Guatemala Awaits!

Once again, we are about to embark on another journey south. As Shea and I prepare our last few bags, and make our last Walmart run, we're excited to see what God has planned for our young family over the coming months. We are excited to be a part of this hospital building project in Canilla, Guatemala. Even though we have yet to erect a wall, and the construction is still in early stages, God has already answered so many prayers and taught us many things in this short yet memorable journey.

Right now my head is spinning as I sit here with a hot cup of coffee on this cold crisp snow-filled morning. As I anxiously think about all the things that "need" to be done before we leave and all the things that "need" to be accomplished in Canilla during the next several months its often easy for me to miss the reason we are doing this at all.

So what is the reason? Why do we travel several thousand miles with 4 small kids to help build something that will eventually crumble and decay? The reason is simple. I want myself, my family, and those we come in contact with on this journey to have an insatiable desire know and love God. I want this knowledge and love for him to be where my joy and the joy of others comes from.

Knowing and loving God is crucially important for living our lives. J.I. Packer in his book Knowing God gives a great word picture of what it is like living in a world where we don't know or understand our creator. He says "As it would be cruel to an Amazonian tribesman to fly him to London, put him down without explanation in Trafalgar Square and leave him, as one who knew nothing of English or England, to fend for himself, so we are cruel to ourselves if we try to live in this world without knowing about the God whose world it is and who runs it"

Without this ever increasing knowledge and love of our Lord this life is incredibly disappointing, and difficult. Without the perspective of our Creator this world will seem cruel, painful, and unjust. We will be destined to stumble and stagger through life as if we were wearing a blindfold on a hike through a desert mountain filled with cactus and stones.

So my prayer for myself and anyone reading this is that we will dive into this New Year with a desire to have a greater knowledge and love of our creator. Not only that we would have this desire, but we would put forth the effort to take the next step in a relationship with him as we discipline ourselves to prayer and study of Him through His Holy Word.

King David says it well in Psalms 119:14-16 "I rejoice in following your statues as one rejoices in great riches. I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your ways"