An excerpt from the book, "Shuffle", by Wendall Woodall

The following is an excerpt from the book "Shuffle" by Wendall "Windy" Woodall.  Windy was an Assemblies of God missionary to Honduras.  After returning to the US, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease.  The book "Shuffle" is really about his adjustment to life with Parkinson's, but, as you will see, he uses some pretty funny stories from the mission field as well!!
Well, here is Windy's take on arriving in San José for language school:

In the summer of 1990, we packed up our whole family and moved to San José, Costa Rica. Cheryl and I were both still in our twenties, and our first two daughters were three and two. Our mission? To make sure our kids lived as far away from their grandparents as possible. That’s not actually true, but we were certainly accused of it a time or two. The real assignment was to spend three trimesters at a Spanish language school in San José that had a reputation for producing fluent speakers within a year. For my wife, who grew up in places like Miami, Southern California, and the border of Texas and Mexico, it was about fine-tuning her phonetics and adding to her limited vocabulary. For me, it was more about being torn limb-from-limb linguistically fine-tuning her phonetics and adding to her limited vocabulary. For me, it was more about being torn limb-from-limb linguistically speaking, crushing my self-esteem to nothing more than dust, and then rebuilding me from scratch—one agonizing verb conjugation at a time. I remember the speech the school’s director gave on the very first day of classes. With a cheery smile, he said: “Welcome to the Spanish Language Institute. And those will be the last words that we speak to you in English this year.” By noon that same day, we were called down to the nursery area where our oldest daughter, Brittany, kept trying to climb over the fence, crying the whole time, “I don’t know what they’re saying to me.” My wife tried to get Brittany down. I tried to climb over the fence with her. It was a long year for all of us. Looking back now, I can say that it was one of the most humbling periods of my life. For the next twelve months, we became like elementary school children again: we pronounced our vowels and consonants out loud in class, tried to put embarrassingly simple sentences together on command, took vocabulary tests every day, put signs on everything in the classroom and at home with the appropriate Spanish word for each item, planned for our show-and-tell presentations, and so on. All we seemed to be missing were the smiley face stickers on our papers and coloring pages. I watched many grown men and women break under the stress and strain of that year, and it seemed that the more education they had, the greater their collapse. Now, don’t misunderstand me here. Our teachers were as kind as they could possibly be. The problem was that some of the adults-turned-kids-again just could not handle being corrected day in and day out. They were used to getting things right, being in charge, teaching others how to do things—in short, they were used to being in control. We all felt things spiraling out of control that year. A young doctor from China was studying at the institute and attempted to encourage us. Spanish would be his seventh language to conquer, he explained, and he assured us that it got much easier on the third or fourth language. We told him he might need a doctor if he continued trying to cheer us up. It wasn’t just in the classroom that we were humbled, either. To help us learn the language more quickly, the agency that sent us used a total-immersion theory. From the moment we got off the plane, we were encouraged to start learning how to survive in the new culture on our own. Familiar faces did pick us up from the airport on the night we arrived, but we had to depend on public transportation that entire year at the institute. On the very first morning, I bravely decided to go out for food and hopped on an old, dilapidated bus that seemed to be headed in the right direction. I took a seat toward the middle, excited about my first adventure. Now, if you’ve never ridden a bus in Latin America, you won’t be able to grasp how I spent the next few hours. Without realizing it, I had luckily boarded the inbound bus just as it began its route from the outskirts toward downtown. There were plenty of seats, space, and air to breathe. That scenario was rather short-lived, however. At the next stop, at least thirty people got on the bus, which put us at what I thought was fairly close to capacity. I even got up to offer my seat to an elderly lady and joined the throngs standing in the aisles. Then, we hit the next stop where maybe five people got off and it seemed like another thirty got on. I could barely see out the windows because of the people, and I was at the dead center of this growing mass. At every stop, it only got worse. The few that got off the bus each time said the appropriate words to squeeze toward the doors. Some yelled out, “Parada!” to let the driver know