I am sitting in the wonderful Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport getting ready to check in to my first flight. I have to admit that I have been a bit nervous. I flew on my first commercial airline flight a little less than a year ago. So this is my first international flight. I was reminded by a friend to remember Christ’s commission to the disciples. Remembering the mercy of God will changes nervousness into excitement for the Gospel’s sake.

Here is part of the e-mail that I sent out this morning to some friends:

It is only by His grace that this possible. I am not just talking about the opportunity that he has made financially for me to make a trip like this. I am talking about the motivation for seven guys and a lady to travel half way around the world to the poorest country in Europe. Why would anyone do that? My answer and the answer that is most compelling is the Gospel. The Gospel is the good news that Christ has saved men from ourselves and from sin. This is a message that must be preached and lived. It is this message that has caused thousands of men to die or give up all wealth or ambitions to pursue the mission of spreading the glory of God to the nations. In a very small way, we have the opportunity to partake in this mission to the Albanian people. But, let us not forget the mission that we have to our neighbor. We, too, are on the same mission to them. It is the same calling. We die to ourselves that all men might be saved. “I am obligated to the Jew and the Greek, to wise and the foolish” to give them the Gospel of Christ.

Please pray. We will only be there for a week, but all the hurt man on the road needed was a good Samaritan to come along at the right time with the spirit of love. Pray that the Gospel is clear. Pray that our work will be efficient and beneficial. Pray that God will be glorified in all things.

I just ate lunch with my parents. We ate at a Chinese buffet, and, of course, like most Chinese restaurants I got a fortune cookie. I don’t put much stock in fortunes, but this one was encouraging. It said, “Courage is grace under pressure.” Where I am weak, Christ gives grace. God’s grace changes weakness into courage.

Well, here we go. Although this is just one of thousands of missions trips that take place each year, God is still at work and He cares for each soul. This is not a earth shaking post, but it doesn’t have to be. This is Christ’s work.

a vessel in the Potter’s hand

This entry was posted on Friday, March 17th, 2006 at 11:42 am and is filed under Albania. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.