Hello from Germany!

Hello from Germany!
Our trip started out with the reminder that while man may plan his steps, it is the Lord who directs our paths.  Andrew and Deb had booked a flight for noon on Tuesday, but despite various confirmations from the airlines, they found out the night before that they didn't actually have a seat on board.  So they ended up flying out at 4:30 in the morning instead!  The rest of us left at 3 in the afternoon for our 7:30pm flight.  I flew out much encouraged by the support shown for the GlobeTREK team by the students at Prairie as well as the community at the Prairie Tabernacle.

The flight included a couple of firsts for me:
first flight outside of the Americas
first 9-hour flight
first 8 hour time-zone change

Today these verses stood out to me as I did my devotions:
"But we have these treasures in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us...  Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.  Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit...  Now The Lord is Spirit, and where the Spirit of The Lord is, there is freedom.  And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of The Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.  For this comes from The Lord, who is the Spirit."  2 Corinthians 4:7; 3:4-6, 17-18

These verses stood out to me as an encouragement in the face of all the things I don't know and can't control or understand.  The last couple verses are also so powerful and meaningful to me in light of where I am at in this GlobeTREK adventure.  I go, beholding God's glory in a variety of ways and contexts, and anticipating how we will use this to transform me more into the image of my Savior.  Already I have been blessed by meeting with the missionaries here in Germany and worshipping on Wednesday night with the American community at the army base here.  As for tomorrow, I look forward to helping out at a crisis pregnancy center here and handing out tracts in a neighborhood.  And now... time for bed.  I don't feel too done in by the time change yet, but let's not push it! :)