that they needed out at the next stop, but I didn’t learn that term until days later. In fact, it suddenly dawned on me that I didn’t know any of the correct words or phrases—either to make the bus stop or to get the crowd to let me through—much less how to ask anyone the location of the nearest grocery store. At long last, a group of hot, sweaty people disembarked and carried me along with them. Truth be told, I think I was the only one sweating. They all immediately scattered in different directions. I was left standing on the corner with a second moment of insightful awareness: I didn’t know where I was, and, worse, I didn’t know how to tell anyone where I needed to go to get home. Several hours later, I did arrive back at our rental house, primarily due to the kindness and broken English of a few Costa Ricans I met along the way. My lovely wife opened the door, saw my disheveled hair and bewildered glaze, and spoke the words she sensed I needed to hear most: “Did you get milk?” Did I mention it was a humbling year? That same day, I had another brilliant idea. Thinking it would be best to avoid the bus routes for a while, at least until I knew the city and the language a little better, I borrowed a bicycle from another language school student who lived right down the street. I should have suspected there would be trouble when I pedaled off and he was shaking his head quietly behind me. There were nuances of driving in Latin America that I didn’t comprehend just yet. They do have traffic lights, stop signs, and speed limits, and most city roads mark the lanes with bright white and yellow paint—but all of these things are considered suggestions rather than hard and fast laws. Traffic cops were few and far between, and almost all of them were on foot. They were sure not going to chase down anybody who violated the rules. And another surprise awaited me: drivers love to blow their horns. My Honduran friends would later tell me that if you only had enough money to either fix the brakes or the horn, you always chose the latter. And, so, I ignorantly pedaled into this chaotic scene and noticed much too late that the volume of traffic was increasing rapidly around me. Then the two-lane road unexpectedly became a four-lane highway—and I use those terms loosely. That’s how many lanes were painted on the blacktop, but we easily had six or seven lanes squeezed into that tight space, and nobody was slowing down. Lines were suggestions, remember? And while I had heard horns blaring sporadically around me up until then, I was now in a cacophony of sound that was literally deafening.
I know what you’re probably thinking. I’m one of those people who shouldn’t be allowed to roam free without supervision anywhere on the planet. I might have come to that conclusion as well, had I had a spare moment, but there was no time. The four lanes became six officially—and closer to eight or nine unofficially—and that’s when I saw it: a huge roundabout. This was a huge, circular intersection, easily six lanes across, fed by four main highways that converged into one giant merry-go-round of merging traffic, complete with a giant statue of an undoubtedly important historical figure sitting on a concrete island right in the center of it all. I should have gotten his name, for he would become my constant companion for the next sixty minutes or so. I’m not exaggerating. I had been following hard on the bumper of a taxi driver who seemed to know where he was going, so when he darted toward the innermost circle of the roundabout, I was on his tail. And then he deserted me, without so much as a beep of the horn in goodbye, shooting between cars to catch his exit about three-fourths of the way around the intersection. I was left behind to look for my own gap in a sea of bumper-to-bumper traffic. It was the scene right out of National Lampoon’s European Vacation when Chevy Chase gets on the roundabout with his family and circles for the rest of the day and into the night. But at least Chevy had a car. I can say this about my misfortune that day: I did feel closer to God. And He must have heard my prayers, because about an hour later a break in the traffic opened up that to my eyes was equivalent to the parting of the Red Sea. I raced across all six lanes, screaming at the top of my lungs, while right on my heels vehicles blared their horns. When I trudged through the door that afternoon, barely safe and sound but alive, I fell exhausted into a fetal position on the couch. My wife came in from the bedroom, where she had been busily unpacking our suitcases and boxes all day, and said, “So, did you get the milk?” I love that woman, but she was starting to get on my nerves. She did offer to walk the bicycle back to the neighbor’s house for me, though, and when she returned, she had a carton of milk in her hands. “Did you know there’s a little convenience store on the block right behind us?” she asked. “They call it a pulpería, or something like that. That’ll probably come in handy.” I ate my cereal dry that night. It was better than the humble pie.

