As summer has started for me here in Jamaica I'm already seeing God working. Not quite a week has gone by since my arrival here, and only a few days since the first teams arrived. . . but God is already moving. Not that He ever stopped moving, it's just more evident to me now that I'm back in Jamaica.
This spring, and May in particular, has been one of the longest and most difficult in my recent memory. After six weeks here in March and April feeling God's presence and seeing him work in me and in the teams around me, I felt thrust into a storm when I returned that has remained through the rest of the spring to now. God put a very difficult challenge in front of me and it was one that influenced my work, my sleep, my eating and my general attitude towards life. As I struggled to focus on preparing the 13+ teams that I will lead this summer as well as daily activities like getting out of bed, I had no other choice but to submit everything to God. I knew that May was the month that I needed to get nearly every plan in place for these teams this summer and I was having a hard time getting it done.
So as I sit here, my first 3 teams off and rolling, I have found a calm in the storm finally. Although this calm is still a little cloudy and a bit surreal, it is a calm. I have already seen God work through difficult situations and come through in situations where I felt less than fully prepared. One team arrived a day late due to an anonymous airline (American) and arrived with great attitudes and servant hearts. Lost luggage that could easily ruin a day or a week, or in this case, two weeks, is written off and there is no concern at all.
On top of my pity party, I see friends and families who are going through REAL problems that make mine seem like nothing and I see them praising God through the storms. I am humbled!
All this to say that I know God at work in this world and I know He is working already in me, and prayerfully THROUGH me as well, and I know that this summer will be a great time of healing and restoration as this storm passes and the fog slowly lifts. In the words of Dave (Matthews of course), I wait as these storms wash away the notion that the best is yet to come. And of course who can forget the simple reminder that "THIS is the day the Lord has made! I will rejoice and be glad in it". Pray for a great summer and that God will be glorified through all that we do.
