Night Before Departure: Thoughts on Journaling, Bible Study, and Revelations

Since my personal Bible is a bit too heavy to carry on the flight, I'm taking "Seeking God's Face," which is a year-long Biblical prayer devotional in the Reformed tradition. I got it when I was a student at Calvin College. To be quite honest, I have not been very diligent with a daily (or at least every other day) prayer and Bible reading time and since journaling is sort of required for this mission trip I decided to integrate it with a short and sweet devotional as well....

Gel Pens, journal, and small (carry-on friendly) Journal!
You, Lord, are my lamp; the Lord turns my darkness into light. with your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall. (2 Samuel 22:29-30)
The verse above was how the devotional invited me into God's Word. Sometimes you don't realize how thirsty you are for God until he leads you to the Water. This bit of encouragement as well as wisdom caught me off guard. In this world where there is so much suffering and atrocities (cliche: just turn on the news!), it is easy to get caught up in the "blame game." They do this to us. We caused this to happen to them. It becomes a circle of blame, guilt, and mutual suffering. But, as I read this verse, I realize that even if/when someone steps in my path to God, God will come to my aid if I trust Him. He will aid all who believe in Him, even if the entire world is against them. As I enter into a region where countless atrocities and war have torn apart families, religions, and nations, I want to write this verse on my heart to remember when things get tough.

As I wrote in my journal this evening, I realized that by going overseas and visiting with other believers, just as my experience in a small rural Japanese church (scroll to the bottom), I will be granted an image of eternity: where not just me and my local church family, but trillions of individuals all united in our worship of our Creator will be gathered.

However, while it is a beautiful vision, I must also focus on the needs of the present. While in Beirut, Lebanon, my group will visit with refugees and talk to them and learn from them about their experiences and their needs. I hope that my empathy will increase as I attach living and breathing faces to news stories.

Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers this weekend as I will be travelling and (hopefully) recovering from jet lag.

P.S. I will probably not post on my blog during the trip since I will not have my laptop or reliable wifi. I will religiously journal though and when I return to the states, I will post blog entries (and pictures) for each day in

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