Woodall, Wendall (2014-03-25). Shuffle: A Way Forward, Whatever the Challenge (pp. 36-37). Highway 51 Publishing, LLC. Kindle Edition.

I Have A Feeling God Is About To Do Something Crazy!

So, there is something very important that we have not really discussed...

Almost everything we have talked about for the last 10 months has been about our monthly budget.  Just to recap, our monthly budget provides our money to work with, money for the boys to attend a school that aligns with the US college and high school system, money for insurance, gasoline, housing, and our salary.  This money comes to us every month from churches here in the US, and individuals just like you!  Our monthly budget is about the same amount that it takes to operate a small church for a month, and has been our main focus over the last 10 months of our fundraising.  We are getting VERY close to having monthly commitments for 100% of our monthly budget (but we could still use your help!), and we hope to be done in time to join the next session of language school that begins on May 7.

But, we have another budget that we rarely talk about....

We have a cash budget that we also need to raise before we can leave!  This cash budget covers the cost of language school, plane tickets for the 5 of us to get to Central America, utility deposits (which are VERY high when you are not a resident of your host country), and a few other miscellaneous items that are one-time purchases.  We haven't talked about it becuase generally, this budget takes care of itself.  

As we travel, any excess money that comes in from our Sunday services goes toward this cash budget.  Also, any excess in what is being sent in monthly goes towards this cash amount (we live on less here than we will in Honduras, mostly because of schooling for the boys and we have no work budget... so there should be excess).  So, for most missionaries, this cash budget naturally acccrues as they fundraise... But we are not most missionaries!

Our situation is quite unique when it comes to being an Assemblies of God World Missionary.  The many apects of this uniqueness would take WAY to long for me to even highlight, but let me say it simply: The same unique situation that has lead to us raising our monthly budget faster than normal, is also contributing to our cash budget moving slower than normal (it mostly has to do with the fact that we often must travel great distances, and our Sunday offerings generally only cover those expenses, so we have very little surplus).

Let me give it to you in black and white... We need $45,000.00 in cash before we can leave (in addition to the amount that comes in monthly).  This is a pretty standard amount for a first-term missionary.  Right now, we only have $4,000.00-$5,000.00.  I guess what I'm saying is: We need a miracle!

Allow me to quickly tell you about a miracle that I had the opportunity to be on the giving-end of:

When we were pastoring, we met a missionary named Larryon Truman that was building churches in Panama.  When I heard him talk about how it only took $5,000.00 to build a church there, I decided we needed to help him.  I invited Larryon to speak at our church a few months down the road, and started praying for a miracle.  I told my wife that our church (Mt Calvary Family Worship Center- West Valley City, UT) was going to receive an offering of $5,000.00 in one day so that we could help build a church in Panama.... She thought I was crazy!!  Our church had only given a total of $7,000.00 to missions the previous year, and we often struggled just meeting the church's budget each month.  I told her that I probably was crazy, but that I had heard from God on this, and we were going to do it!

I asked our church to prepare to give an offering on a Sunday that was about 3 weeks away.  I asked if we could get 100 people to give $50 in that offering, so we could give $5,000.00 to build a church in Panama.  The people were very excited!!  None of us was rich, but we could probably figure out a way to part with $50, so we got started.  

That Sunday, after our first service, I had a man ask if he could give that day instead of waiting for 3 weeks.  I told him that was fine, and he handed me a check for $5,000.00!!!  I was truly speechless (which is a whole different miracle)!!  We already had $5,000.00 and I hadn't even told our second service about the project!

Before church the next Sunday, a lady came to me asking if she could give in the Panama offering that day instead of waiting.  I said that was fine, and she handed me an envelope with $5,000.00 cash in it!!!  God was doing something very special, and to say that the church was excited is a serious understatement!

The offering day came, and MORE than $5,000.00 came in that day from people who just did what they could!!!  No huge amounts, just everyone doing their part.  

