"Into The Storm:" journal entry from March 28, 2001

I’ve been reading through my old journals, notes I took in the very earliest days of Asia’s Hope. I’ll be posting some excerpts over the next few weeks and days. I hope you’ll be encouraged by God’s faithfulness — despite our lack of expertise, experience and financial resources.

This was part of what I wrote during a very bad airplane ride on my first ever trip to Cambodia. Metaphorically, it set the stage for much of what would follow…

Me, disembarking at the Battambang, Cambodia airport, circa 2002

March 28, 2001

Somewhere above the Philippines Sea

I've been through turbulence before, but this is bad. Looks like we're heading back into the storm. We've endured about 20 minutes of 100+ knots wind, followed by some calm. During the first bout, I actually wondered just how much a plane can take before, you know, going down.

I'm all prayed up though, and know that even in the center of the storm, I'm also right in the middle of God's will.

Actually, we never really know when our time is up. I wish I spent every day as ready to go. I fear, however, that the people around me have no such peace. I've prepared myself for every possibility on this trip. I love my family passionately and I would never want my boys to be orphaned again, but I know that God is the father to the fatherless and that suffering children are safe in his hand.