The Riley's are takin' off

Hello journey partners.

We'll be heading to the airport in a couple of hours and I wanted to start an email string that I can hopefully keep up with while we are over in Kenya.

The following is a post I sent out on Facebook and sums up some brief thoughts on the trip.

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"In our last team meeting we discussed a section of the John Piper book, "Let the Nations Be Glad" in which there is a central idea. "Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is." Growing up in a church environment this was both old-hat and a profound new idea for me. If I can sum up what it is for me, it is to say that if the church were doing what it was made to do, to worship and bring glory to God, and doing it with the intensity that it naturally should, then missions would be a natural by-product of that. If we, as a church, gave the Glory to God that he deserves in all that we do, the mission field would be our daily lives and our sphere of influence.

I am anxious for the next few days and what God has in store. I do not know what to expect in a 3rd world country. I don't know if I'm going to be able to relate to folks that live on less than $1/day. I don't know how He is going to use this white man in a foreign land. And at the same time, I am at peace because I know that even if the only life God touches in Africa because of me - is me - that His purpose for this trip will be fulfilled.

Thank you all who have given both your resources and prayers to our journey to Africa. Please continue to pray for safe travel, health, and that God's plan work itself out beautifully."

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It is not too late to give to our trip as we will be needing funding until we get back. We have still not met our fundraising goal. If you would like to do so, head on over to WorldOrphans.com where you can still make a financial contribution.

Our team leader has a blog that he hopes to keep updated at Fallen-Scales.com and I will try to update my blog, StaceRiley.com as well.

Hopefully more to come.

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Stace Riley