The next Sunday, Larryon was coming to speak to us in the evening, and I was recapping the story for the congregation, and telling them to come to church that night, because Larryon had no idea that any of this was happening.  At the end of the morning service, I found out that a man that only came to our church that one time, wrote another check for $3,000.00!!!  When Larryon came that evening, we were able to write him a HUGE check, and invest into what he was doing in Panama.  When all the dust settled, just a few people who had done what they could to help, had given over $22,000.00!!!!  $5,000.00 had sounded crazy, but $22,000.00 was breathtaking...

Right now, we are looking at a $40,000 need, and it is intimidating...  Thankfully, we serve a God who has proven Himself many times!  It is fun to be on the giving-end of a miracle, but very humbling to need to be on the receiving-end...

Would you help us pray for this miracle?  Would you even consider giving a one-time gift to help us?  We are passionate about reaching at-risk children in Honduras, but this is a HUGE obstacle in our way.  Would you consider helping us remove one piece of this roadblock?  We are praying for a miracle of cooperation and provision, and we thank you for considering it!!  If you'd like to give, email me at andy@smithmissions.net, and we will figure out the best way for you to get funds to our account.  If you can't give, PRAY!!  I have a feeling God is about to do something crazy!!

(On a side note, I am constantly thankful that God came through on our Panama offering, because it makes it WAY easier for me to win similar discussions with Jen now!!  Haha!!)

Thank you for your prayer and supprt!  Thank you for helping us believe for a miracle!!  Thank you for being a blessing!!!

Small Month With HUGE Potential!

If you are reading this, you are probably well aware of the fact that my family and I are currently preparing to leave the United States as missionaries to children in Honduras. We have been in our fund-raising process since May 2013, and we are closing in on being 100% funded! If all goes well, we will be leaving for language school on May 7, 2014!!
Assemblies of God World Missionaries are given a monthly budget when we receive our approval. This budget includes several different things, like: our salary and our housing allowance (which are fixed amounts, and do not increase if we bring in extra money), medical insurance (which is not cheap, but very important because many countries will refuse to treat you without an advance cash payment of several thousand dollars, which the insurance pays on our behalf), schooling for our boys (which is not free, or cheap, if we want it to line up with the US high school and college systems), and money to do ministry work with. (If you would like to see a breakdown of our monthly budget, please let us know!) All in all, our budget is around what it takes to run a small church, and there is only 5 of us!!
In order for us to receive our final clearance to leave, we have to receive monthly financial commitments that equal the amount of our budget need. These commitments can come from churches, businesses, individuals (about 2/3 of our commitments are from individuals, like you!), or almost any other type of group. Our prayer is to have 100% of our commitments by May, so that we can be in the next group at our language school.
Right now, we have raised just under 70% of what we need! We are very excited by this, but we know there is still a lot of work to be done! We really feel like the month of February will let us know if we are going to make it into the May session of school, or if we will need to wait until September. We have some potentially large commitments that could be finalized in February, as well as some big events that we will be attending. If each of these things works out well, we could move forward a significant amount during the month of February!! If this happens, we will begin the process of closing things out here in the US, and making the final preparations for our move!
February is a small month, but for us, it has HUGE potential!! Will you please help us pray that we will see some HUGE leaps forward this month? Will you help us pray for favor with the pastors and individuals that are considering monthly support for our minstry? Will you help us pray that many of the verbal commitments that people and churches have given us will translate into official commitments during the month of February? We believe that prayer changes things, and so we are asking for you to help us pray! We need this little month to bring us a BIG miracle!!
If you have been considering monthly support for our ministry, there is no time like the present!! There are a few different ways to set up support:
1. Mail in a check or money order each month. You will receive a regular statement with a portion to detach and return with the enclosed envelope. To set that up, just click HERE.
2. Basically the same as as option #1, but with help! Just email or call us with your name, address, and the amount you would like to give each month, and we will fill out the paperwork for you! You still get the statement, and mail in the check. You can reach us at (801) 243-1282 or andy@smithmissions.net
3. Automatic payments with your credit or debit card. Payments will automatically be made for you in the amount you choose! You just need to remember to update your card info when it expires! The extra bonus here is that you don't have to remember to give, and you can even get points on your card for giving! To set that up, click HERE.
Also, remember that everything you give is tax deductible!!
With all that said, our main request here is for prayer! Will you help us pray that February is a month of progress for our ministry? We really want to close-out this process because we feel such an urgency to begin working with our students in Honduras! We are hoping that this tiny month will have a HUGE impact!!

