Being the Best "Pipsqueak" I Can Be

  There is a dear lady at church who has told me several times that she can hardly believe that a "little pipsqueak" like me would be going to Africa. She means it well and sometimes I can hardly believe it myself, that God would allow me to go. Going to Uganda would have been beyond my wildest dreams five years ago, and a thought that would have never entered my mind. But I am so very thankful that God was not limited my ideas. : )

Me as a smaller pipsqueak.

 Yesterday's "Streams in the Desert" entry really blessed me and I hope it does you as well.

 "A story is told of a king who went to his garden one morning, only to find everything withered and dying. He asked the oak tree that stood near the gate what the trouble was. The oak said it was tired of life and determined to die because it was not tall and beautiful like the pine tree. The pine was troubled because it could not bear grapes like the grapevine. The grapevine was determined to throw its life away because it could stand erect and produce fruit as large as peaches. The geranium was fretting because it was not tall and fragrant like the lilac.

 "And so it went throughout the garden. Yet coming to a violet, the king found its face as bright and happy as ever and said, 'Well, violet, I'm glad to find one brave little flower in the midst of this discouragement. You don't seem to be the least disheartened.' The violet responded, 'No, I'm not. I know I'm small, yet I thought if you wanted an oak or a pine or a peach tree or even a lilac, you would have planted one. Since I knew you wanted a violet, I'm determined to be the best little violet I can be.'"

 Others may do a greater work,

But you have your part to do;

And no one in all God's family

Can do it as well as you.

 So, I'm determined to be the best little pipsqueak I can be for God! And, I pray that whatever God has called you to do and be, that you would do your best to fulfill that, for His glory. : )

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 Tomorrow is D-Day - Departure Day! I can hardly believe it is here! It seems like I have already been on a journey, with months of prayer, planning and preparation. I have a mix of emotions inside of me. I am excited and anxious to go and be there, but know I will also dearly miss many back home. This week has been full of send-off parties and gatherings, goodbyes, packing and more packing and taking care of little details that are beginning to drop off my to-do list (yay!). Through all of this, God has been reminding me that He wants to be the center of me and all that I do. I will post more on this later, but I am making it my top resolution to grow in intimacy with God. Unless He is at the center of all that we do, then it really is temporary and in the long run, meaningless. Living and working for eternity means all must be centered around our Lord Jesus. More on this later...

 So, I fly out tomorrow, Saturday, Jan. 9, at 12:40 p.m. from Portland. I have a straight flight to Amsterdam (probably right over Greenland and those northern places). I then have about a two-and-a-half-hour layover in Amsterdam before departing to Uganda. I am to arrive in Entebbe, Uganda at 8:40 p.m. Sunday night, which is 11 hours ahead or 9:40 a.m. Sunday morning for those in the Pacific time zone. Then it will likely be a couple of hours by car to Jinja, my last stop for the night. I imagine I will be spending several days on the mainland before venturing to the island.

  I fully intend to keep posting and communicating with you all. Amazingly enough, we can get Internet on the island, but it doesn't have running water. There are priorities, you know. : )
 
  Well, probably the next time I write here it will be from much further south. Thank you for being faithful followers and I hope you stick around for more of the journey! : )

Watching the sun rise from a plane window.