We've Landed!!!!

In Washington-Dulles. It was an uneventful flight from DFW to Washington, just the standard unfriendly TSA folks and a small hickup with the ticketing counter. So we got to Dulles to get to the Ethiopian gate and get our tickets, but it turns out that most of our carry-ons are over the weight limit. With much effort (and cash), we skinnied down what we had to transfer to checked luggage and walked around for dinner. So as we are waiting for our food during the hour and a half till we start boarding, excitedly awaiting our flight to Africa!

So in about 17 hours, we will be touching down in Ethiopia. Please keep us in your prayers during this time as we will be stuck in cramped spaces, crying babies, international smells, and lack of sleep. Hopefully I'll be able to update when we touch down.

(Ameseginalehu! aka Thank You).

Paul G

Last Minute Thoughts...

So we are about to embark on our journey to Ethiopia. It's been a great few months of preparation, prayer, and learning. I find it hard to believe how quickly this time snuck up on us. And now here we are, on the brink of departure, so I want to leave you with a few requests for prayer and an update on our situation:

• Please pray for peace in the country. The elections are going on in Ethiopia, and there is a slight potential for peaceful gatherings and protests to turn violent. Speaking with some friends on the ground there, they said there's nothing of note to report about. So I'm hopeful that nothing should arise during our time there. However, our missionaries on the ground get to be there when the election results are announced in May and June, so keep them in your prayers.
• Please pray for our travel to and from Ethiopia. Currently, we have a stop in Rome on the way there and on the way back. As of right now, Italian airspace is open, and I'm praying that it will remain that way.
• Please pray for the Smiths, specifically for their youngest son, Moses. He has had several swollen lymph nodes all over his body that doctors aren't sure what they are. They will be removing one for biopsy. Please pray for wisdom for the doctors and comfort for Mo.
• Please pray that God blows us up! Not just the team, but the Smiths, the villagers, the people we interact with...EVERYONE. I have faith that God will move mightily in ways we don't know. Pray with me in this.

Some other things:

• I watched Bizzarre Foods b/c there was an Ethiopian episode. I now intend on feeding hyenas while I'm over there.
• Phone and Internet connectivity out in Langano is pretty close to non-existant. So I'll try to update this while we are in Addis when we arrive. Then again before we depart. For emergencies, we have a sat phone.

That's it for now. I'm sure another post will come out later today...

Love you all,

Paul Go

Things I will miss ...

in no particular order ... or ... are they?
 
1.  Starbucks
2.  3G Network
3.  my bed
4.  Jeremiah Red from BJ's
5.  Drinking said beer with @Justin Williams and @Lance Colwill
6.  my family ... and hearing updates about how they are doing
7.  LOST
8.  Electricty
9.  Internet
10. Hot Showers
 
Things I will not miss ... in a VERY particular order ...
 
1.  Driving
2.  I 35
3.  the bible belt, i.e. religion
 
Today is the first day that it actually set in ... I'm leaving for Africa in less than 48 hours.  And today was the first day I realized that I would not be in my ordinary routine for the next two weeks.  Today is my last day at work, the last guy's night for a couple of weeks, my last time at Panda Express ... It's weird ... I'm only leaving for 2 weeks, but I think there is something inside me that knows that it will stay in Africa ... or even die there. 
 
This is the part of me that I can only describe as that last little "pulling" feeling inside of me that keeps me more in the visible reality than the unseen.  It's the thing inside of me that chooses doubt over joy, or ultimately, chooses unbelief over belief.  I want this part of me to die.  I need this part of me to die.  We are told that there are, essentially, two realities.  The first reality is simple, it is what you and I see everyday.  It is what we touch, taste, smell, and understand.  But scripture speaks of a second reality ... a superior reality ... an unseen reality.  This is the reality where the "impossible" is the norm ... this is the reality of counterintuition ... the last shall be first, the one who seeks to lose his life shall find it. 
 
This second reality is where our faith is meant to be anchored.  When our hearts are anchored in the spiritual reality ... nothing of this world can sway us away from the Father.  In fact, when our hearts are anchored in the heavenly places, the Father delights in trusting us with His kingdom and we set ourselves up for increase! 
 
So, what does that have to do with me?  I think, hope, pray, believe and expect that in the coming weeks, my heart will no longer be anchored in this inferior reality ... that there has been a fragment of my heart that has been resistant to being plunged into the heavenly realm where it WILL BE CRUCIFIED ... but it must be ... and it will be.  So this is me ... seeking to lose my life so that I may find it ... and live it to the fullest! 
 
WE'RE GOING TO AFRICA!!!!!!!!!! 

