Packing...

By now most people in Brown County (the county we reside) are aware that the Gilliland family is moving to a foreign land. It's amazing how much unwanted attention a "for sale" sign in your front lawn will attract. But I guess it's fair when you live in such a small community. People seem to just know too. Just today, a lady whom for the life of me, never can I remember remotely ever meeting, asked me if I was excited about our great adventure? And to her response, I gladly smiled and said yes. So we're in that stage of transition. If you've ever moved before and lived in a small town, you know what I mean and feel. Friends and family seem to be satisfied now, it's like they've had time to process, and figure it's probably to late to talk anyone out of it. Yep, on this side of the mic, that's how it feels. And for me, this is par for the course. Most of you reading this probably never realized I was a professional mover...really I am. Since I was born until my senior year in college, I moved 7 times. And after that it only got worse. Since Wendy made our vowels, we have moved a total of 8 times, 15 moves in all!  And honestly, I think I might have left one or two out. I'm not sure, but I've often wondered if I was part gypsy.

Let me give you all a run down of our personal deadlines that we face. First deadline is August 3rd, when our 20x8x8 shipping container arrives at our doorstep. We will have just 3 hours to load it!  I'm sure Wendy and I will be completely relaxed on that day. As you can imagine, all that we own, or want to take to Uganda needs to fit in this space. Furniture, beds, tables, chairs, toys, clothing and all the Friday Night Church music gear and instruments will need to go. This is our one chance to take the big stuff, so taking advantage of this and getting our money's worth is critical. The cost of shipping a container from Mt Sterling, IL, USA to Kampala, Uganda, Africa is about $9000 when you include all the taxes and custom charges. I don't care who you are, that's a chunk of change, and so we are planning and packing well. Second deadline, October 15th, when all of us board a plane at terminal 5, at O'hare International to cross the pond to London, and after an 11 hour layover, we board one more 8 hour plane ride to Entebbe, Uganda, Africa. The time difference, 8 hours ahead.

So what are we doing now? Packing our home and stuffing envelopes filled with our support letters. I'm sure some of you reading will receive one. We are sending them Monday morning. As I mentioned above, our home awaits a buyer. It seems that both of our vehicles have been spoken for so praise the Lord for that! This money will help us to purchase transport in Kampala. If only our home would go as smooth. Wendy and I pray daily for this and would gladly appreciate you partnering with us in this matter. Honestly, it's good to have plenty of time between now and October 15th. Nothing is feeling rushed, and we are having ample time to think and process our moving strategy. We don't feel ahead or behind schedule. This I believe is an answer to our prayers and from the many that are praying for us daily. It's also giving us proper time to say our goodbyes. For this I am truly thankful.

I want to make one plea for Friday Night Church before our first deadline which is coming up fast.  We really need to fill our container with more musical gear and instruments.  If you would, for those that care to, please go to our "MONTHLY NEEDS" page and see if there isn't something you could do to help us out here.  Again, I need to have anything donated be at my doorstep no later than Friday, August 3rd in the a.m. so we can load it in the container for shipment.  But if you would prefer to make a donation via check or a one time online donation, please visit our blog page entitled "SUPPORT" for all the info you will need.

Thank you Thank you Thank you for all your prayers and support thus far.  Blessings.

In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day

Mark Batterson recently published a book entitled The Circle Maker.  Good book and would strongly recommend this read for anyone deciding to do something crazy, ministry crazy that is.  I usually shy away from reading the same author back to back, but in this case, I'm real glad God led me away from my usual habits.

As most of you are probably aware, Wendy and I and the girls are moving to Kampala, Uganda to begin an evangelistic ministry called Friday Night Church.  We leave October 15th of this year, and we are scared.  We are so scared, we are scared of being scared. But God has clearly marked this time for us to go, and we are willing, so we must act.  I don't have time to share with you the severity of our scaredness, but in short, we are fearful of everything from our girls getting malaria, to just being plain lonely and everything in between.  All of these fears will probably rear their ugly heads in one fashion or another in the time God has us in Africa.

In the book, "In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day" Batterson introduced me to a man in the bible named Benaiah.  Seriously, I thought I knew about all the heros in scripture, but this guy was never taught to me in Sunday school or Bible College.  In my professors’ defense, I did take advantage of all my "skip" days.  In second Samuel chapter 23 we are introduced to a man named Benaiah.   

"Benaiah son of Jehoiada, a valiant fighter from Kabzeel, performed great exploits. He struck down Moab’s two mightiest warriors. He also went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion. 21 And he struck down a huge Egyptian. Although the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, Benaiah went against him with a club. He snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear. 22 Such were the exploits of Benaiah son of Jehoiada; he too was as famous as the three mighty warriors. 23 He was held in greater honor than any of the Thirty, but he was not included among the Three. And David put him in charge of his bodyguard. " 

After reading this, the first thought that came to my head was when Brad Pitt slayed the giant in the introductory scene of the movie "Troy".  Killing a giant is one thing, and a feat that most of us will never be able to understand, but killing a lion in a pit on a snowy day, that's on a whole different level.  I would like to go so far to say, it's not even in the same ballpark.  Can we all agree that Benaiah's brain seemed to be missing a key God given element, fear?  This guy was fearless!  Even King David never killed a lion in a pit on a snowy day...at least his lion was in broad daylight and his feet were on secure ground.  Yeah, I'm quite sure that King David read his resume and the pit and snow details caught his attention.  

Here's the point Batterson is trying to get across and something that God is beginning to instill in me:  Benaiah was a lion chaser, he loved guaranteed uncertainty.  Did Benaiah ever have doubts, did he ever have fears...yes I'm sure he did.  But did he allow his fears to take his eyes off his Lion, never.  

Most of us out there are not Lion chasers, and by the looks of most men's faces, we stopped chasing our lions a long time ago.  Maybe it was when someone told us we couldn't do it.  Maybe it was when someone disappointed us.  Maybe it was when a loved one died.  Maybe it was when life hit us hard, and everyone around thought we should take the 9-5 job that seemed at the time "the right thing to do", the safe way out.  I don't know, but what I do know for sure, is that most of us have given in to our fears.  And we hate it...we just hate it.  Only one thing holds us back, FEAR.  That's it, nothing else.  The fear of the unknown, of risky possibilities, of failure, and of embarrassment.  

I need to be transparent here...I am fearful of all the above, truly I am.  But one thing I fear more than any of these, is the fear of regret.  One day when I stand before Jesus and He asks me, "Todd, what did you do for Me?"  My one desire is to answer with complete confidence that I took every risk and conquered every fear and that I chased my lion with reckless abandon for the sake of the one thing I love more than anything else, the Gospel.

So we are going to Uganda, going with complete confidence that God will have His way.  I know, I must be a little crazy to take my most precious possessions half way around the world to a foreign land, but so was the Father, when He gave up his one and only Son for you and me.  Am I calling God crazy...yeah He's crazy in love with you and me