as an I.T. member heading to PNG, I ran into another IT guy about 15 years my senior. Great guy.
right after dinner another new member found me and asked me to get her laptop on the network via wireless.
well I was rushed, so I got her (new to her) laptop online via cable in 2 minutes, but could not get her IEEE1394 wireless connection to work.
I could not figure it out... all I was thinking was "AH! I gotta get back to my apartment!" I had a ton of homework to do (part of this GREAT training camp is drinking from the informational firehose)
meanwhile the biography of the Wycliffe founder is ringing in my ears "..he never seemed in a rush."
so I'm trying not to seem in a rush, when the other IT guy came in and said "this laptop doesn't have a wireless"
I pointed at the ieee1394 interface and he said "isn't 1394 firewire?"
I FELT SO STUPID.
GOD was humbling me there.
Great first impression I thought.
So I accepted my lesson and humbly said, "you're right, good catch, two brains are better than one."
this guy, he's applying to PNG, we'll most likely be co-workers.
rushing, forever created a first technical impression on a co-worker of "oops"... but he didn't take it that way because he's a humble guy.
Lesson learned... PATIENCE and PRIORITIES.
it was a mistake I could have never made if I spent even a single minute focussing on the issue at hand.
Today we learned so much, and met so many incredible servants of God.
But that lesson will stick with me for a while because it isn't like me to make stupid small mistakes. (even if I could partially blame windows for making a firewire connection a network interface).
This parallels something we learned in class today.
We need to remember NOT to view our assignment as our ministry and hurry on our way there.
What we're doing now, meeting people, sharing our passion for God and His call, talking to folks, praying with folks, THAT is our current ministry. We do not want to view this ministry of partnership discovery as a means to an end, but rather a ministry all in itself that will never end.
We strongly desire to have a widespread group of people praying for us. We do not want to "give up" like the statistics say, and while we are passionate this will not happen, we are not so naive as to believe we can accomplish anything alone.
We need you, and we all need God.
