Surprised by Grace

Should any of us be surprised by grace? If we base our answer on what we see in the world today, probably so. However if we based it on the grace of God that He has shown to all of us, then probably not.

Today Lindsey and I experienced grace. We finished an exhausting day of two speaking engagements at Dallas Theological Seminary, multiple meetings, Lindsey's last day of work at DTS, running to buy a new battery charger for our camera, and picking up a salad at McDonalds (yum) with a surprise that we found at our home.

Some of our friends left a note on our door. We walked into our home, opened the card, and in it we found a message that some of our friends in seminary called and donated $400 towards our ministry in Spain. WOW!



At this point our need for our trip to Spain is down just below $600 due to another gift today as well. We appreciate all of your prayers not only for us but for our team.

Samuel and Luis are on a plane right now as I type this on their way from Mexico City to London en route to Madrid. Pray for them. Pray for us as well as Lindsey's mother picks us up to go to the airport at 7am.

As we sit here tonight in our home though, it is safe to say that we were surprisingly encouraged by God's grace today. We invite you to await and anticipate his grace tomorrow as well.

You can go to www.caminternational.org/give to donate to CAM's work that we are serving with in Spain during the 2 week trip coming up (or call 1800-366-2264 to contribute by phone). Remember to include our name and account number 060288.

New CAM Mexico Internship Video

Below is the new CAM Mexico internship video for this summer. The animators of this clip are two very talented artists that will be going on our trip to Spain with us these next couple weeks. The voice over is of Rod Fry, who is the coordinator of the Mexico Internship along with his wife Mayra. We are excited to have an innovative way to share what goes on through the internship program in Mexico each summer. Kudos to Rod, Samuel, and Luis for a job well done!

Did you know? (lessons learned in travel planning)

Today I learned something that may seem like common sense to some and something very surprising to others. While planning a trip for a team going to Spain that Lindsey and I are facilitating in March, we of course purchased the plane tickets for our team composed of Americans and Mexicans. However we ran into a snag. When a Mexican citizen flies to Spain and has an hour long layover in an American airport, they must have previously gotten a transit visa or else the airline will not let them on the plane. We should have thought of this but for some reason it came as a surprise.

Lesson learned: be careful to always investigate the visa requirements even for quick connections in not only any US airport but also in any other airport especially when you are making plans for someone who is not an American citizen.

As I think through all this, I find myself wondering how beneficial this is for the US economy to not be able to somehow allow foreigners to sit in a secure area of the airport while awaiting connections. The reason the US government requires the visas is that the foreign national could theoretically (and some probably have) leave the airport and enter the US even while holding a plane ticket. This would pose a security threat. However I'm sure in many cases like the one I just experienced, it would benefit the US economy to find a way to make this type of situation work without visas being required. After all, today $2500 worth of flights was taken out of the American economy and put into the British economy because the UK will allow a Mexican to get a transit visa on the spot to enter the country after a flight with British Airways.

If you find this confusing, you are not alone. We sure do live in a confusing world.