Sunday, January 29, 2012
In atlanta
Today is the day! I'm on an escalator in the Atl airport as I type. Well okay, not on that escalator anymore. But anyways, I love this place. I love watching all the people walking around and thinking about where they are headed etc. maybe slightly stalker ish but enjoyable none the less. My favorite part by far though is terminal E:international terminal. Whenever I have a layover here, I always like to go to E because I love sitting around and hearing all the languages! Plus, they have good food in E. I'm about to take advantage of that fact right now actually! In the meantime, I just wanted to write and say I'm in transit! My plane leaves in about an hour for Tokyo and then from there I fly to Bangkok. I should arrive in Bangkok tomorrow night around 1155. Looking forward to this adventure! Thank you for praying!
Prayer requests for staying healthy are greatly appreciated. Stomach issues are expected to occur but it sure would be nice to avoid the worse!
Friday, January 20, 2012
Prep for the journey; prep is the journey
Nine days from leaving. Things are starting to pick up in my brain as I realize how much I need to do... Travelers checks, finish school, learn how to say something in Thai, buy clothes for extremely humid weather etc. As I was just thinking/praying, I thought about how important and necessary prep is. I know I have a lot of prep to do but a lot of it isn't physical preparation. It's mental, spiritual, and emotional. Spiritually preparing myself, praying for wisdom, peace, guidance, and awareness to what God will be/is teaching me is so important. But, I think I normally shove that into the back of my head before I go on a trip/do ministry. I get so caught up in what I need to do, I forget who/how God wants me to be. Lord, I don't want to just do. I want to be in your presence so that I don't miss something you're trying to show me.
Another thing I thought about this morning is what Mr. Tim Prewitt told me. "Don't get too caught up in the destination. Don't miss the journey. Bask in the journey with God." He reiterated this thought multiple times. "If I'm going from point A to point B, don't miss the journey! In between is just as important." He used the example of Birmingham to Bangkok and how I don't need to tune out during the "journey." So true! I can remember several cool airport stories I have due to taking advantages of opportunities of where I was at that that specific moment. So, here I am thinking to myself, "Ruth prepare for the 26 hour travel time to Bankgok because God may have something in store for you. He might try to teach you something." Then I realized that I had just made the very mistake Mr. Tim had warned me about. I got caught up in the "destination." Except, instead of the destination being, 'Reach Bangkok', it was 'Leave Bham.' Ruth, live, bask in the JOURNEY! That is right now as you're prepping, as you're finishing school, as you're still in Bham. What is God teaching/showing me right now? It could have to do with Thailand-it could have nothing to do with Thailand! Could be practical; could be a chunk of spiritual truth. Now is the journey, and I have various destinations along the way. Keep your eye on those things, but realize that the journey itself is a "destination."
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Sooo Ruth... why exactly did you start this blog again?
Well, I'm glad you asked!
Before I explain anything... I should probably make it clear that all of these blog posts are not going to be pretty. When I say pretty, I mean that I wont necessarily be spell chking everything or making sure that I follow all the punctuation rules to a T (Sorry Mom and Gramma...) While I'll try to keep my flow of thought coherent... I can't promise that either! One of the most serious things I want to keep in mind when writing this, is that I don't want to be so concerned with what YOU the reader are thinking to the point that I change what I would write or how I would say it. Being a selfish human, that will be a struggle because *gulp* I will get too caught up with what you think. Sigh* Oh the fall of man.... But in order to help counteract that way of thinking, I'm going to write these posts in journal format. Im going to try to be very open and clear with what is going on around me almost like its just me and me. It may sound a little schriztophrinc at times. But, I'm hoping that it will allow me to convey my surroundings and experiences more personably.
Alright after that tangent, back to your (my) original question. Why did I start a blog? Mm summarization time. For some time, I have had a passion to see people change. What kind of change? I'm glad you asked. The hope and change that is only possibly through the transforming power of Jesus Christ's blood. The 2 Corinthians 5:17 new creation change. I am convinced that one of the greatest joys for humans on earth is to see a person who who was "dead in their trespasses to sin," become alive in Christ. What a privilege we have to be able to see that! First, we can see that transforming power in our own lives when we recognize/receive Christ as our savior, and then we can see that change in others peoples lives! I would love to spend the rest of my life seeing, observing and being a part of that. Wouldn't you? I'm not sure of the details, whether God would use that passion in Birmingham, AL, in another part of the US or in another part of the world.
As I seek to determine where God wants me, some opportunities came up that would allow me to learn about various types of ministries that have the goal of bringing people to Christ and discipling them. One of those opportunities is to go to Thailand, live with some missionaries there, and learn from them. Hence the name obSERVE. This trip is not necessarily a "go to different country, wear yourself out from helping as many people as possible and then return and sleep for a week." The goal of this trip is for me to be able to experience the daily life of a group of people serving Christ, seeing their ministry, and seeing how they interact with the culture they are in. Why? So that I can have a sweet vacation? No, so that I can have a better idea of what and where God would possibly have me later in life. The goal is to identify certain passions God has given me so that I have a better idea of maybe where he wants me to use them. I'll obSERVE in Thailand with the ultimate goal of eventually serving wherever God places me.
