Groggy eyed and emotionally conflicted, I landed in New Jersey on Friday morning, after debriefing in California for the past few days. There is so much to write just about the first few days back in the states. I'd be hard-pressed to shortly summarize debriefing, let alone the happenings of the last few months. Where do I even start?


If I get no other point across, then all I want to say is praise God. He works in such amazing and wonderful ways, though we might not always think so at the time.

Praise the LORD,
Sing to the LORD a new song,
Enter His courts with dancing

Praise Him for his faithfulness--
for the abundance of his provision,
for the shelter he provides,
and the rest found under his wing

Praise Him for His love--
to cover a multitude of sins,
to bind together what was broken,
and to draw the lost back to him

Praise Him for his mercy--
renewed each morning,
along with patience,
to rescue those living in darkness

Praise Him for his grace--
that a thousand oceans could not contain
that has predestined those to inherit His kingdom
that uses the least to bring glory to His name

Praise Him in the morning, with each new day
In the evening, sing of his greatness
With joy and gladness, praise his name
With a pure and undivided heart,
worship the LORD always 

The primary purpose of debriefing was to prepare us for re-entry to the "real world" and to help prepare us to share our stories of what God did in and through our lives this summer. For our team at least, debriefing also helped to provide some closure.

There had been this tension looming in the air for the last week or two. Until Wednesday night, no one was really willing to confront it. We finally did out of necessity, and it was like a burden was lifted. But that wasn't even the best part. The following evening, we did the exact opposite. Instead of pointing out one another's faults, we spent a few hours affirming one another. Our field director once asked me why God had to put me on a team with so much conflict. At the time, I didn't really know. I wondered the same. But on Thursday night, I finally began to understand. Good friends can always find nice things to say to one another, but brothers and sisters in Christ share an intimacy that frees them to rebuke one another in love. Our conflicts were definitely frustrating at the time, but in Brian's words "I'd do it again in a heartbeat."

I will try to write a little something on the trip within the next week or so. Until then, "trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart." [Psalm 37:3-4]