Our Return to Billings...

I sat in my office that day a dreamed about what could be... I was 23-years-old, and had just set up my office as the Lead Pastor of Billings Praise Center, in Billings, MT. I was full of anticipation for what God was going to use us to do on the Southside of Billings. That day, God put such incredible vision and passion in my heart to reach the unreached on the Southside. I dreamed of ministry to single moms, and homeless teens, and hungry families. That was the day God put it in my heart for Billings Praise Center to become a sort of Spiritual Emergency Room for people in desperate situations. That day seemed so far away 15 months later when the church board of BPC suddenly asked me to resign... It's been over 8 years since that day, and I still have not been offered an official explanation as to why. The church was growing, and we were in the beginning stages of seeing some of those dreams and visions come to pass. We were only a few weeks away from starting a large scale food distribution ministry, and the first step would have been taken to become what I felt God had called Billings Praise Center to become. And then it all came to a very abrupt halt... We cried a lot during those days. We didn't know what we would do next, but that wasn't the main source of the tears. It hurt to have been rejected by people that you spent so much time praying for, and asking God to bless. It is almost like being asked to leave your family... For me, a huge source of the tears was knowing that the dreams that God had placed on my heart that day in my new office had just died. I knew that the people of the church would not continue the with the plans and dreams that God had given me, and they didn't. The vision to help the hurting left Billings Praise Center when I did... or so I thought... After leaving more than 8 years before, and inwardly vowing never to return, on October 5, 2013, we drove back into Billings. I never thought I would see that city again, but God allowed me to see something beautiful there, and He taught me some things about vision... When we lived in Billings, God gave me the incredible opportunity to meet a man named David Morales. David grew up on the Southside, and God had done some miraculous things in his life. He was doing ministry on the Southside for people that most churches wouldn't touch. He was reaching battered women, and women recently released from prison. He was touching people's lives in ways that traditional churches never would. I enjoyed getting to know David very much!! After we left Billings, David also went through some difficult things, and was also rejected by some people close to him. The ministry he had been doing, came to a sudden end, and the Southside was left without its Champion... But then God began to put broken pieces together again, but in a different way than they were before. David Morales became the Pastor of Billings Praise Center!! It wasn't easy for him to push through the desire of the people to control everything, but because David is like a pit bull, he was able to break through!! The church stopped holding Sunday services, and the people who had rejected me, left the church. Earlier this year, Billings Praise Center began holding Sunday services once again, and that is just one of the many incredible things we saw when we returned a few Sundays ago... Billings Praise Center now has a ministry that feeds hungry families, with a pantry full of food! They assemble and distribute kits of personal supplies to the teenagers who live on the streets in Billings!! My old office now has two commercial washers, and two commercial dryers in it, so that single moms can save the money they would use at the laundromat, and spend it on their kids instead! The house next to the church is being remodeled, and will be used to house women who have been recently released from prison, and need a safe place to try to restore things with their children. The church operates a day care for low-income families, and there was a family in church the Sunday I preached that have come to Christ through their relationship with that daycare!! The church building has been remodeled, and updated quite a bit, and the property looks great. And probably the most impressive thing we saw, was that there the atmosphere of the church was so much different than it was on the day we left. There seemed to be a genuine excitement about reaching out to hurting people. There was an honesty and sincerity in the way they talked about Billings Praise Center existing to help people in need. I almost cried like a baby when David told me that he viewed BPC as a type of Spiritual Emergency Room for the Southside!! God taught me an amazing lesson as we toured the property of Billings Praise Center. He showed me that His plans and vision never die. Situations might look hopeless, and it might seem impossible that God could ever fulfill His promise, and yet somehow He does it. I did not get to see my dreams and vision come to pass while I was in leadership at Billings Praise Center, but I did get to see them happen!! I am so thankful for the opportunity to have literally seen God's faithfulness to His promise with my own eyes. I would have never guessed that it was possible for our situation in Billings to have worked out in a good way, but God is too good to let His promise die!! As David and I have talked a little after our visit, we realized that we both really needed what happened that weekend. Our family needed to see how God has brought those dreams to pass, and David has said that there seems to be a renewed passion and a peace since we have been there. It as if something has finally and fully been reconciled. The hurt we never thought would go away, has turned to joy!! I know it seems simple, but it is so true: God is good!!! We had wondered for years about why God would have allowed this to happen to us. We had wondered why we had to endure this pain, or what we had done to deserve the things that happened. After going back to Billings, we have come to the conclusion that it wasn't really about us... We had given our lives to God and asked Him to use us, and He did. He used us to expose some of the unhealthy issues at Billings Praise Center. He basically used us to stir the hornets nest, so that the problems were easy to see. The difficult situation wasn't about us, it was about bringing His will to pass at Billings Praise Center. Now the Southside has a wonderful church that won't overlook the darkness of the neighborhood. The Southside of Billings has a church that loves the people, and is committed to reaching them!! It cost us some heartache and tears (as well as some from David and his family), but it was worth it!!

