First up, Nepal. At first glance, Nepal is a hopeless place. The caste system that is in place there determines people's worth to society, the people are poor uneducated and what most people in the west would call backwards. It's a Hindu nation, which means that the entire country is pretty much chaos. There are temples on every street corner, cows running in the streets and little to no infrastructure, even in the main city of Kathmandu.

But there is hope. Nepal is one of those places that is hard to be in, but a place that you can really see God move. In almost every mountain village we went to, our contact Robby would tell us about house churches that people from YWAM Maui had helped to start and people that we had shared to Gospel with that had become believers: 30 Christians in this village, 5 in the next, a house church here, a small group there. It is truly amazing to see the long-term impact that our small YWAM base has in these mountains.

These are people who are often forgotten by the world, but God does not forget about His people. The beauty of God's creation is constantly testifying to His majesty in these far off trekking villages, and lives are being changed. The bottom line is, the Lord is faithful in all things, in all places He remains the same. God is moving in Nepal, and I am so glad that I got to be a part of it!

Next up, transitioning. YWAM is inherently a transient organization, which is good and frustrating/sad. Friends come, stay for a few months or years, then move on to something new. I've been experiencing a lot of this recently. In the past months, a lot of my good friends have left Maui. I also am thinking about transitioning when my staff commitment is up this summer, which is both exciting and scary.

In the past three months, the Lord has been so faithful to me in tangible ways. It seems like every time I wake up God shows Himself faithful in both large and small ways. It's fun to see things line into place, getting a fresh vision for where I belong, what type of ministry I should be involved in, and when and where I should go. But...

Change can scare the heck out of me. As excited as I am about the new things God has laid on my heart, I can't help but wonder, "What if it all goes bad? What if I've heard the Lord wrong, what if these plans don't work out, what if I take a leap of faith and fall flat on my face?" As much as I have seen God's faithfulness, and as much as I want to jump into God's vision full force, there are times when we all return to the human default of doubting that God wants what's best for us.

All of these feelings converged on me as I was in worship this morning. One of my best friends on the island and roommate/travel buddy, Ben, moved to Asia this morning, which further intensified the feeling of "My life is changing in crazy ways and I'm not sure if I like it!". I found myself doubting that God has a plan for my life, then quickly realizing how ridiculous that idea is in light of His faithfulness to me throughout my life, then being frustrated and even angry at myself for my lack of faith. I like to think that I'm a pretty even tempered guy, so this was like emotion overload, especially when I was hopped up on coffee at eight in the morning.

As the frustration festered in my mind, I began to pray:

"God, I know you are faithful, you have proved that to me time and time again. Help me to trust that you have amazing things in store for my life, that you have a plan and it is good. Give me the faith that will let me remain steady through what seems like a crazy time. I know you are good, but prove it to me once again". And as I was praying, a hymn came to mind:

I love hymns, and the second and third verses of this song were exactly what I needed. When everything in life seems uncertain, we can rest in God's unchanging grace, when things are crazy, He is our hope. I won't say that I gained a superhuman amount of faith in that moment, or that I'm not still a little uncertain about what the future holds. But I can say that I know without a doubt that God is in control and even when I feel overwhelmed, His faithfulness is steadfast. I will anchor myself to Him, and it will be good.