Flight of Faith

During the summer of 2008, I had an amazing opportunity to go to Africa for 3 months.  A year earlier, another young college student and I heard about the idea and fell in love with it.   I had always been burdened for Africa and wanted to serve some time there.  She had always had a burden for the deaf, so we went and worked with the deaf in Africa.  We also had the opportunity to live in and serve at an orphanage. 

When we were making plans, we tallied up the costs and started raising money. We needed anywhere from $5,000 to $7,000 for just those three months.  The biggest cost was the airplane ticket which would have been anywhere from $2,000 - $3,000. 

So Megan and I sent out letters and started raising money.  At the end of May, I had raised about $1,500 and she had raised not even $1,000.  We started to worry but continued to pray. The semester ended and we went home to prepare for the trip for which we had not raised enough money.  The weekend before we were to head to our training camp, to prepare for our trip, Meg called me.  We talked about finances and what we were going to do.  Meg continued to talk positively about our trip and encouraged me that God would provided a way.  I was annoyed with her and the whole situation and replied, "Oh, so, maybe God will give us a boat and we can paddle over there."  Meg blew it off and we finished our conversation.

The next day our team leader called to let us know that someone had donated 2 free tickets. 

I was quickly reminded of Matthew 6:25-31, "Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on.  Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?  Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them.  Are ye not much better than they.  Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?  And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?  Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.