New Job, New Page Title, Same Andy

So, I haven't written anything on my blog for a while, but it's not because there has been nothing to say... The name Pastor Andy was all over this page, and I stopped being Pastor Andy (for the most part) several months ago. (The last post on this page was my resignation letter to Mt Calvary...) So basically, I haven't written anything here because I hadn't invested the time into makes the changes to the page that were necessary. Now that I have, you will notice a few things: 1. I left the old posts. I thought they'd be interesting to look back at, even though I no longer serve in the same role. 2. The new posts will be a bit different. They will have more to do with the ups and downs of life as a missionary. 3. The tone is bound to change a few more times. Soon, we will be leaving for Language School in Costa Rica, and with that life change, the posts will likely change. Several months after moving to Costa Rica, we will move to Honduras, and the tone will likely change to what our every day, Honduran lifestyle is like. Writing can be pretty therapeutic for me, and with our whole life changing by the minute, I could use a little therapy from time to time!! With all that said, I'm sure I will be posting from time to time, so I guess you will hear from me later!!

I read this letter to Mt Calvary tonight...

I read this letter to Mt Calvary tonight... Dear friends and family of Mt Calvary, We have called a meeting today to discuss our upcoming pastoral vote, but I have an announcement to make before that happens. We will still be discussing the election, but the information I am about to give you will directly influence what happens with this vote. My family and I have some sad but exciting news to share with you. This last week, Jen and I were in Springfield, Missouri for some meetings with Assemblies of God World Missions. On Friday, we received full-time appointment as missionaries to Tegucigalpa, Honduras. As I'm sure you are quickly realizing, this means that tonight I am announcing my resignation as Lead Pastor of Mt Calvary, effective April 14, 2013. This has been a long and difficult journey as my family and I have followed God's leading in this direction. The Lord began to speak to us about this several years ago, but I guess we are slow learners, and it has taken us a while to truly understand what God was asking of us. The steps that have lead us to today have taken several months, and we want you to know that we did not arrive at this decision quickly or easily. Jen and I have talked, prayed, cried and then talked and prayed and cried some more. We have come to the conclusion that God has this move in His plan for our lives. We have always seen ourselves as the pastors that would lead a church that was very supportive of missions, and took several trips to help missionaries. We never imagined that God would someday call us to the Mission Field ourselves. Even though the wheels of this process have been turning for a while, this has truly caught us by surprise. We will be working with the organization Latin America Child Care. We will help run a system of 14 schools in Honduras that offer food, clothing, and a quality, Christ-centered education to kids in very poor areas. We will have the opportunity to literally be the hands and feet of Christ, as God's love is shown to kids who are many times ignored or abused. We honestly feel that God has spent our entire lives preparing us for this ministry, and we are. Excited to be a part of it. We are also very sad to be leaving Mt Calvary. This church has been our home for nearly 8 years now. We have grown to love you as our family. We would not leave this church family if it were not for this intense leading of the Holy Spirit that we have been feeling. We know that God has incredible plans for Mt Calvary's future! A church never belongs to a pastor, it belongs to Christ. The church is His Body. And because it is His church, we are confident that God will take very good care of our friends and