So again I am sitting at my office, I'm eating lunch and thinking and praying about our soon coming trip. I have so many expectations of what god is going to do in your lives, and my life, but more importantly the live of the people of the DR. I expect and pray that God does miracles, and breaks bonds that they may be carrying around. I expect that things will be in His timing and that He will lead us across the path of those that he wishes to transform and that He will use us to accomplish His will.

      I think we all have expectations of God and the things that he wishes to accomplish there but we also have expectations of one another. "I expect that we will all get along and have a lot of fun" or I expect that my leadership team will treat me like my parents do. It could be anything.

      I am sure that you guys have lots of expectations on AIM, and how this trip should be organized, and how the leadership team should be run.

     In the book of Joshua we come across this really interesting scenario. Joshua is nearing the end of his life and has come to a meeting with the elders, leaders and judges of Israel at Schechem.  Joshua begins to share the heart of the lord with Israel and in a nutshell tells them to lay aside their idols and follow the Lord. Then Joshua makes this statement, 

14 "So fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord alone. 15 But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord."

      The thing about our expectations is that they to often can become like the idols of the Israelites. We begin to hold onto our expectations, and when things go the way we expect we are happy, but then they don't we get mad and blame God.  Clearly in this passage he is calling us to take a stand like Joshua and say, you can do what you want but I will serve the Lord.

     I want all of us to take some time and think about our expectations for this trip to the DR. I want you to take some time and truly think about your expectations, write them down, and email them to me at shawnsummey@adventures.org and we will have an exercise with them when we get together. Here are some areas to think about. I encourage you as you think about these things to Choose today who you will serve, will it be yourself, or the God of heaven and earth.

1) What do I expect of my leadership team?

2) What do I expect of my teammates?

3) What do I expect ministry to look like?

4) What do I expect training camp to look like?

5) What do I expect the food to be like?

6) What do I expect of myself on this trip?

7) What do I expect of God on this trip?