Unplugging

My life has become everything I hate about the 21st century. Don't get me wrong. I love that I live when I live. I love that I have a BluRay player and an HD TV, but that I can remember my first microwave oven, my first VCR, and my first touch-tone phone. At the same time, I love that I had to learn how to use a card catalog, but I live in a world where I can get virtually any information I "need" in a matter of seconds. Still, I have come to embrace the distraction that results from the availability of all that information. Just this morning, when my wife walked out of the kitchen for just a second, I immediately reached for my blackberry. It's my habit so that I can try to catch up while she is out of the room because I have myself convinced that it makes me more attentive to her when she is with me. Well, on this occasion, I reached down to grab it and it wasn't there. It was still charging, and in that moment I realized that I have become so taken with my ability to stay plugged in that I have learned to abuse that ability. I have the ability, no, the propensity to distract myself from any meaningful interaction with myself or - more importantly - with God, all the while using my "need" to be in touch with the world as an excuse.

Acts 17:26, 27 says, "...26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us..." According to this passage of scripture, penned by Luke almost 2000 years ago, God chose for me to be born where I was and when I was. Why? So that I would seek Him, hoping to find Him. What has happened to me? What has happened to His plan? How is it that He ordained for me to live in 21st century America in order to seek Him and that I allow the wiles of 21st century America to help me avoid seeking Him? I would argue that we live in a time where distraction is an opiate like at no other time in history. I would also argue that it is the intention of the enemy, Satan, that this is so. Nonetheless, I praise God for that last little phrase from Acts 17:27, "Yet he is actually not far from each of us..." God put me here to seek Him, and the enemy, no doubt, works diligently to cultivate the affections of my heart for anything and everything else, but God, in His infinite grace, will not allow His plan to be thwarted. Just as the apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:10 (perhaps my favorite scripture), "But by the grace of God I am what I am..." He called me to this life knowing my evil inclination to deny Him, and He stands near to me, cultivating my heart toward love, stirring my affections to Himself, the only one really worthy of any affection at all. I pray that one day, I can declare with Paul, as 1 Corinthians 15:10 continues, "...and his grace toward me was not in vain."

This long introduction brings me to my thoughts about this trip. I have always believed that any short-term mission trip is- in a vacuum - much more beneficial to the missionary than those being served. To that point, I think I see some of God's design in having me on this trip, at this time, working itself out. We are going to an area of the world where internet and telephony are sparse, and we are going at a time when all communication will be cut off flatly. We will be in a remote part of Africa, cut off from the world and all the distractions I have learned to use (other people have certainly mastered other distractions at other times and in other places) to keep me from dealing with the One that really knows all the evils that still need to be confronted in my heart.

I am looking forward to this trip, well, as much as I can while I am consumed with school work, projects that I am managing for my company, and the myriad other things that feel more like loose ends that need tying up every day. I am looking forward to serving these sweet people that have committed the last year and a half of their lives to serving the Oromo people in Ethiopia. I am looking forward to serving the Oromo people themselves. I am looking forward to being a part of a long string of rich Americans that give up their lush lifestyles in the United States for just a little while to eat food that makes them sick and work in conditions that they never have to tolerate to serve people with illnesses we never see in the U.S. I am looking forward to doing all these things with joy, but this is not a selfless mission for me. I am hoping that God will use the inability to use being "plugged in" to the world to unplug from everything that matters, the physical ailments that may come and the discomfort of not being able to control the climate around me to break something loose in my heart. There are parts of my heart that I know are encrusted, but they have been that way for so long that I have no recollection of what was there. May God use this time to pluck us all from our comfort zones so that we can see the world from a different perspective.

Here are a couple of scenes from Dead Poets Society:


The impact Mr. Keating had on these boys lives had everything to do with changing their perspective. He got them out of their boxes and away from their conventions long enough that they were able to see things a little more clearly. For this, they transfer the admiration Walt Whitman had for Abraham Lincoln onto this school teacher, defiantly calling out to him, "O Captain My Captain!" If this ordinary man could inspire such admiration with just a token shift in perspective, then how much more can we all expect to be turned inside out by our Savior on this trip? This is my prayer for Ethiopia I. This is my prayer for myself, my wife, and our brothers and sisters that are going with us. May our great and glorious King be glorified in our hearts and through our lives.

Coin for Coffee Update...

Welcome to the land of late updates. Our Coin for Coffee fundraiser was a big success. Thanks to everyone's help (and very gracious donations) we raised nearly $2100 towards our trip!!! Again, we want to thank everyone that was able to make it out, especially our friend Brooke with Well Coffee (WellCoffee.com) that provided the delicious coffee. As a side note, we still have a few bags left, so if anyone is interested please let us know. Thanks to April for providing us with some great music throughout the night. Finally, thanks to Courtney and his room mates for allowing us to barge in and take over their place for a while.

To end, I'll leave you with one of my favorite pictures we had hanging up during the party. It is a picture of the Smith's son, Moses, reading a book to a local chicken. No, seriously...

Coin for Coffee...

So sorry for the late notice, but we will be hosting a fundraiser tonight. Below are the details and some background info.

What: Coin for Coffee
Why: Help send us to Ethiopia
When: Tonight 8pm-11pm
Where: Maple Terrace Apartments 3009 Maple Ave Dallas, TX 75201 US Map

Coin for coffee is a fundraiser for our team of 11 embarking on an adventure to Ethiopia April 21-May 3 to bring hope and life. We will be serving at a medical clinic as well as providing some construction/electrical assistance.

