectively.  

I'm so excited to get over there and start this thing!