"A wide door for effective service has opened to me, and there are many adversaries." - 1 Corinthians 16:9

I first read this statement three days ago, and in the last twenty-four hours, I have come to experience it.  During the past week, I spent time in Nashville, Tennesee, with 100 youth and youth leaders, loving on the people of the city and trying to win them to Christ.  Many of us met new friends-friends who live on the street and don't know where their next meal will come from, but some of whom love the Lord deeply in spite of their circumstances.

I met a man named Mark on Monday night at our outreach with People Loving Nashville.  Mark has lived on the streets for more than ten years and tends to travel from place to place.  Recently, another man beat him up, broke his jaw and fractured four of his teeth, but, unfortunately, Mark has no access to medical care for these injuries.

As I sat with Mark and talked, he told me story after story of his journeys and how difficult his life seems right now.  He feels very alone, even his girlfriend cannot be counted on for companionship.  Mark knows the Lord, but he does not understand what it means to let God totally control his life and to trust Him for each day's needs.  Mark values salvation, but does not understand the depth of the love of God or the intimacy of relationship that God offers.  As we chatted, my heart hurt for Mark, and I began to pray that the Lord would do a new work in his heart-one that would make him hungry for more of the Lord.  Won't you join me in praying to that end?

Meetings like these characterized our time in Nashville.  We saw a lot of open doors and the beginnings of a good harvest.  By the end of the week, I felt encouraged by the number of ways the Lord had used our group and by the various ways I had seen our group members grow in their own relationships with the Lord.  For me, the Lord opened a wide door for effective service in Nashville.

Today, I woke up in Oakland, California.  Here too, doors are opening.  I spent the morning with Dave, one of the staff leaders from the Bay Area Rescue Mission, our ministry partner for the week.  We talked at length about my group (27 people from Oregon) and how we will serve this week, and I am excited about what God will do.

However, before I tell you about what I did here today, let me back up and explain the twenty four hour travel period I endured between Nashville and Oakland...  Those hours are the ones that helped me resonate with Paul's statement, "There are many adversaries."

I departed Atlanta on a United flight around 6:30pm on Friday.  Having slept an average of 4.5 hours per night during my time in Nashville, I was excited for a time of rest, and I hoped to sleep on the plane.  Unfortunately, my seat turned out to be situated between two twelve year old boys (twins) that did everything possible to provoke me and keep me awake as we travelled and a two year girl who got scared when we hit turbulent weather and began screaming at the top of her lungs.  No rest to be had!

When we arrived in Denver for a layover, I discovered that United's computers had crashed, worldwide.