Deo Volente

I got an e-mail this morning that has me all revved up. It is some further information about a Peruvian adventure my son-in-law and I are taking this June. We will be hiking the Inca Trail from Cusco to Macchu Pichu. It will involve three full days of hiking and trail camping, a day of white water rafting and the opportunity to go hang-gliding, all at high altitude. And it will be an opportunity to get to know Mark Batterson, lead pastor of the National Community Church in Washington DC. We will also be hanging out in Cusco with a friend who is originally from there, but is now a missionary in Bolivia. I'm looking forward to eating anticucho and lomo saltada while drinking Inca Kola. A few days ago I booked our plane tickets. We are good to go, Deo volente.

Deo volente is Latin for "God willing". James 4:13-15 says, Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.

So, I have reserved my spot on the trip. I have arranged for hotel accomodations for the days we are not on the trail. I have purchased plane tickets. I am doing cardio excercises to prepare for the altitude. And we will go and we will enjoy the hospitality of Peru in the majesty of the Andes and the mystery of Macchu Pichu, Deo volente.