The warm up

All good athletes know that doing a warm up before your event is critical.  A good warm up will keep your muscles loose, and wake them up getting your body ready to go.   But you can't just start five minutes before your run and hope it all works out.  No, a good athlete knows that they should start warming up 20-30 minutes before hand.  In spending that time warming up it will allow them to perform at their best; casting aside their tight muscles and other things that might slow them down.  I may no longer be an athlete in real life but I am still running a race.  "Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."  Hebrews 12:1

For months I have been planning on running where God has called me, Cambodia.  In a few short months I will be spending my entire summer in a culture I know nothing about.  I won't be going with anyone, I have never met any of the people that I will be meeting there.  So I too will warm up for my race.  I have done my research, and now I am starting to raise funds to help offset the cost.  But much like the athlete that runs the race, I will be nervous until the end result.

Questions and doubts keep flashing through my mind. "How will they find me at the airport?"  "What if I can't raise the funds?" And many other questions.  However I have faith that Jesus will give me the strength to make it through these, and I will press on with perseverance.  Proverbs 3:5-6 tells me:  "Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your path straight."  With this verse in mind I know that He will have my back even as I travel alone into land unknown to me.

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" Jeremiah 29:11  He knows what is planned for me.  I will put my trust in Him and lean on His understanding.  I will run the race he has marked out for me.  I would call that a pretty good warm up.  I can't wait to see the end result.