Last Post in Peru...

Wow, it seems so weird to me to finally be leaving South America, especially since I've been here for three years!! The time passed by so quickly; where did it go?? This last week I've been in Lima, Peru, mainly to get LASIK done (it went well, I can see!!), but I've had a lot of down time as well. In this down time, I found that I've been splitting my time between reminiscing about my term here, and trying to picture the future, and what I'm supposed to be doing with the rest of my life... Yeah, I know, just some light thinking to pass the time... haha

I just wanted to share with y'all probably one of the biggest things that God taught me while I was down here. I may have shared this before with some of you, but please bear with me. :) Before I came down here to South America, I was a very Type-A, had-to-have-everything-planned-out-to-the-t, and nothing could change or it was the end of the world kind of guy. I'm pretty sure I was borderline OCD as well. hehe But when I came down here for my term with the Xtreme Team, I was in for a huge wake-up call!! Through our team over these three years, I learned, time and time again, that our plans are never sufficient, only His plans will work, and we have to obey. When we plan out the next 1, 5, 10 years to the minute (and allow no room for change), we do a great disservice to God, whose plans for us we couldn't even begin to imagine!! His Holy Spirit loves to move (seemingly to us) at random; He has no schedule that God gives Him every day on his iPhone, Blackberry, or newest Android... I'm not saying that plans are bad; please don't hear that. I still make plans, to a lesser degree, but I make sure that I am always open to the Holy Spirit, and willing to change my ways to His. It all comes down to obedience; are we willing to surrender our neat, tidy plans for His incredible, and sometimes scary plans for us. Are you? Obedience is life; it is the call for all Christians. Many believe that one is 'called' to missions or to a 'ministry', but that is simply not the case. All Christians are called to obedience, plain and simple. We have to be willing to go wherever God wants to send us, do whatever He wants us to do, and say whatever He wants us to say. Do we trust God enough to simply obey Him at every moment in our lives?