Don't Leave Home Without It!

It's hard for me to believe, but I leave for Ethiopia one week from today!  Cindy and I just got back from a wonderful beach vacation, and now I'm into full trip-preparation mode.  This includes not only logistical and curriculum preparation, but also the mundane chores of laundry, housecleaning, lawn-mowing, and bill-paying, to add as few things to Cindy's already full plate as possible while I'm gone.  The toughest chore is the packing.  I've learned a balance between under- and over-packing (although I still tend towards the latter), but there's always that underlying fear of forgetting important items.  This is particularly nerve-wracking when you're headed to a place where you can't just run down to Walgreens or the mall if you forget something!

What am I worried about forgetting?  Couldn't get far without my passport, of course.  And Judy would never forgive me if I left my training manual at home.  I might forget my razor on purpose.  Good old-fashioned American snacks?  Well, I pack some, but I really LIKE the food in Ethiopia.

So what is it that I most need to remember to bring with me, and to keep with me at all times?  Humility.  As described so well in the must-read When Helping Hurts, there is a common tendency on these sorts of trips to unintentionally and subconciously carry along feelings of intellectual, cultural, and even spiritual superiority.  After all, aren't we there to teach, to give, to tell about Jesus?  Yes, to a degree.  But we are also there to learn, to receive, and to listen to what God is already doing among the people there.  How arrogant it would be to think that I have anything of my own that can improve the health and change the lives of people in Ethiopia!  I've learned the discipline while in-country (and should apply the same here!) to begin each day by releasing all my plans and agendas to God, confessing my weakness and helplessness to Him, and simply asking Him to work, speak, and love through me.  That I would be a transparent vessel through which others could only see Christ within me.  And he has answered that prayer time and time again.

Please pray for me this week that God would soften my heart and remove any calluses of pride and self-reliance, and that he would give me the "big ears and small mouth" that we always teach about to our participants!

                                                                              Tesfalem

All of you, clothe yourselves with humility towards one another, because,
     "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's almighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.  Cast all of your anxiety on him because he cares for you.  1 Peter 5:5-7

He has showed you, O man, what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.  Micah 6:8