It's BYOM (Bring Your Own Mug) and there will be coffee bags available. Suggested donation is $20.

This will serve as a fundraiser for the trip and an opportunity to taste some of what Well Coffee is brewing (WellCoffee.com). So, come join us for good coffee, good music, good people and a fantastic view from a penthouse/rooftop overlooking downtown Dallas.

The countdown has begun ...

Today, we are 39 days away from boarding a United flight to D.C. where we then will connect with a flight straight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  The team seems to be meshing and growing well together.  I think we are all excited/eager/nervous/nauseous that we are just over a month away from leaving … for different reasons, financial support, spiritual angst, fearful anticipation, unwant of discomfort, etc.  Whatever the reason, regardless of each one's specific circumstances, there is still a very constant theme of hope and excitement in our meetings , which continues to spur us on to the next meeting, and then again to the next … and this is not of ourselves, but a gift from the Father!

Paul, our team leader, asked me this week to write an entry for the team blog.  I haven't written many blogs in my time, and not exactly sure what to communicate, so I will just write about what the Lord is doing in my own heart as it relates to the trip.

This trip is actually something I feel the Lord has been pointing me towards for quite some time.  I remember several years ago, when I first started going to the Village Church, we had our partner from China come and tell us of the work we were doing there.  At the end, he said, "So I'm sure that many of you are asking yourself 'what now?'  'Should I go?' And I can answer that question for you right now.  As I have been talking about this, all the work we are doing, the hope of Christ in the nation of China, and telling you about how He has moved … have you been moved?  Have you had something inside of you stir and ache to see these things?  If you have … the answer is … go …"  Cut to Josh, sitting in the rows, looking like a deer caught in the headlights, because this guys has just straight up called me out from the stage.  So begins my search to quench this seeming thirst I now had acquired.

I just recently graduated from PA school and as soon as I finished I was looking at short-term missions.  There wasn't one specific trip that stood out to me, but there were so many options.  I was actually quite hesitant about going on a Medical trip … a lot of it had to do with feeling inadequate about my medical knowledge … I mean, I was just a punk kid, recently graduated from PA school … what could I offer?  What could I bring?  But as I prayed and talked about it with my friends, the choice became clearer … Ethiopia I …

It's funny how the Lord works sometimes.  In the past year I have felt bombarded by Jesus and His Spirit.  At first, I thought it was about a billion things in my life that were unsatisfying to Him.  I saw no clarity in the direction of my spiritual walk … in fact, I felt torn in so many different directions.  I felt like I had to get this in shape over here, and then go over there and tidy up, and then run over there and keep something from falling apart … I seriously felt like the guy who spins all the plates at once … always focused on the individual problems at hand with no end in sight.  Little did I know that as I was juggling all of my actions and circumstances … He was about to blow them all up, and let the plates come crashing down.  See, I have this thing inside of me that thinks that I have to perform for God … that I have to clean myself up for God to accept me … and that if I don't, He will become disinterested in me … not really angry with me … just doesn't want anything to do with me and having no affections for me. 

Through a few "random" divine encounters … my paradigm began to shift.  Romans 8:5 says, "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set the minds on the things of the Spirit."  It has been through this verse, and the surrounding chapter and dear, dear friends that the Lord has shaken the belief system I once had.  See … I have been a believer for most of my life.  Specifically, in the past 4 years, I had my life radically changed by the love of Jesus Christ, but I began to fall into a life of 'should' rather than the life that His word tells me that I have.  I was shocked by grace in the face of the revelation of my total depravity 4 years ago… and in the subsequent years, I began to see my shortcomings and still tried to perform to gain and keep God's acceptance.  I should be doing this … I shouldn't be doing this … Why am I still doing this? … Why am I not doing that … These thoughts filled my mind … and as I set my mind on these things, these things of the FLESH, I began to live according to them … meaning that THEY, these things, became my focus … not Jesus Christ.  Did you know that as believers of Jesus Christ that we are considered holy … blameless … children of God?  We … are … His … beloved!  Set your mind on these things … meditating on the TRUTH that you are holy, blameless, righteous, and a child of the Living God … and you will live with this truth, that Jesus has given you these qualities by His death, as your focus, rather than how you stack up to a religious moral code. 

So … a year ago I felt like Christ was taking sucker punches at me from every direction … but … because of the great love with which He has loved me … I can see now that all of that has been pointing to something greater the entire time.  I now see clarity where I once did not see before.  Right now, that clarity is pointing to Africa.  I can't say that I know why.  I can say though that He is stirring up a holy expectancy that if I seek Him, I will find Him … not just in Africa … but in the process of getting there, the trip itself, and everyday after.  I am His beloved, and He is my God.  He longs for me to see His face … and I long to see Him.

Be blessed today … and rest in His love for you today!

jp