no matter what (Kenya repost)

*i originally wrote and posted this to renown on September 25, 2010 from Nairobi, Kenya. i can still remember the many emotions that surrounded Crystal and i on that very day. i can still hear the sounds, smell the smells, taste the dust and dirt from the road in the air... it was an awesome and powerful time for our faith.

i have to admit it was WAY different driving off on our own on Friday! Driving through Nairobi after everyone we knew had left was a different experience. being the only Americans around was a different kind of feeling.

For me it was fine. i actually kind of like it, but it was still different not knowing anyone and being "on our own". i know for Crystal it is much more scary and it takes big courage from her. she is so awesome and so brave. she's a trooper.

i thought it was awesome that the 1st thing i read while still in bed Saturday morning was this:

"Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love, for i have put my trust in You. Show me the way i should go, for to You i entrust my life." - Psalm 143:8

wow. God was speaking to me through this. 

driving through Nairobi Friday night, i know Crystal was scared. no idea where we were heading. even driving through a couple slums. millions of people were everywhere.

we were with our new friend Maggie we had met like 30 minutes before and planned to stay with her all weekend. Maggie is awesome and a super cool lady (i'll tell you more about her later). but there was a BIG need to TRUST GOD NO MATTER WHAT.

so Friday night was a little "rough". Crystal and i prayed together for safety and protection and to be aware of God's presence with us. 

it was so fitting that i have been studying Psalm 91 for several weeks BEFORE we came to Kenya! i even spoke on it recently. i really love that passage and it's so appropriate for us being here. in Psalm 91 God invites us to live in the SHELTER and REFUGE that is HIM! it's beautiful. When we make HIM our HOME we have rest and protection from everything.

Crystal and i read Psalm 91 together Friday night. it's awesome that it doesn't really matter where in the world we are if our "HOME" is still in God. He is our HOME in any country.

Then we read the Psalm that i read when we 1st got to Kenya. Psalm 139:5-12 = God is with us WHEREVER we are. there is no place we can go to get away from God's presence. we read that together and it filled me up with such peace and confidence in a God that i can trust no matter what. no matter how "unsure" our surroundings might be.

so, when i woke up Saturday morning - because of the roosters crowing at 4am - the sun started to come up shortly after. i read the next Psalm = 143 & verse 8 was shouting to me as the new day and sun peeked into our room = "let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love." and it did. the fact that we woke up safe and sound in this place that for many Americans may feel the opposite... pointed to the fact that God won't fail us. His love for us won't ever stop. i literally felt the sun bringing me news of God's unfailing love.

in America we have to "trust God" all the time. most of the time it's "different" though. Friday/Saturday Crystal and i were learning to trust God at another level. we are literally following this verse "to You i entrust my life." and that is a very beautiful thing.

i'm 100% confident in our God. He is with us and we trust Him no matter what.

going to church now with Maggie in Nairobi... then leaving for Meru = 5-6 hour drive. update when we get there.