Is It Time To Panic?

                                                         Is it Time to Panic?

Suddenly our month long journey to Thailand is upon us, and in less then one week we will be winging our way across the Pacific, stopping for a night in Beijing before heading into Chiang Mai where it looks like we'll hit the ground running.
And  there is still so much too do; collect items to take to the children's home, the school, Tessa, and the Foxes (at the orphanage), make sure bills are paid, inform the post office, wash clothes, borrow a suit case or two, make sure we have certain essentials, finalize arrangements to get to SFO, prepare for our work in Thailand, and the list goes on.
Throw in the fact that we are trying to do this the week before Christmas, probably the busiest week of the year, and a whole other list of things to do assaults us; get out Christmas letters, wrap presents, make sure everything is in place for the family Christmas party, make obligatory appearances at holiday gatherings,etc...
Now add in that we will lose Friday, Saturday and Sunday in getting our affairs in order as we travel to and from So.Cal for that family party.  And a bit of panic starts to creep in.
                                                                             
                                                                   
                                           

What do we do? We push the panic button and coming to the rescue is Psalms 46:10.  "Be still and know that I am God."  Not we are God, but He is. It's not about us, and we need to remember who is control. So we need to release that control to Him.  That means we have to step back from all the busyness to carve out some time to get counsel from Him. Be still, slow down, and let go of our agenda.  That verse goes on to say "I (God) will be exalted among the nations."  Not Teresa, not Jim, but God.  This is His trip, not ours, which means we can take comfort in the knowledge that He is calling the shots. We can let Him be God.
Now we can calmly go through our checklists, taking care of what we've been called to do as we look forward to fulfilling the job our Lord has assigned us.  He even has some perks for us taking on this assignment like reconnecting with Tessa, hanging out with kids, and experiencing a new culture.