Packed and ready to go to Africa!

Well, the suitcase is zipped up, and I'm sportin' a new even shorter hair cut, Can't imagine what else I need to do....except maybe go pack my Krispy Kreme frequent diner's card.

I'm Psyched, pumped, and ready for the adventure ahead. With your help, I'm also prayed-up!

I just heard today that I will also be preaching on Sunday in Ghana. That means about 5 or 6 speaking engagements on this trip. What a privilege! Please pray that the Lord gives me the right words at the right time, and that His Word does exactly what He intends for it to do.

I met with a wonderful Christian Ghanaian man today named, Michael. I was put in touch with him through one of the folks on my support team. Michael immigrated from Ghana along with his wife 3 years ago. He is still trying to iron out the paperwork issues in having his children come to the USA as well. He shared some spiritual insights from his homeland, and I believe that God will use them to help me reach the lost in Ghana, and encourage the believers. He said that some of the Christians there also worship other gods. Most of the villages have "fetish priests" where villagers can go offer a goat or some kind of "offering" in exchange for prayers and incantations to help meet their needs. Michael told me that even some Christians do this because sometimes they pray to God (the Lord Jesus Christ), and yet still have very little food, or no job, or whatever, so then they go to the fetish priest for help. It seems that they have trusted in Christ, but not fully. It remains to be seen whether those people are truly believers in Christ or not, but it struck me how similar this was to the American church.

We say we believe, and we give lip service to faith, but how many of us sometimes end up placing more trust in other "gods". Our gods may not be fetish-priests, but they are "other gods" nonetheless. They are things like money, influence, career, drugs, alcohol, relationships, or anything else that we end up running to instead of Jesus.

Maybe my experience as a Christian in 21st century America will have some carry-over to the culture of Ghana after all. Well, except for the lack of Krispy Kremes....I guess I'll leave that frequent diner's card at home after all.