And When Do we Recharge?

There are times when you have nothing more physically to give. And then there are times when you are just plan grouchy and you have to work at being civil.  The weeks and months leading up to the trip really supercharged me to have a lot of endurance for the long flight from SFO to Manila, through to Cagayan and the long day leading to our first evening in Iligan City. We hammered for four straight days from Thursday (Campus Ministry, Basketball Evening), Friday (Campus Ministry, Basketball preaching), Saturday (Marriage Seminar, Youth Rally) and Sunday (Preaching in CDO, Youth Rally and Basketball Game). We were burnt but so glad to serve!

On Monday we took the day off and enjoyed Cristiana Falls and a major swimming hole (65 feet deep) with wonderful water falls gracing the landscape. But we didn’t fully recharge. The next day we were back in the saddle traveling to Oroquieta with an evening of ministry in Ozamiz. The next couple days were just as busy and fruitful from a ministry standpoint, but I was wearing down. I didn’t have the rest I really needed. My times of quiet were hard to find. We were getting to bed later and later caring for needs. I was beat.

I had a bad day. It was the day we traveled from Oroquieta to Dipolog. I was woken up an hour earlier than planned after getting to bed after midnight. It’s a story I’m hoping to forget because I was really wanting that last hour of sleep. I was awaken at 4ish. I grumbled at the perpetrators but moved on. Then that morning I had to do the hotel sweep to make sure nothing was left behind. I found something I had to report in to one of the leaders. At that point I was concerned that I was now viewed - not so much as a snitch but as one who caused a problem for three of our team. The reality was that nothing happened. My fatigue led to my paranoia. Crazy. But that wasn’t enough. When we arrived in Dipolog, we had to travel to the Dakak resort. It was a nice place but the road there was under major construction. Under normal circumstances it was border line unsafe. And we had a hard time imagining what it would be like to travel that road at night with rain. And that’s what happened the first night. But we made it.  

That first afternoon at lunch, after we drove to the resort, dropped off our luggage and then drove the hour back to Dipolog. Of course, the coordinator had a full schedule planned for us (campus ministry, motorcade, visit the governor and mayor). At lunch we grouped the leaders and discussed what to do with the location of the resort and the road condition. We all discussed and prayed about our options. We wanted to return before dark and pressed for canceling the motorcade. We also wanted to move into town rather than stay at the resort if we could swing it. Where was our faith?  

As we drove back to the resort in the dark, it rained, on a very iffy road. But we made it!  God got us there (using our very brave drivers! I had a bad day but God came through.

We ended up staying at the resort as we had committed to the price. We couldn’t afford to leave. For those three days, we managed to endure the long commute to our ministry locations. We had a great resort to stay at after a long day of ministry. And we hung out on the sand for “church” on our final Sunday in the philippines. We had a very meaningful gathering time before breakfast!  We rested that day!  We started to refresh!