why i'm going.

Something Nick said Sunday morning made me start thinking - why am I going to Africa?

If my main purpose in going is to help abandoned and orphaned children, that may be a noble goal, but if that's the only reason, I'll get weary and overwhelmed, because there will always be more kids to help.

If I'm seeking adventure, I'll be disappointed, because adventure and adrenaline highs are fleeting.

If I measure success by the number of people that meet Christ, then I've chosen an arbitrary statistic that may or may not be in line with what God has for me there.

Instead, my goal must be Christ, just more of Jesus.

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

Philippians 3:7-11