So what does Wormwood have to do with the Russia Trip???

We've been back a week now, and I'm still having a hard time answering the question, "So, how was the Russia trip?" There really isn't a way to summarize this experience. The impact that this trip has had on me just can't be summed up in a sentence or two.

The only way to do justice to this journey that the Lord has taken me on is to tell the whole story - start at the beginning and work it through to the present.  I can't really say "work it through to the end" because I don't know if there will be an end to the impact this trip will have on me!

The name of this new blog represents what I consider to be the true beginning of this journey for me. It is an example of how crazy God's blueprint can be.

A few years ago at small group (Bible study), a guy who was relatively new to Emily (my lovely wife) and I, made a comment after one of our prayer times.  I think his comment went something like this, "Dude, have you read The Screwtape Letters? If not, you totally need to...you'd totally get it."  I, of course, had not read it, as I'm not much of a reader.  I nodded and said something polite like, "Yea, I will...cool, thanks."

A few weeks went by, and as I was driving in to work one day, his comment came to mind, so I Googled it later that day. It sounded like an interesting book. The problem is, as I mentioned earlier,  that I'm not much of a reader.  However, audiobooks I can do! So I downloaded it.  That book rocked me. It totally changed the way I look at life. I can't tell you how grateful I am to my good friend Jayson Steinkopf for pointing me to Screwtape.  He was right. It was totally my kind of book and I totally got it.

So, for those of you that have read the Screwtape Letters, you'll certainly recognize the name Wormwood.  Wormwood was a junior tempter, being mentored by Demon Tempter Screwtape, his uncle.  Wormwood and the other Tempters are assigned patients whom they are supposed to tempt and drive to damnation.  They use subtle tactics, events, and occurrences that on their own may go unnoticed, but string them together and you have spiritual disaster.

For me, this lead to the realization that all the little frustrations, roadblocks, and annoyances in life are just Wormwood at work...nothing more.  Thankfully, the Holy Spirit is far stronger than Wormwood and as long as we are walking with Him... Wormwood will go down!


So that's the set-up for this blog. The posts and stories will be about those times and seasons where I've seen Wormwood at work. The Russia Missions Trip was chock full of Wormwood moments.  But, rest assured, the focus of these stories is not really Wormwood.  It's the power of the Holy Spirit.

Needless to say, this trip far exceeded my hopes and expectations in every possible way.  Thank you so much to everyone that supported me in prayer, with advice, and financially - your support was an indescribable blessing.

And to the Russia team, those that were onsite and those that weren't, thank you!  Each one of you played a huge part in this story for me.

Some of the stories and lessons learned in Russia are funny, some are tear jerkers, some are inspiring and some are just down right unbelievable - Stay tuned!

As a little teaser, one of the stories starts like this, "So... a 6'7" Ghanian basketball player, 9 Minnesota men, 2 American missionaries, and 2 Russian Pastors walk into a Banya..."

-If you haven't read or listened to The Screwtape Letters I highly recommend it!