Tick, tick, tick, tick. That’s how are days are feeling, like the second hand on a clock just ticking by quickly! All 5 of us are excited and feeling ready to go to Burundi, and we’re counting down the days with excitement, anticipation and some sadness to say goodbye to familiar things. Overall, we know the sadness of goodbyes and goodbye to our familiar, comfortable life will be worth it as we get to serve in such a poor country.

Josh and I seem to have learned earlier than most to number our days, we have been to more funerals than most 70 year olds I would guess. Having close ties to addiction ministry has brought with it a ton of tears and a ton of pain, but God used it to teach us…these days He has given us are precious and not to be wasted.

When our close friend, Artie, passed away we reevaluated our lives tremendously. We made big moves to spend more time together and to be more intentional in the time we do have together. This seems so rare in America, I think Americans tend to think we have all the time in the world to get to something or I’ll do that next year or maybe next time I’ll do that, or all of us sudden we realize we just weren’t intentional in the time we were given. Josh and I have become well aware that next time may never come. When the Psalmist says, “Teach us to number our days so we can get a heart of wisdom” he is saying help us to value the time we’ve been given and not waste it. So, we can be wise with the time we have, help us be intentional.

Knowing we have 1 month in America left helps you value the time you have, but I wish everyone would live like they knew their lives were drastically changing in 1 month. Are we living our days like a hamster on a wheel, running frantically but not getting anywhere actually? So, I have a question for you if you knew your life was going to be drastically different 1 month from now how would you live this next month different? Would you get on Instagram more? Would you get as many TV shows in as you could? Would you work harder to put more into your bank account? I doubt it. You’d spend it with those you love, maybe even do your part to mend some broken relationships. I hope we’re being intentional to serve God and serve others (even the ones you don’t want to). I hope to look back in a month and know there were certainly many mistakes made, but that our time was used intentionally to serve God and love others well. I hope you will say the same!