Mission trips started off pretty crazy for me. They still seem crazy. Pack up my kids and drive them across the border to Mexico. Sign up to go to Liberia–a war torn country. That got delayed so I got on a trip to Ukraine that’s an active war zone where you aren’t even allowed to fly into the country. Trying to figure out fundraising. I broke my finger and spent thousands on medical bills before I even went anywhere. What am I doing? Why am I doing it?

Oh yeah, the other crazy thing going on at the same time–I feel like I should build a sail boat. I don’t know how to sail and I don’t know how to build a boat, but how hard can the instructions be? What does sailing have to do with mission trips? It seems like the opposite: building something for myself versus trying to help others.

It’s not about the work. It’s about the relationships. It’s about improving who I am as a person. It’s about building relationships with my kids. It’s about building relationships with other. It’s about building a relationship with God. Most important it’s about listening to what God is telling me to do, even when it sounds crazy, even when it is crazy. I had just had my second surgery for my finger. I found out that Liberia got delayed so I decided to ask about the Ukraine trip. They said they were looking for 1 or 2 more people. I knew my wife would be hesitant so I prayed. I didn’t get a clear answer. I got a vision. I was standing on the shore of a river and a boat was gently going down. The person on board said ‘Come with Me’. It was God inviting me into a relationship with Him. The first step is to listen and obey.

Sailing is a metaphor for life; for prayer; for growth. Building the boat is my comfort zone. It’s where I’m in control. I can follow the instructions. I can fashion something with my hands. I can build something seaworthy. Rowing is the struggle, the hard work, doing things on my own; my own way. When I’m rowing I can get directly where I want if I put in enough work. Then there’s drifting. Drifting is where you learn to pray. It’s pretty obvious when you’re tired and drifting the wrong way towards the rocks. It’s pretty easy to pray for a breeze to push me back on track. It’s harder when I’m drifting in the middle of the lake. There is no clear path, there is no clear purpose. But there is a clear purpose; to talk to God and listen to His purpose for me. It’s still easy to pray for wind, but He forces me to be patient and wait for His timing. Sailing is amazing when the wind is blowing. I can go where I want without rowing. It’s not always the most direct path, but it’s smooth sailing when the wind is on my side. In this moment God reminds me to be thankful. Then there’s the storm with gusty winds. It only takes a small amount of gusts and choppy water to make my light boat rock. In this moment God is telling me to be patient and hold on. He’s teaching me how to sail. He’s teaching me how to pray. He’s teaching me how to live my life.

I also wanted more guidelines for prayer other than just repeating others’ prayers. The Psalms are were I started to see a variety of prayers. I also got a pretty good structure from Timothy Keller.

Focus on 3 types of Prayer: Praise is admiring God and His creation that is all around me, Grace is seeing God for who He is and being thankful for His blessings and mercy in my life, Petitions are my requests to God in the midst of struggle. Just like sailing, praying in the struggle is difficult, but at least He listens to our whole range of emotions from self-pity, anger, and selfish requests to just crying out ‘why’. He’s teaching me to accept His plan, to be patient because joy will come, to trust in His plan because He has always been in control of the whole world. The words are my words stemming from my emotions. That is what God wants to hear from me.