I'm a planner. I love having a detailed schedule. I know what my daily schedule is. I always have it written or typed somewhere so that I can read it, if needed. I even like alarms set to remind me what to do next. This is because I don't like to forget to do something, be late to an event, or more than anything I just don't like to sit around twiddling my thumbs doing nothing. I like to know what I'm doing ahead of time so that I can plan to do it the best possible way. But that's the thing about adventures; you can't really plan them. The best adventures always happen spontaneously, with little thought involved so that the negative consequences or repercussions won't outweigh the "fun". Great adventures don't involve a list of pros and cons. Great adventures don't involve the "why?" questions. Great adventures involve blind faith and glass half-full optimism, oftentimes leading with the grand question, "why not?". My favorite part of adventures is that someone else came up with the idea. But even then, the person that comes up with the idea matters. He or she has to be someone you're comfortable with. Someone you've spent time with. Someone that has proven themselves to you in some specific way. Someone that you trust.
This whole idea of an "African Adventure" is just that. I did not plan to move to Zambia. Acutally, I never planned to move to Africa. Period. I always specifically said "NO" to Africa. I was quite content with my plan to do U.S. missions because let's be honest, Americanized churched people need Jesus. But I guess that wasn't quite God's idea for my life. God initially changed my heart for Africa before I even stepped foot off the plane in Cape Town on my first African missions trip (more on that another time). Africa got a hold of my heart. Almost feels like a death grip, at times. Then began the discussions of living in Africa for a short period of time which, of course, extended to probably the rest of my life. This was fine and dandy until the idea of "rural" or "bush" Africa (aka: Zambia) got mixed into the pot. It's a good thing I spent most of last year learning to trust God because when He made it so crystal clear that Zambia was the next open door, how could I not walk through? Walking through the door, I was greeted with peace and confirmation. Then came the hard part, making the African Adventure theory a reality in less than 4 months. Yep, that is correct. I will have started the process of ending my job with Chi Alpha, preparing and fundraising for Zambia, moving home to Luling, then leaving for Zambia in less than 4 months.
How is that possible? That's exactly what I asked God when I began to realize the countdown to my departure and my growing to-do list. In my obsessive-compulsive-planning-happy mind, I can't make sense of how everything is going to come together. That's exactly what I've been telling people, too. Then, on May 24, I read Luke 11. Jesus was teaching the disciples how to pray by telling a story of the neighbor who wanted to borrow 3 loaves of bread at midnight. The borrowee (emphasis on "ee", not "wee") had just gotten comfy in bed, about to dose off and would rather the borrower to find a midnight snack, elsewhere. However, the carb-loving neighbor is persistent and finally the sleepy neighbor gets out of bed to help. The truth is, this man wanted to keep a good reputation in the neighborhood as "helpful" or "kind" or maybe even "trustworthy". My friend Angie made this story connect for me. God can't look stupid. I was under the assumption that it was stupid for me to try to do everything I had to do in 4 months in order to move and begin work in Zambia. However, I had this crazy peace about the timing in August. I believed it fit my time frame, was ok'd by my new boss, Marinette, and even afforded me time to spend with my family before I moved continents for 10 months. All the logistics made sense. No matter how far fetched the idea of moving to Zambia in less than 4 months sounds, if it's God's idea, He has to get the glory. Therefore, He has to do what He's promised.
I love promises. Promises involve far-fetched ideas, pinky fingers, sometimes blood, and usually a give and take transaction. Sometimes promises are a win-lose situation. I thrive on the win-win type. Rewind just a few days prior to my revelation on God's inability to appear stupid. I was driving to Luling to speak at a pastor's sectional meeting about Zambia. I was a teeny tiny bit nervous about speaking to a bunch of pastor's I hadn't met before. So I began to pray my normal bossy prayer when I'm nervous..."God you've got to do something with this trip and speaking to these pastors. I can't be wasting my time for nothing. This needs to be worth it." It somehow builds my confidence to boss God around. Unexpectedly, clear as day, He retorted, "This is your time of blessing. It's time to receive and be blessed. Be open to all blessings that are coming. Let others bless you too. The things I've promised will now be blessings to you." As you can imagine, my mind began racing as to all the endless possibilities of what that could mean. Funny enough, I could only think through my limited focus of the pastor's meeting that night. I'm starting to realize that my time of blessing wasn't limited to a pastor's meeting. God wasn't just talking about fulfilling His promises that night, either.
This whole Zambian African Adventure is proving to be a win-win promise for me. I promised God I'd go, He promised to make sure He got me there in August. I'm currently the proud owner of a plane ticket to Zambia leaving Washington, D.C. on August 5!
