This is Patty. She just found out that we have another delay. Poor Patty. She wants to fly to Japan. She is very sad. It's true. We have another delay. However, we have news from Japan, and we are told that we will be flying out next Friday. Hooray! Although it's been a testing of our patience, it has been good in so many ways. Rather than us being a bunch of random individuals going to Japan, God has truly formed us into a unified team. We're praying the same unity will happen with the three trooper teachers already there.

This morning the pastor of Grace Fellowship, Jerry King, came and spoke with us about waiting on and for God. He shared from Acts 16:6-10 about how Paul and some of his companions wanted to go to Asia, but God called them elsewhere, changing their plans and causing them to wait. Then he talked about when he and his family went to China, their delays, and how they only got to stay about a year, after planning to stay 3-5. It was actually very encouraging. Not in the sense that we may not go to Japan, but that God's purpose is always bigger than our own, and we are called to obey, not "do." Obeying sometimes means waiting, sometimes means suffering well, sometimes means abandoning all that's close to us, but it always means drawing closer to our Father and living his perfect will--even if it's not comfortable.

Pastor King also shared this sonnet by John Milton, written as he was losing his eyesight:

When I consider how my light is spent,

Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,

And that one talent which is death to hide,

Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent

To serve therewith my Maker, and present

My true account, lest he returning chide;

"Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?"

I fondly ask; but Patience to prevent

That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need

Either man's work or his own gifts; who best

Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state

Is kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed

And post o'er land and ocean without rest:

They also serve who only stand and wait."

Pretty much this says it all. God is above anything we could offer him. He doesn't need it, he only asks for our service for our sake. Though our attitude doesn't always match, it is a privilage to wait.