40 Hours and Counting

The clock passed 9 p.m. a few minutes ago which means it's 40 hours and counting until we pull out of the parking lot of Second Baptist Church.

Once again, I'm not quite ready. My "To Do" list seems to increase with every hour and amazingly, it's now including activities not even on my radar a few days ago.

I'm covering not one, but two different city council meetings tomorrow evening, as the Harrisburg council called a special meeting to follow 60 minutes after the Eldorado council starts (which shouldn't be a problem as Eldorado takes no more than 19 or 20 minutes on average). I even have an business opportunity meeting later that evening if everything should work out.

It was like this two years ago, and two years before that, and so on. Today was work in Harrisburg, drama practice for the mission trip at DuQuoin followed by a business meeting in Benton.

I'm excited and energized by this trip, and my job and opportunities here. Even on the book side there's been three people just in the last two weeks who have approached me with book ideas they want to do. One came out of the blue today which started from a conversation that began before last Christmas.

I'm listening to conversational Ukrainian on my iPhone while commuting and was thinking about my sermon this morning while getting ready for work. At this point I hoping my mind will keep spinning fast enough to build up enough adrenaline to carry me through the next 40 hours.

We leave at 1 p.m. and pick up the DuQuoin group at West City at 1:30 p.m. By 2 p.m. I figure I can sleep.

Last Sunday while listening to Willis' sermon about the need for the church to reach outside its doors I recalled the last post I made two years ago for the 2010 mission trip. Two hundred sixty-one persons made decisions for Christ during the 12-day trip but I'm not sure if even one person that we met made a decision during our time inside one of the churches. In every case where I was present it took place in a home or outside in the yard. I know for others the decisions came at camps, along the sidewalk or in talking with children at parks and down at the river.

The people in Ukraine are just like those in Southern Illinois. What's true for us on the mission trip should be true here at home. Our neighbors need to know about Christ and his love. Our co-workers do so too.

Keep us in your prayers. Pray that God prepares the hearts for those we will meet so that they will be receptive to His message. Pray that we find opportunities to share our testimonies in any and all places.

And while you're praying for us, pray for yourself that these thing happen here as well. Missions shouldn't be something we prepare for once every two years. It's something we should be doing every day.