Getting Ready

If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.

Psalm 139

Our household possessions are gradually filling up the portable storage container in the driveway. In a couple days, we'll call to have it hauled away to a warehouse in Everett. I feel sadness as things that are precious and meaningful to us get sealed away, buried among other boxes, not to be seen for a year. Ultimately, our material possessions don't matter much, yet each one evokes a God-given sense of familiarity, and reminds us of home. Each is tied to memories of people, events, and things we hold dear.

But we leave for Kenya in less than two weeks, so these things must be sealed away. A second storage container arrives next week, though we've come close to putting everything we own into one 8 by 8 by 16 foot container!

Friends have been very helpful, coming by for an hour or two to clean, pack, or even mow the lawn. Each time, we feel propelled ahead in this task that at times feels most overwhelming. We are deeply grateful for their help.

We've done this before, so we have anticipated the fatigue and discouragement that sets in during the final two weeks before departure. Are we going to make it? Can we really do this? Why are we doing this? There are other burdens too, as our house remains without a renter - can we make it financially without rental income to cover mortgage, taxes, insurance, and storage costs at home?

Then we remember the rewards, and know that in a few weeks we will be settled into our new home at Kijabe, surrounded by the black-skinned, smiling faces of the Kenyan people whom we have grown to love in the past. We will begin to know them as individuals and as a culture, and we will begin to see God at work in them, finding ways in which we can share in that process. And through this, God will also work in our hearts, expanding us with new relationships and new understanding of His grace.

We also remember that all these things are in God's hands. We made this commitment in faith that He will guide us and take care of us, and we will continue to trust Him. He has been faithful in the past, and He will be faithful once more.

Thanks so much for your support and encouragement!

- Doug