Our mission trip to eastern Kentucky is just hours away!  We will be leaving some time before the crack of dawn to begin our long trek up I-75 to the mountains.  We are traveling in a diocesan bus.  (I haven’t seen it yet but am told that it is colorful.)  In the midst of my pre-departure jitters, I’ve had a little poem on my mind that I saved years ago.  It’s by Michael Chitwood and I believe I ran across it in Poetry magazine:

ON BEING ASKED TO PRAY FOR A VAN

My evangelical brethren have let me know,
via the quarterly fundraising letter,
that they can’t get the gospel around
because their van has given up the ghost.
God in the machine, help them.
I lift up their carburetor and their transaxle.
Bless them with meshed gears and a greased cam shaft.
Free their lifters.
Deliver their differential
and anoint their valves and their pistons.
Unblock their engine block
and give them deep treaded tires.
Their brakes cry out to You.  Hear them, O Lord.
Drive out the demons from their steering column
and come in to the transmission
that they may know the peace of passing.
Minister even unto the turn indicator.
Creator Spirit, Holy Maker of the Universe,
give them gas.

All joking aside, please keep us in your prayers, as well as all the other folks who are heading out this summer for the great privilege of mission team work.

Thanks for reading.  Will let you know how the journey goes….