(excerpt from the travel journal) Day 3: Dec 23rd 2008 The last 12 hours have been the craziest 12 hours of our lives. I think we all are frayed to the point of exhaustion. And yet and yet. There is a ray of hope.The past twelve hours I think each one of us has felt more or less like this trip was a failure.The past twelve hours I am pretty sure we have each doubted the strength of God’s commitment to us… (as though He might owe us anything.)The past twelve hours we have looked for the miraculous as much as possible and every door has slammed on us… It seemed. “O ye of little faith.” Perhaps to me if God gave us an outright no I could in my mind count this trip, not as a failure in God’s big picture, but as a lesson, or God’s testing us out of a greater love. Nothing felt like a greater disappointment than to see our trip and plans cut so short at the gate of exit. At this point each time we found tickets (that didn’t require an India visa, as we had exhausted our options there) we had the flight book up, or the price too high, or we would have to travel separately, or they were too late. Honestly we were ready to admit defeat. We discussed the implications of this many times, and spent hours in fervent Prayer late into the night. I am certain we were being fervently prayed for as well. While it is hard to think of another trip more fraught with difficulty in these days, we recognized that many servants of God have had far worse traveling difficulties. Specifically Paul was shipwrecked, and imprisoned, and yet he still persisted, and trusted God.So we decided not to give up. We will wait and see what God does… Day 4: Dec 24th 2008 Since we are a day behind we are going to catch you up on Christmas morning with the miracle of Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas to all our beloved friends and family! Shepherd Ahlers/filmmaker, tired writer

(excerpt from the travel journal)

Day 3: Dec 23rd 2008

The last 12 hours have been the craziest 12 hours of our lives. I think we all are frayed to the point of exhaustion. And yet and yet. There is a ray of hope.
The past twelve hours I think each one of us has felt more or less like this trip was a failure.
The past twelve hours I am pretty sure we have each doubted the strength of God’s commitment to us… (as though He might owe us anything.)
The past twelve hours we have looked for the miraculous as much as possible and every door has slammed on us… It seemed.

“O ye of little faith.”

Perhaps to me if God gave us an outright no I could in my mind count this trip, not as a failure in God’s big picture, but as a lesson, or God’s testing us out of a greater love. Nothing felt like a greater disappointment than to see our trip and plans cut so short at the gate of exit.

At this point each time we found tickets (that didn’t require an India visa, as we had exhausted our options there) we had the flight book up, or the price too high, or we would have to travel separately, or they were too late. Honestly we were ready to admit defeat. We discussed the implications of this many times, and spent hours in fervent Prayer late into the night. I am certain we were being fervently prayed for as well. While it is hard to think of another trip more fraught with difficulty in these days, we recognized that many servants of God have had far worse traveling difficulties. Specifically Paul was shipwrecked, and imprisoned, and yet he still persisted, and trusted God.
So we decided not to give up. We will wait and see what God does…

Day 4: Dec 24th 2008

Since we are a day behind we are going to catch you up on Christmas morning with the miracle of Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas to all our beloved friends and family!

Shepherd Ahlers/filmmaker, tired writer

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