Three days to go...

It's Monday and we leave Thursday morning; it's getting very real.  We had our commissioning yesterday during church.  That certainly adds to the anticipation and to the reality that next Sunday, we'll be on the opposite side of the planet pedaling.  We did a last minute push to make some t-shirts because there are no afternoons left to do so.  Most of the guys started packing up their bikes Sunday afternoon and evening and there were several texts showing the bikes disassembled in their shipping cases and expressions of frustration in trying to get the bikes to fit in their cases; capaciousness is not a luxury afforded in a bike travel case.  The texts!!  Oh the text messages!  If we were charged a penny per text, we would've burned through enough money this past year to charter a private jet to Thailand.  Our wives and girlfriends tell us we're like a bunch of twelve-year-old girls.  It's team building, although some aren't as concerned with team unity as they are with sleeping when the texts keep on coming throughout the night or when they're at their "jobs".  We are silly and although we don't take ourselves seriously, we do take this mission very seriously.

During our commissioning Pastor mentioned that we had been doing physical training regularly for the past year.  I think we're all physically ready.  Most of us, ranging in age from late twenties to late forties, are in the best shape we've ever been in.  There's little concern in the team of being unable to meet the physical challenge, but my prayer is that we're ready for those divine appointments, that even in our physical exhaustion, we won't slack in our roles as ambassadors for Christ.  If you will, pray for that.  Pray for our families; they've sacrificed a lot leading up to that and are left holding down the fort in our absence.  Pray that we keep our focus in spite of the distractions that come up at the last minute....there have been plenty so far!  Pray for continued unity amongst us; unity isn't so hard after a full night's sleep as it is after riding a bike or riding in the back of a truck for days on end on a compromised sleep schedule.  Pray for us to have influence wherever we go and that we'll utilize that influence for His kingdom.