On Our Way To Panama

Well it is only 3 more sleeps until we fly out to Panama. So far the time we've been here have been pretty packed. We've already gone to two weddings, a graduation, we spent Canada day at Banff, and we went camping! Between that we've been working and also preparing for our time in Chile.

As the summer flys by and Chile gets closer and closer I realize how much we have to hand over to God and the importance of letting go. There is a part of me that likes to plan things and have everything in control. But when God just says "Go" and we have to trust him we really need to die to ourselves and do it. There is a section in the book, "Blue Like Jazz" (yes again it deserves another reference) that talks about dying to self.

It mentions the story of Zacchaeus and how an entire town, with their ridicule and hatred, could not keep the little man from oppressing them through the extravagant financial gains he made as a tax collector. "Christ walked through the town and spotted the man. Christ told Zacchaeus that He would like to have a meal with him. In the single conversation that Jesus had with Zacchaeus, Jesus spoke affirmation and love, and the tax collector sold all his possessions and made ammends to those he had robbed. It was the affection of Jesus, not the brutality of a town that healed Zacchaeus."

As I read that I realized how many areas of my life need to be lived out according that concept of dying to how I want do things. It is so easy to get caught up in everything and just fall apart. I have been learning to let go, to cast my cares on the one who cares for me the most. My God is strong and he can handle the weight of my worries. I rest in Him and I revel in the simple fact that He is good and what He does is good. There is a little uneasiness of course with the not knowing how and when and where, but I have seen God's impossible provision and plan so many times that sometimes mystery makes the journey more comfortable because I then know that I am in a plan that I have so little understanding of.