Less than 24 hours to go!

Well, it is nearly 11:30pm at night and this trip seems to be starting out as all of them do, last minute packing and trying to get things done.  I should be in bed sleeping as I plan to be in my office tomorrow between 6-6:30am so I can be out of there by 3pm.  In my brilliance, I always work the day that I am trying to leave.  Instead of being in bed, I am stuffing things into my backpack, online getting directions, calling my travel buddies last minute to cover last minute details, oh it's tons of fun getting stuff done like this.  Every time I go somewhere, I always think I will be more organized than I am, instead, it seems to get worse as I get older and I seem to leave the packing for the very last minute. 

After I finished up my State Licensure Test for Social Work 2 weeks ago (which I passed!!!) I then got on booking us stuff.  As of a week ago, we now have hostels to stay at in Oxford, Cotswolds, and London, so we are officially booked for all of England.  Not that any of us were too worried, there are about a millon places to choose from to stay, so somewhere was bound to have a room available.  We got the first night in Ireland booked as well.  Beyond that, we'll figure it out as we go.  We have rental cars booked for the 2 days we will be driving in England and the 5 we will be driving in Ireland.  I'll be driving on the wrong side of the road, on the wrong side of the car, and doing stick with my L hand instead of R, so we'll see how this all goes.  We keep thinking it'll be an adventure and make for great stories.  So long as we don't nearly plunge to our death as we did the last time I drove when the three of us were together in St. Thomas a few years back, we'll be good.  I am on a separte flight than my friends so the plan is to meet up at Heathrow Airport in London and we are hoping to find each other and our bags by picking out a location to meet.  We are all set for take off.

As I was at my Women's Bible study the other night, the ladies prayed for me and sent me on my way wishing me tons of fun and letting me know that they would be keeping me in prayers.  More than one of them said they hoped I had opportunities while I was over in Europe to be a witness and share my faith.  It struck me that in the past 10 years of traveling and in the numerous countries I have been in, this has entered my mind at times, but never too frequently.  I get in this mind set of being a traveller and being with the people I meet along the way, sometimes even travelling together for days to weeks at a time, talking with locals, but I never look at it as a mission field.  Usually my prayers consist of "Lord keep me safe, give me traveling mercies, allow me to experience Your wonderful creation in all it's glory."  Very self centered and selfish prayers.  Never once have I asked, "Lord, bring people into my path who I can be a witness to.  Grant me opportunities to share your love."  Why has that never crossed my mind before?  I always travel with my small Bible when I am gone.  I read it and sometimes other see me, sometimes they don't.  I tell others what I believe if we get into a discussion about faith, but this is different than actively sharing my faith.  I state my beliefs more as facts when asked, not in any real personal way to reveal God's love.  Those prayers said in my Bible Study this week, challenged me to look at the way I often travel differently.  To take more opportunities that I have perhaps missed in the past this time around.