Lessons Learned After Five Weeks of Fundraising Travel

The last two months have gone by so quickly! It is hard to believe we are nearing the end of July already! After graduating in May, we loaded up all of our belongings (after Eric went back to Maryland and Pennsylvania to gather some belongings that our folks had been storing) into an ABF tractor trailer to be transported to storage in Las Vegas. Not only did we fit our stuff in this packed tractor trailer, but also the Glassmeyer's belongings as well. It was so heavy that the trailer made a dent in the concrete pavement! We have officially left our mark at Covenant Seminary (literally)! After this exhausting event, we headed for Maryland where Annette and the kids "set up shop" at her dad's in Laurel, Maryland (a great central location to many of the places we wanted to visit). Meanwhile, Eric travelled to Memphis, TN, to attend General Assembly and then Cape Coral, FL, where Eric served as Pastoral Intern last summer. We quickly realized that our expectations of fundraising were radically changed. We thought our role in fundraising would be to accurately communicate the vision of North Las Vegas to people with the hope they would become excited enough to actually fill out a MNA pledge card and commit to support us financially and more importantly prayerfully. This happened, but the Lord was gracious to help us see our role was much more important than this. Our role was to be used by the Lord to minister to people through intentional personal relationship. The Lord gave us many opportunities to spur many on toward becoming more passionate and devoted to the advancement of God's kingdom on earth. He used us to speak kind words to those who were discouraged and to sit with those who were sick. Mission to North Las Vegas is important, but ministering to those whom the Lord providentially placed in our path seemed to take priority. It was a wake up call to us to minister to those whom were before us in the present, rather than waiting to minister to those we have not yet met in Las Vegas. So we tried to be faithful in every providential circumstance placed before us. It was so good to renew relationships and just be a part of God's work in the present. This was a great reminder and application of Matthew 6:33-34, "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." One day at a time, seeking the kingdom by choosing to play our part in bringing righteousness to this broken world and its people, is what we were able to experience on our travels and what our continual prayer seems to be. Would you pray that we would experience peace, not worry, seek the kingdom and righteousness, and minister to those whom providentially come into our path?