Day #1 - "The Journey Begins" (Ottawa, On)

Saturday April 3rd

Well welcome to Day 1 of my first “blog” ever. It may not be the fanciest blog, but it will keep you informed.

Kind of appropriate perhaps to start a blog as I have left for one month and I know many of you want to know what’s happening, why I am doing this trip in the first place, or even some of the thoughts and devotionals I will experience first hand from being on this road trip alone for one month. Well you know – I am not alone – I am with the Lord, without sounding cliché.

So welcome again. If you’ve been at Sequoia, you’ve heard about the catalyst for this one-month road trip. If you are new or you need to review what this trip is all about, please see the “purpose” button in the main menu of this blog. You’ll also find tentative dates of where I plan on being for the whole month of April. But you know with the Lord, there can always be a few surprises when you follow Him!

I remember when I did something similar to this when we as a church did the Purpose Driven Life 40 Day Journey. I was writing my own devotional on top of the 40-Day Journey, ie to coincide with each day. I will do something similar with this journey, but this time – it’s a 30-Day Journey.

To coincide with the 30 days, I’ve decided to read and do the “One Month To Live” Campaign – “30 Days to a No-Regrets Life”! The book was written by Kerry & Chris Shook – church planting couple of this Woodlands Church near Houston Texas. The basic idea is that if you would know you only had 30 days to live, how would you live them? What would change? What would become an urgent priority? What would you focus on?

My hope and prayer is that after I experience this journey over these next 30 days, this might become a journey Pastor Ryan would want to introduce to our church over the next year. I guess we’ll wait and see your feedback to my feedback over these next 30 days.

BTW: I promise you – not every “daily blog” will be as long as this one. Day 1 simply introduces a bunch of things.

 So let me tell you the highlights of Day #1!

 It was kind of weird when I was pulling out of the driveway at 1400 Saturday afternoon, hugging my family goodbye, knowing I would not see them or my home for the next month. But when I would see them again, “a lot of water would have gone under the bridge” and somehow the Lord will have led our church and me in a new way. That is for sure! This trip is not only a turning point for me but it is for sure for our church (and I would even go so far to say also for our CNBC). I do pray with all my heart that the purpose of this trip gets “fulfilled”. (again refer to Purpose Doc for the specifics).

 You know I was totally feeling mixed emotions when I left Ottawa – both excited and scared at the same time. Day 1 of the “One Month To Live” talks about “Living the Dash”, ie living the dash in-between the date you were born, which you know, and the date you will die, which you do not know. It could be tomorrow?! So how are you living your dash? Are you going through the motion? Are you always dreaming about tomorrow but never doing anything about it – afraid to move out in faith? I heard something very poignant today. “If you feed your fears, you will starve your faith”! Wow!

 So yes I have some fears as I jump out on this trip alone. I do feel some of the pressure of what’s expected from me out of this trip. There is a financial stewardship responsibility to live well the purpose of this trip from those who made this trip possible. But like the quote says, I actually want to do its contrary – “But if you feed your faith, you will starve your fears”. I have always tried to live by faith. And I sure want to live by faith because it is impossible to please God without it (Hebrews 11). Many people talk about faith, but really don’t live by real faith. I am simply trying to live that kind of real and radical faith that even so many songs talk about. Check it out, songs like “Walk on Water” by Britt Nicole or “What Faith Can Do” by Kuthless – nice to sing about them – but what about really living those lyrics?

 Well everyday I am asking the Lord to show His sovereignty by some “signs” or by how He speaks to me through His Word. Well Day 1, during my first stop for gas, just past Syracuse, the car in front of me has the “fish sign”. The lady was obviously Christian. She was at a “dog show”. She was from down South. So she wanted to check out the RV I am driving. We chatted. A sign? Don’t know? But better than to see a license plate with the number 666!

 But then it’s as if the end of the world was coming! Where I was driving, there was a “flash freeze” and a major cold front came in. It was so windy vehicles had to put their hazards on. I thought I was driving through a tornado. It was brutal driving. The RV was being tossed all over the place. So I didn’t make it to destination. I pulled over at a rest-stop at 0100 just outside of Cleveland Ohio. First night in the RV was going to be a short one. I needed to go up at 0500.

 First day over of the “Luke 11 Journey to Ask, Seek, and Knock Tour”!