So, if you have made it past the previous three paragraphs, I congratulate and thank you for bearing with me! If I am honest, I'm not exactly sure what the trip to to Thailand holds. Im hoping it holds 5 weeks of asking a lot of questions. I'm hoping I'll be interacting with a lot of different people and ministries. I'm hoping to learn. But, I'm trusting God that he knows what I will ultimately learn from this experience and that it is what's best. With that being said... the ultimate purpose of this blog is for prayer. I believe in the power of prayer and one of my biggest fears for this trip is that I will go and only return from "vacation." I don't want to go on senior vacation. I want to learn, grow, and redeem the time. Will you pray with me during this trip? Will you pray that I'd ask the right questions? Will you pray that my eyes will be open to what I need to see? Will you pray that I would redeem the time and not waste it? Will you pray that ultimately my agenda and will for this trip and my life will be set aside as I honestly seek what God wants? Your prayers are greatly valued and appreciated and I hope that through this blog, you'll know how to better pray for what God is doing in Thailand in my life, in the campus outreach missionaries' lives, and in the ministry of Campus Outreach. Thanks for reading through to the end. Thanks for supporting/praying for a sister in Christ as we all seek to glorify Yahweh!
Before I explain anything... I should probably make it clear that all of these blog posts are not going to be pretty. When I say pretty, I mean that I wont necessarily be spell chking everything or making sure that I follow all the punctuation rules to a T (Sorry Mom and Gramma...) While I'll try to keep my flow of thought coherent... I can't promise that either! One of the most serious things I want to keep in mind when writing this, is that I don't want to be so concerned with what YOU the reader are thinking to the point that I change what I would write or how I would say it. Being a selfish human, that will be a struggle because *gulp* I will get too caught up with what you think. Sigh* Oh the fall of man.... But in order to help counteract that way of thinking, I'm going to write these posts in journal format. Im going to try to be very open and clear with what is going on around me almost like its just me and me. It may sound a little schriztophrinc at times. But, I'm hoping that it will allow me to convey my surroundings and experiences more personably.
Alright after that tangent, back to your (my) original question. Why did I start a blog? Mm summarization time. For some time, I have had a passion to see people change. What kind of change? I'm glad you asked. The hope and change that is only possibly through the transforming power of Jesus Christ's blood. The 2 Corinthians 5:17 new creation change. I am convinced that one of the greatest joys for humans on earth is to see a person who who was "dead in their trespasses to sin," become alive in Christ. What a privilege we have to be able to see that! First, we can see that transforming power in our own lives when we recognize/receive Christ as our savior, and then we can see that change in others peoples lives! I would love to spend the rest of my life seeing, observing and being a part of that. Wouldn't you? I'm not sure of the details, whether God would use that passion in Birmingham, AL, in another part of the US or in another part of the world.
As I seek to determine where God wants me, some opportunities came up that would allow me to learn about various types of ministries that have the goal of bringing people to Christ and discipling them. One of those opportunities is to go to Thailand, live with some missionaries there, and learn from them. Hence the name obSERVE. This trip is not necessarily a "go to different country, wear yourself out from helping as many people as possible and then return and sleep for a week." The goal of this trip is for me to be able to experience the daily life of a group of people serving Christ, seeing their ministry, and seeing how they interact with the culture they are in. Why? So that I can have a sweet vacation? No, so that I can have a better idea of what and where God would possibly have me later in life. The goal is to identify certain passions God has given me so that I have a better idea of maybe where he wants me to use them. I'll obSERVE in Thailand with the ultimate goal of eventually serving wherever God places me.
So, if you have made it past the previous three paragraphs, I congratulate and thank you for bearing with me! If I am honest, I'm not exactly sure what the trip to to Thailand holds. Im hoping it holds 5 weeks of asking a lot of questions. I'm hoping I'll be interacting with a lot of different people and ministries. I'm hoping to learn. But, I'm trusting God that he knows what I will ultimately learn from this experience and that it is what's best. With that being said... the ultimate purpose of this blog is for prayer. I believe in the power of prayer and one of my biggest fears for this trip is that I will go and only return from "vacation." I don't want to go on senior vacation. I want to learn, grow, and redeem the time. Will you pray with me during this trip? Will you pray that I'd ask the right questions? Will you pray that my eyes will be open to what I need to see? Will you pray that I would redeem the time and not waste it? Will you pray that ultimately my agenda and will for this trip and my life will be set aside as I honestly seek what God wants? Your prayers are greatly valued and appreciated and I hope that through this blog, you'll know how to better pray for what God is doing in Thailand in my life, in the campus outreach missionaries' lives, and in the ministry of Campus Outreach. Thanks for reading through to the end. Thanks for supporting/praying for a sister in Christ as we all seek to glorify Yahweh!
Sunday, January 15, 2012
A toast
Here is to asking questions, experimentation, testing and exploring the countries, ministries and cultures I will visit as well as this blog thing Im going to attempt to do... Cheers!
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