Day sixty-four, four remaining. Yesterday I failed to mention that we received word from our travel agent in NY that she had my visa and was mailing it on to us. We should receive it tomorrow. Very grateful for God superintending over even life's little details. Today was another exhausting day preparing to leave. Cheryl mentioned that this is normal whenever we have left on vacations. But this time is different. This time is not a vacation. We are going to give, to serve, to minister. I am not confused about that fact. Preparing to teach maybe forty lectures, preach several times, and "be ready in season and out of season" with the Word is spiritual labor. But it is mentally and physically draining. I, for one, am not willing to go and teach another person's material without it costing me something. Cheryl and talked about that tonight. I don't want to give others something that has cost me nothing. I may feel entirely different when I return. Believe me I have depended on S.M. Houghton, Kenneth Latourette, and Justo L. Gonzalez as I have prepared for the Introduction to Church History. John Calvin, John Murray, Sinclair Ferguson, Graeme Goldsworthy, Michael Horton, the 1689 Confession of Faith, etc., have been my companions in developing my lectures for Christology. But I have wielded my own spade. I guess my conviction is that the desire to teach is coupled with the desire and the will to dig, research, investigate, and compile.
I sent the word out to many work associates about my trip. Thank you to those who responded. My hope is that this blog will raise the spector of God's missionary cause and challenge many to say with Isaiah in response to the sight of God upon His throne: "Here am I! Send me!" (Isaiah 6:8). Prayer: Lord, sustain me in these final days of preparation. You know my weariness; you, Lord Jesus, have felt it too. Amen.
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