Out Past Egypt

Since, in my last post, I said I'd talk to you from Africa I suppose I should take the opportunity to do it now. It has really been a great week.

I'm not going to go into all of the details of the week. That is another blog and a whole bunch of other posts. It you want to see all of those check out www.worldmusicmission.org. Needless to say it was a great time with lots of work, but nonetheless refreshing.

I was pretty amazed that most of my craziness kept itself away during the trip. The only time I had anything on the order of panic symptoms was walking down the jetway in Atlanta prior to the Amsterdam flight. There have been intermittent periods of depression and moodiness, most of which I think was induced by the anti-malarial. They provided me with the medication least likely to increase depression, but it seems to have added a bit to mine. It also seems to have given me some pretty wild dreams. Fun times.

Tomorrow we go on a brief safari then head home. I'm excited about the safari, not too excited about the trip home. Eight hours to Amsterdam, five hours sitting in Amsterdam, nine hours to Atlanta, then the final hop home Sunday afternoon. By the time it is all over it will have all been worth it, especially when I get to hold my family again.

See you all back home!

A Whole New Level

This morning I write from Amsterdam. I'm not here long, just waiting on another flight. It's still a decent time to share some thoughts.

Surprisingly it was a pretty easy trip over. None of my "demons" came to haunt me too bad. Hopped on the plane in Nashville without any issue and made Atlanta easily. Leaving Atlanta I kinda froze about halfway down the jetway. I'm not afraid of flying, but the panic and agorophobia jumped on- I wanted to turn around and go home. Snapped the rubber band a few times and get trudging forward.

I'm thankful for this experience. Thursday I was really struggling with the idea of all of this. I really had no desire, at that point, to ever leave the house again. I was an absolute wreck. It turns out though, just like so many doctors have told me- take your medicine and walk right into the things that are frightening.

I guess it's also fair to point out that scripture says, "The Lord has not given me a spirit of fear but of peace, love, and a sound mind."

I know fear is not of the Lord, but I see the Lord use that weakness to build my reliance on Him daily.

Blessings and I'll talk to you from Kenya!