19 hours and counting...

Oh my... I can't believe that our date to leave for Estonia is coming up so quickly :). 19 hours to go till we're heading to Tallinn via Amsterdam.

This week has been a little crazier than I expected... on Tuesday I was asked to go out on a last-minute trip for business (an interview with a sales director at my company) and just turned around a less than 24 hour jaunt to Salt Lake City. What time zone am I in? I'm going to be asking that same question on Saturday morning... but this time in Europe. What's cool is that we have a 12 hour layover in Amsterdam and I'm hoping to do/see some cool things... the Anne Frank house has been talked up a lot and I'm hoping to see that. In the meantime, I still need to pack and check everything off of my to-do list for tomorrow. As in the last two trips, there is no shortage of rat race busyness right before leaving for a trip.

And this trip is going to be rustic :). No hotels or hostels, it's going to be sleeping on the gym floor baby! I'm actually looking forward to this... it brings me back to the old A&M BSU Mexico Mission trips... or camping out in the woods at Philmont (but we will have a roof)... there's nothing like bonding when you're all sleeping on the same floor :). Fun times.

My thought on the trip, as if you thought I'd leave without one... of course I'm in the SLC airport this afternoon and watching all of the Mormon missionaries as they are heading out... and here am I leaving for less than 2 weeks on a trip halfway across the world. It makes my dedication (if you want to call it that) seem a little small, given that these guys give up 2 years of their life for their religious movement. The other thing was hearing about the dedication that successful sales people give to getting great at their trade and giving up things like rock music in the car before a sales call (probably not altogether a huge sacrifice). And here am I giving up only a week of time off to go serve the Lord. Seems small? Yeah, it probably is... but what I know is that God really wants for me to think of it as more than "just one week" and to look at it from the eternal perspective.... that He's doing the work and not me. Also, while these guys at the airport are giving up 2 years for a religious movement and sales guys (which may include me soon) give up little pleasures to get good at their trade... they are small in comparison to the sacrifice of our lives that Christ has called us to. Dietrich Bonhoffer (btw - who was also oppressed by the Nazi's -- see Anne Frank house comment above --) was quoted as saying, "When Christ calls a man, he calls him to come and die" - meaning that we give our all to Him... what is really cool about that is when we DO, he gives us back a life that is much greater that we couldn't have had if we held onto the decaying life that we once had.... and it's that life that we offer to a dying world in whatever role we find ourselves... whether that is "on the mission field" or in the cubicle.

Chris <><