Learning the Balance

 

Learning the Balance.

 

I can tell you that life has so many balances. For me, balance is so important and I have learned that over the years especially on the World Race.

 

When balance is thrown off, it often feels like your falling or going to fall. Take that a step further and it becomes not just falling but the feeling of failing and letting others down. And when you let others down and don’t measure up to a standard (whether that is set by someone else or by yourself) you start to question your worth and identity.

 

Coming into this position at Adventures, Emily and I prayed and sought God’s will for us in this. We sensed a strong sense of purpose and passion greater than ourselves. We sensed the Lord was with us and preparing a way for us to step into a new land. 

 

Ever since we stepped foot in Georgia we have had to fight for balance. Balance in our time, our relationships, our finances, our fun activities, our alone time. We have felt pressure on all areas pushing and pulling us off kilter.

 

You see there is a bigger lessen than just our work, its about life. We know that in John 10:10 the devil “comes to steal, kill, and destroy” but Jesus has come to give us “life and life abundantly.” We know that God gave us purpose in stepping into this role and yet we know the devil wants to attack that. We know our identity isn’t in what we do or accomplish, yet the world and the evil one try so hard to get us to think it is. 

 

What Emily and I do on a daily basis is we work with a team of people to send churches, individuals, and families on missions trips. We work to disciple them through the vehicle of missions. We work to provide an environment that each person would be able to see, hear, and connect with God on a deeper level. We strive to find the best fit for the teams, we instruct them in the process, help them prepare for their trip and launch them into the world with the hope of Christ.

 

We also work to guide and coach the leaders in everything they need to make the trip successful. We have five values that we focus on with Short-Term Missions and they really apply to living out our faith. Here they are:

 

1. Listening Prayer

2. Meeting Felt Needs

3. Building Relationships

4. Sharing Your Faith

5. Debrief and Respond

 

There is so much purpose in that. Yet at the end of the day we often get attacked with the question “are you really making a difference?” and”is this really what your passionate about?” 

 

As I sit in silence and hear the Lord speak over these questions I hear him saying to us, “Absolutely!” and “in doing this you are passionate about me and my glory.”

 

Not going to lie, transition has been hard. It been difficult in more ways than five. We seriously could not do this work if it wasn’t for those praying for us, encouraging us, and inspiring us to accomplish all that we can for the Kingdom of God.

 

Some highlights we want to share with you:

-We will be hosting a missions team in North Dakota this summer

-Looks like around 20 missions trips will launch with about 400 participants

-We have had many gospel conversations with individuals, groups, and youth pastors

-Relationships have been formed and developed within our team and within our staff

-My brother Ben has decided to join the team – he is starting his partnership process now

-We have initiated conversations to our whole staff about Steer Inc. and how farmers and ranchers can use their gifts to help support our work at Adventures

 

Prayers over us and praise Him for all he is doing!