Lessons from our Mission Trip

At the time of writing we've been in Arlington, TX for about 4 hours; add to that the 10 hours on the road, and its been a long day to be sure.  So far I've forgotten to put the gas cap on the van after filling it up, forgotten an important check at the church, forgotten to put the van in park...twice, and just been in a grouchy mood all day.  The kicker is I've never done any of those things before today...accept of course be in a grouchy mood, that happens all to0 often unfortunately. The Classic Mission Trip Van But in the midst of having brain fart after brain fart, I've learned a few things along our journey today:

  1. Moving 2 days before a mission trip + long drive + extreme heat + hunger + completely new surroundings + lack of sleep = really, really irritated Cam.  He's a total loser, no one likes him.
  2. Expectations are a huge factor in any trip.  I've found myself comparing this mission trip to last years mission trip, which is definitely NOT what I should be doing.  We're in a different state, in a different type of housing situation, doing completely different work, with different people, for a different purpose.  The only thing the two trips have in common is that they are sponsored by our youth ministry.  I can't expect to have a good outlook for this week if I'm constantly comparing it to what happened last year.
  3. I have a great team of volunteer staff.  I mean really, this mission trip would NOT happen if they hadn't been involved over the past few months. The amount of work and prep that they have done has saved my countless hours, phone calls, invoices, emails, paperwork, etc.  Plus, I'm terrible with details like that and would have surely missed important ones.  They allow me to do what I'm good at, namely program  the trip and teach, while covering the stuff that I'm bad at, details and logistics.  If this trip goes even goes roughly according to plan it is because God has used their skills to take care of the details.

I really am looking forward to this week, especially after identifying some of the stuff that was causing me irritation.  God is good and I know he will be present this week as we serve and work.

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