family at Mt Calvary. Let me be very practical about what this means for Mt Calvary: This means that there will need to be an election to choose a new pastor for Mt Calvary. Our District Superintendent, Dennis Rivera will speak to you in a few minutes to help answer any questions about how this process typically works. As for myself and my family; after our last Sunday with you on April 14, we will be traveling from church to church as we raise support for our ministry in Honduras. We have a large monthly budget to raise, and the only way it comes in is as individuals and local churches choose to partner with us and support us monthly. It will take us around a year to raise our support, so for the next year we will be traveling around and recruiting people to partner with us in our ministry. After our budget is raised, we will spend 1 year in Costa Rica for language school before we move to Tegucigalpa. We are both sad and excited to announce this to you tonight. We understand your sadness or confusion, but we hope that you also be able to celebrate with us as we follow God's leading for our family. Thank you.

I'd Rather Be Fed Than Led

If I’m going to be honest, sometimes being a leader of people isn’t much fun. There are days I would rather volunteer for dental experiments than lead people. Don’t get me wrong, there are tons of great things about being a leader, but the bad things seem to stay with you longer. I know you’re not reading this to hear me complain, and I’m not writing it to complain either, so I had better get to my point. Even though I’m a leader, I am also a follower. I am a follower of Jesus Christ! I also have spiritual leaders and systems that I follow. I have found that when I’m frustrated about something, I can usually find a similar problem in my personal life. So, when I’m having leadership issues, I try to look at where I’m being led. As I’ve been doing this lately, I’ve uncovered an uncomfortable truth about myself: I’d rather be fed than led. The good news is that God gives me some comfort in His Word by letting me know that I’m not the only one that has ever been this way. Check out Israel after leaving Egypt: 1The whole community of Israelites moved from Elim and came to the desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai. This was on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left Egypt. 2In the desert the whole community complained about Moses and Aaron. 3The Israelites said to them, “If only the LORD had let us die in Egypt! There we sat by our pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted! You brought us out into this desert to let us all starve to death!” Exodus 16:1-3 GWT Israel decided they had had enough of this following stuff. They were done being led, and now it was time to be fed! They didn’t want to go anywhere or do anything, they just wanted to be gratified. They wanted to be fattened. They wanted to be fed. As Christians, we all need to be fed. We all need to go to God’s Word for life, strength, and direction. We need to be fed. But, if we decide we only want to be fed, and not led, we get fat, lazy, and unable to follow like we should. I know it may not seem like it at times, but God is trying to take you somewhere. He is trying to transform you into His image every day. He is trying to accomplish eternal things through what you see as a simple life. He is trying to lead you. But He can’t take you anywhere is you’re not willing to go… I think what God has been telling me, and I’m passing on to you, is that we shouldn’t worry so much about being fed as we do about being led. If we’re following Him, He’ll take care of our feeding. Psalm 23 says He’ll lead us by green pastures, but we won’t get there if we’re not following. So, what are you waiting for?? Get up and follow Him!!! He’s trying to take you somewhere incredible! He’s trying to accomplish something eternal!! But He can’t get you there if you won’t leave the dinner table… So, let’s go! I’m right there with you! Jesus, you lead, and we’ll follow!!