As most of you know who have been following our mission work, I was scheduled to be in Kinshasa, Congo right now conducting a training for pastors from all over Congo. I was very excited about this, I was prepared, and had tickets and all reservations in hand. Yet God had other plans.

Numerous times in Scripture we are reminded that God is in charge and we are not. A friend recently shared with me a very applicable verse from Proverbs 19:21, “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” Yes, I have many plans, but the Lord’s purpose prevails, and His purpose is always far better than my plans. As I shared in a recent email update: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9) It is so easy for me to get frustrated when things don’t go the way I think they should, but as my team leader just reminded me, God is never frustrated, and so when I am, I’m out of sync with Him. Adjustment is needed.

I’m not sure what all of God’s purposes are in this. The truth is that I was scheduled to fly through Paris, and in the light of recent attacks, even though the airport was not attacked, I’m thankful I’m not in the middle of a mess. So the embassy did not grant my visa in a timely manner, and I changed all flights and reservations, and now am looking toward my next training in 2.5 weeks in Egypt. In truth, I have been working around the clock preparing for trainings but especially working on my assignments for various classes. This provides a bit of catch-up time for me to write papers, do research, finish readings, and get back on track. My supervisor for my DMiss program said that the pace I’m going is “insane,” and so after I finish these assignments, I’m going to slow the pace significantly. I just completed a 20 page annotated bibliography yesterday for my Foundations in Doctoral Research class. Now I’m turning my sights to another major paper on the Gospel of Mark, tracing themes of honor and shame, guilt and innocence, patron and client, power and fear, and other themes through the book. Also, Holly and the kids have said how grateful they are that I’m nearby and available as I’ve been overly busy up to this point this fall. So I trust God’s perfect timing, His purposes and plans, and submit to Him.

 I have been tremendously encouraged by the outpouring of emails from many friends in support of us and trusting God’s plans. In the big picture of things, whether I go to Congo in November or March is quite a small issue, and perspective is valuable when life gets topsy turvy. So thank you for your prayers, your support, and may you likewise trust God’s perfect purposes in your life, especially when they are quite different than the plans in your mind. 

Pressing on, Eric