Uganda: Flight from LAX to Dubai

It has been a long time, but I am back stronger than ever.  I recently came home a few days ago from a two week long mission trip to Uganda that was particularly amazing in a sense that God did tremendous things yet even more particularly cautious in the sense that I saw, heard, and experienced some pretty gnarly things.  I will dive more into those things as I share little by little of what happened in distinct post segments.  As you can see, today is about our flight from LAX to Dubai, which was uneventful and uncharacteristically awful in my opinion.  Why?  Because as the anticipation for the trip mounted, the 17 hour long trip felt like 34 hours altogether... double the amount of time.  Not what I was hoping for, but the feeling transformed into joyful abandon once we landed in Dubai.  Now, I will head into the specifics of the trip from my perspective (and I will only give the first name of my team members to respect their privacy..... we have three Dave's so I will give the first letter of their last name).

The flight began at 4:45 pm PT from Los Angeles International Airport.  I was on the right side of the plane squashed in the middle beside Janice and Sam.  Sam had the perfect window seat and Janice had the aisle seat.  I didn't really care because we were in this for the long run.  Seventeen hours is a very long time.  All I remember of the flight is I watched two movies.... Wreck it Ralph and The Hobbit, prayed a lot, slept for a few hours in half hour intervals here and there, ate Emirates airline food (really was not that bad), played Who wants to be a millionaire toward the ending of the flight, read my Bible, and listened to a few David Platt sermons from his Secret Church on the cross and suffering.  And F-I-N-A-L-L-Y, we landed in Dubai at 7:55 pm Dubai time on Sunday April 7th, which would have been 8:55 am PT on the West Coast in America.  Though, what really stood out during the entire airline flight that I will never forgot was a quote from one of the David Platt sermons I listened to!!  It stuck out to me like gum stuck on the bottom of someone's shoe.  I will end with it...

"The Cross of Christ is the key to understanding all suffering.  Suffering was planned for Good Friday.  The reason we have suffering in the world has everything to do with Good Friday.  Everything in all history including suffering was planned for Good Friday and ultimately points to Good Friday.  Everything before the cross points forward to it, everything since the cross points back to it, everything that will last was purchased on it, and everything that matters hinges on the cross.  The cross is the key to understanding suffering."

~ David Platt

P.S. This will reign heavily true in the days ahead for me, which is why I have not forgotten it.



          

Sermon Quote Today

This is a question quote that I heard in one of our pastor's sermons today:

"Have we become so familiar with Jesus that He ceases to shock or even amaze us anymore like He used too?  Let it not be so."

Weekly Devotional Friday: Proverbs 4:26

This is one day late, but I did not forget about it.  Here is this week's devotional:

Proverbs 4:26, "Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure."

Ponder.  The very first word of this verse pops out at us quicker than a popcorn kernel popping out of its seed shell.  Ponder means to meditate, to think deeply about what is vastly important in life.  In this case, Solomon makes it clear to us to ponder the path of our feet.  To meditate, think deeply about what needs to be completed in order to remain steadfast and firm in the battlefield of temptation.  And, if we ponder the path of our feet, a magnificent promise is given to us----- all your ways will be sure.  Wow!!!  

Did you Know #18

The Did you Know posts are back.  Did you know.................................................................................................................................. that given enough time the heart has the capability of creating a new blood vessel in order to overpass an arterial blockage.  Amazing!!!!

Weekly Devotional Friday: 2 Corinthians 4:16

I am going to begin a weekly devotional series where I choose a verse and write a paragraph about it.  It is not intended to be long, but to be short, sweet, and give God glory.  I thought of the idea after writing my last post, which was rather short.  I believe it is a pretty good goal to have since a paragraph is not too crazy to fulfill unlike my other supposed promises.  However, I have not forgot about them and will persevere through those posts as I will do with these ones.  They will come.  Though, I pray this weekly devotional series encourages and builds the body up like it is supposed to.  So, without further ado, let's begin.....

2 Corinthians 4:16, "So we do not lose heart.  Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day."

In this verse, Paul is encouraging the church at Corinth not to lose heart.  Why?  Because, even though the outer self is wasting away, the inner self is being transformed into the image of God as seen in Christ.  Through prayer, the reading of the Word, obedience, fasting, the encouragement of the body, and so on so forth; we experience the magnificent power of God as our desire increases for Him.  Therefore, do not give into the enemy's tactics in being disobedient.  The outer self is wasting away and the inner self is being renewed.  Do not lose heart Christian.        

Never Lose Sight of the Cross

 Today, I am humbled.  Words themselves cannot accurately describe how humbled I am.  I am more humbled as each day passes than you could ever know by what Jesus has done.  Whenever you hear of the mature mentality (what I mean is the prospects of a mature Christian straying away from the ultimate fundamental truth of the cross because they understand it) that goes through the minds of some Christians, I get irritated.  You will never get over the cross.  I don't care how mature you are in the faith.  Paul, who most definitely was a mature Christian back in his day when God transferred him from darkness to light, iterated in 1 Corinthians that he decided to know nothing among the brethren except Jesus Christ and him crucified.  Nothing...... except Christ and him crucified.  If Paul chose in his heart and in his mind to remain close to the cross with eyes fixated upon it, we must follow suit.  Do not give into the mature mentality.  Never lose sight of the cross of Christ Jesus our Lord.     

Wow

People change, kids grow up, lawns grow tall, laundry loads increase in size, dishes pile up in the sink, some bands split to move on with life, blogger changes, time literally flies...........................  Maybe it is time to start a new blog with a new fresh look.  However, I have never been much of a person of change, so I will continue with this blog even though I haven't posted in nearly four months and sporadically in almost several months.  Yeah, hard to believe.  I know.  Well, my desire is to post more.  Always has been.  God deserves the utmost praise and adoration of our hearts.  Am I willing to give Him everything He deserves and more?  Yes, and I believe part of it is in continuing to post about Him no matter what happens.  And, it will come once this semester of school is over.  I have three weeks left.  Three grueling weeks to go of chemistry, calculus, and physics...... with tests in all three of those weeks and three Finals on the last day.  How fun???  Yet, the finish line of this marathon is not close.  I am in the final quarter, the stretch run, rounding third and heading home.  Work still needs to be completed.  But, I will be back.  It is because of Calvary, because of the way and how He died, because of His victorious life over death......  Stay tuned.