The Lord encouraged Giles and I time and time again this week.  I keep saying how blown away I am by what He is doing in our lives, yet I’m positive that we will experience many more of these moments as He continues to shower us with His awesome and amazing grace and love.  At the beginning of the week, we completed a two-day training course with CMF called “LAUNCH.”  As the name intentionally suggests, the training was intended to prepare and equip us for the next phase of our missionary journey– support raising, relationship-building, and further connecting with the CMF family as we complete our personal development plan and several other preliminary steps in preparing to be on the field.  We were blessed to meet several amazing folks who are also preparing to serve around the world– Edinburgh, Mexico, England, and Kenya.  It was encouraging and uplifting to share with each other our common experiences and passions to glorify God among the nations.  We left feeling energized and even more excited to be in Kenya.

Then at the end of the week, I was able to share for the first time with my co-workers at my workplace about our future missionary service in Nairobi.  Everyone was so excited, supportive, and encouraging.  I am blessed to work with many believers who truly live out Christ’s calling to evangelize with their lives.  The same day that I shared with my office, I received an email from someone I worked with eight years ago at my former law firm who has been on several short-term mission trips to Mathare Valley slum in Nairobi.  He and his wife have a heart for the urban poor in the slums and heard about us through their close friends who just joined the CMF team in Nairobi in July.  We realize that technology makes this vast world smaller, but how incredible to “randomly” reconnect with someone with whom I share so many connection points!  We are excited to become better acquainted with them in the coming days.  As we have experienced countless times before, our relational God will stop at nothing to bring mutual blessing through relationship with each other in order to draw us closer to Him.

After such a week of encouragement, we awoke yesterday to the news of a terrorist attack at a mall in Nairobi.  Not just any mall– a mall we visited a couple of times while in Nairobi.  A mall frequented by members of the CMF team.  It’s a very upscale mall and seems to be a place where many expats shop, given the enormous Wal-mart-like shopping center housed there.  I’m guessing that it’s no coincidence that this location was targeted to carry out this evil and cowardly plan.  Upon hearing the news, we immediately emailed some of our friends there to make sure they were okay.  Thankfully, they were, and the entire CMF/ MoHI team is safe as well.

While certainly unsettling and sad, this event does not deter us from where God has called us to be.  As we have witnessed in the United States over the past few decades, and most recently with the tragic shootings in DC, evil is pervasive and unrelenting in its efforts to counter the goodness that co-exists in this world.  Thus, we each have a choice.  We can shrink back in fear, choosing to place our trust and allegiance in the institutions, powers, and principalities of this world.  Or we can move forward in courage with the Lord as our strength, hope, and purpose.  After all, He has overcome the world through Christ’s death and resurrection.  He is returning one day soon to restore this earth.  We can choose to sit on the sidelines out of fear of what may happen to us, or out of love, we can engage with Him to usher in His restoration among all people, despite our fears.

We began our week of encouragement with reading this quote (author unknown):  “In my experience, God rarely makes our fear disappear.  Instead, He asks us to be strong and take courage.  Courage is not the absence of fear but choosing to act in spite of fear.”  We choose courage, while praying that God will cast out fear through His perfect love, both in our own lives and in the lives of those experiencing the brunt of evil in a tangible way in this present age.