Well Friends,
It is getting down to the wire at this point, and to be quite honest, it has been hard to trust that God will provide the support for YfC that I'm required to raise before I can go. I was also a bit discouraged when I heard that I wouldn't be able to make a presentation at my church services due to some army regulations… But, I know that God is faithful!
I've been reading through the Psalms lately and was in Psalm 78 a few days ago. It talks about how God was faithful to Israel through the generations, especially in the desperate time of captivity in Egypt and as they moved through the desert afterwards. They had to trust God day by day for the most basic life needs of food and water. Yet, here I am, worried that he won't provide the means for me to bike across the US and tell people about His work in the lives of military teens and to raise money for those teens.
Actually, as a side note, the regulations that are preventing me from presenting this trip to my church are also preventing the youth ministries here from obtaining church tithe money as well. So really God has timed this trip perfectly to provide for the needs of the youth ministry. (It's amazing how he does that!)
Anyways, since my last email a couple weeks ago, I have had a few very generous donations, and did have the opportunity to talk to a bunch of people after church today and hand out some flyers. The Protestant Men of the Chapel and Protestant Women of the Chapel organizations are going to be able to show the video that Geoff produced for me during their meetings over the next couple weeks and hand out more flyers as well. As I told the people whom I gave flyers to today, though, my vision was for people across the US to make $5 and $10 donations as they are able… I know I don't know that many people, but they say that there is only six degrees of separation between me and the rest of the world.
I also wanted to quickly report (this letter is getting long) that I have been out on my bike. I've got almost 600 miles biked in training, including last weekend where I did 80 miles on Saturday and Sunday. I had the opportunity to go out with a group on Sunday, and felt like I could have done 30 more miles with them!
Thank you all for your prayers and support!
Mike Scott
http://www.firstgiving.com/michaelscott
P.S. Psalm 78 also talks about telling the next generation about God's faithfulness in our lives. If you haven't been taking the time to share with the youth around you (especially your kids), how God has worked in your life and been faithful to you, I would really strongly encourage you to do that. It means a lot to us less 'wise' ones! And it reminds us that God is bigger than just right here and right now.
