“Father time” just tapped me on the shoulder. “Are you ready to go?” he said. I didn’t reply. “Are you ready to go?” he said, this time enunciating each word, each louder than the next and each with a pause in between them. “No, I’m not” I softly said. It was a foolish question that deserved no answer or an answer that was simply an honest one. Who is ever ready for what we are about to do? Sure, we’re ready with the flight reservations, the medications that are all packed, the clusters of clothes and “stuff” that we each need to pack, and our music and reading material. But I for one am not ready, not mentally ready, not spiritually ready and not emotionally ready. How can that be? It is what it is. How do we get ready for the things that we will see, that we will experience and the people and children who will come to us for help? How do we get ready to enter into a world so unlike our own, a world of severe poverty, sadness, hunger, illness and want? We (Medical Mercy) leave in 1 week for India. A country of slums and waste, burdened by a mass of people who have little chance of finding any meaningful space of their own. We’ve been there before, have lived it, and now we are going back for more. Am I ready? Not even. We have a team of 24 servants, who are giving of themselves to do this. So for the next week, I’ll get ready by praying. It is what I do before each trip. Prayer for me gets me ready for whatever is waiting out there. I’ll find solace in the fact that there will be someone who will be in charge, someone who will carry the torch, and someone who will lead the way. I just need to follow. That someone is the same someone I pray to. You know who He is. So, “Father time”, ask me again in 1 week if I’m ready. I think you’ll like my answer.
In all things give thanks,
David
