first day

We made it through our first day. As I type, it's about 12:30am local time and we have church in the morning (in a few hours). I'm quite certain everyone is sleeping soundly right now. And once again, I am awake. I took a 3-4 hour nap this afternoon though, and finally got to take a shower after getting back this evening, so that could explain the sudden surge of energy.

Where to begin... I don't know. Everyone will have their own memories from this trip, and since this is my blog, you will mainly get my thoughts, but I will do my best to discuss each member of the team as well.

If the first day is any indication of how this trip will go, it is going to be an AMAZING journey. Upon arriving in Edinburgh, I was immediately drawn to singing the Steven Curtis Chapman song, "Yours." In it he discusses walking the streets of London, the dirt roads of Uganda, and the very sidewalks of his home Nashville... to come to the same conclusion each and every time... "it's all Yours, God." As I was walking through the airport, leaving the airport, riding the bus to the church... I couldn't help but consider the same thoughts... that everything indeed does belong to our God. As I've gotten older, my view of God becomes greater and greater. And yet, at that moment, I was struck by how small I viewed God. As I looked around and considered this land that God had made, I understood immediately that the same God I love and have placed my faith in is the very God who also controls all that happens in Scotland. And every other spot in this world. And every other spot in this galaxy and beyond. All creation. It all belongs to God.

Driving to the church, I really loved seeing the different architecture. I'm not normally a fan of that sort of thing, but maybe that's because LA is boring in that sense? Who knows. But the little we've been outside, it's been fun to see the different things I've seen already, and it will only get better.

Upon arriving at the church, we got a quick overview of what our purpose for being there would be, and were picked up by our host families (I feel like a foreign exchange student in saying that). Shannon and I must have done something right because we got the hook up. Our host family is awesome... Colin and Allison. They even have a 4 year old daughter named Emma. She behaves VERY closely to my Emma. I wonder if maybe the Lord allowed us to stay here so that I would almost have an Emma-filled "experience" while here. Anyway, there is wireless internet in this house so I can post to my heart's content at night (which is nice, since I'm not sure how much I would have been able to do at the church).

Tonight was our first experience for what we will be doing all next week, Room 65. Basically multiple sets of music with the gospel preached during the breaks. Meanwhile, people can get coffee and other snacks while chatting with others, listening to music, etc. It's very laid back, which is nice. Since we just arrived, we were just told to help out wherever we wanted to. I think some of us were serving drinks and such, but mostly I saw our group sitting and talking to whomever would walk in. The church's house band is already good, and it drew quite a few in during the course of the night, even though it rained hard at times (maybe that's what drew them in to begin with... thank You, Lord, for bringing people!).

I think that next week is going to be awesome.

And right about now, my wife and children should be sitting in a plane, getting ready to fly to Spokane. Lord keep them safe, and help Heidi to travel well with the kiddos.

My name is Rick, and thanks for reading.