Baltimore - Part 3: Camden Yards

I promise that this is the last post on our stay in Baltimore.

We had the opportunity to take in an Orioles game while we were in Baltimore and we got to visit the famed Camden Yards.  I have been slowly attempting to work in visits to Major League ballparks when we travel to a Major League town, so I was glad to see that the Orioles had a home game while we were there.  Even better, it was a home game against the Yankees.  Now, I like the Orioles all right, so I would have cheered for them anyway, as long as they weren't playing the Braves.  I hate the Yankees, however, so this makes it all the more fun to go to this particular game.

Little did I know that, heading into this game, the Orioles had lost 10 in a row to the despicable Yankees.  I did know that the O's record was in the neighborhood of 16-36.  The park was maybe 3/4 full, and probably half in attendance were Yankee fans.  Jake Arrieta started the game to make his major league debut and performed well.  He pitched his way out of a jam in the 6th and came away with the win.  All in all, it was a good game in great weather in a nice ballpark.  And the Yankees lost.  What more could you ask for in a baseball game?

How many hours on a plane?

So, Amy and I attended a medical missions conference in Pennsylvania a few weeks ago.  Attending this conference was a step toward what we believe is God's leading for us later this year - a medical mission trip to Kenya.  With the kids.  On a plane for about 17 hours total.

What?

That's right, 17 hours on a plane with the kids.  Each way.

Are you sure about this?  Does God really want you to do this?  Aren't there people you can serve that aren't so far away?  Who will take care of things here while you are gone?  Are you sure you should take those kids over there and expose them to all those diseases?  Are you really going to be able to handle the flight?  Do you remember your trip from Zurich to Atlanta after the mission trip to Cyprus?  What if you vomit for 9 hours again as you cross the Atlantic?  What about the whole claustrophobia thing?  What if that happens to you on the plane?  Can you really financially afford the trip?  Do you really know enough to take care of those kids who are trying to die?  You've never seen malaria.  You haven't run a code in years.  Are you really doing well enough spiritually for God to use you?  You fail spiritually all the time.  You are not good enough for God to use you for His purposes.  You are still such a self-centered person.

Such are the attacks coming our way.  The intensity seems to be increasing as we get closer to the trip.  Who is planting those thoughts and worries?  I can tell you that it is not God.  I'm sure some of these questions are my own self-doubt.  Most are not.  Most are from the enemy, who does not want us to go, who does not want these children to hear the gospel, and who wants these children to die and then suffer eternally.

More attacks have occurred recently.  An accident 2 days before we are supposed to go to the missions conference.  A subsequent trip to the ER that lasted until 4 a.m.  The financial hit of having a high deductible for our auto insurance.  Three months that have kept me so busy that I can't seem to accomplish anything beyond keeping my head above water at the office.  Family members have suggested we leave the kids here in the states while we go to Africa.  There is someone who does not want us to go on this trip.

But, thankfully, God speaks to us precisely when we need to hear Him.

As little as 3-4 years ago, I would not have thought twice about going on a trip to Africa.  There was no interest, no desire at all.  Maybe Central or South America.  That would make sense.  I speak Spanish.  But, no, God has been leading us to Africa.  For me, He started speaking through one of the things that I love -  movies.  As I forced myself to use the stationary bike over the last several years, I would watch whatever I had received from Netflix.  These movies were not necessarily intended to produce Christian missionaries, but, over time, movies like "Last King of Scotland", "Lord of War", "Hotel Rwanda", "Faith Like Potatoes", and others began to produce in me a compassion for those who are suffering so greatly in Africa.  So much injustice over the years.  So many deaths that could be prevented with decent medical care.  So many people dying in darkness.

Recently, we have been deluged with all things Africa.  A young single girl from Watkinsville helps start an orphanage in Uganda.  Another friend helps start an orphanage in Ethiopia.  Two of my closest medical school friends, we recently learned, will be going to a different hospital in Kenya while we are there.  I turn on the TV and find a program about two Kenyan men in New York.  Another program, "River Monsters", is searching for the giant Nile perch in the Rift Valley (Kijabe hospital is in the Central Rift Valley, which I had never heard of before we started considering this trip).  That is one giant freshwater fish, when it is allowed to grow.  My wife's cousin (2nd, I think), it turns out, is currently working at Kijabe Hospital.

There is Someone who wants us to go on this trip, and He has made that clear.  So, here we go for 17 hours on a plane, each way, with 3 kids.  Pray for us, please, and pray for those children in Africa who need to know Jesus.