Ireland Bound - Early August Departure

Have you ever felt the exhilaration of watching your team rise to victory in the final seconds of the game? (Italians can readily relate with this in light of their football heroes beating the German team last week.) Yesterday, this is how Kristy and I felt when God brought us some new financial partners who committed enough monthly support to bring us to 90% – the magic number required for us to prepare to move to Ireland! Shortly after getting the news of that new partnership, God brought us yet another unexpected source of financial support through an old friend from my former days in youth ministry who just happened to Google my name to find out what I was up to these days!

As the week was coming to a close, Kristy and I were graciously trying to accept the fact that we would probably not make it to Ireland in time to be with our friends and colleagues at the GEM Annual Conference in Hungary. Our hope was that we could kick off our new life and ministry in Ireland with those friends, many of whom were instrumental in introducing us to each other in the first place and had not yet seen us as “The Wellcomes.” In the back of my mind, I had decided that if we weren’t financially where we needed to be by this weekend, we would have to give up on the conference and hope for the end of August or early September. Our prayers together throughout the week reflected that delicate balance of, “Please Lord . . . but your will, not ours, be done.”

I know now that He was teaching us trust and patience. And due to the last second timing of it all, I think He wanted to dramatically remind us of His goodness. After all, being able to attend the conference is just a bonus and not necessarily essential to what He’s called us to in Ireland.
At the moment, we have a travel agent looking for airfare for the 8th or 9th of August. On Monday, we’ll give the moving company a ring and begin working out all of those details. And over the course of the next 4 weeks, we’ll be praying and seeking out the final $700/mo. that we’ll need to bring us to full financial support. Please join us in that intercession!