January 4, 2009



Wes Bridel posting here. There are several contributors here at the Kingdom Calling blog, but a lot of it comes through my fingertips. My walk with Christ was shaped in large part through short-term missions. Several months before my first trip I began to become aware that God was not just real, but real present. And that He wanted to be very involved in every moment of my life in the most supernatural ways. I became hungry for more of Him and new that the spiritual life was for me.

But I didn’t actually have any real world experience. Then came my first mission trip. I experienced God in such powerful ways that I could never be the same again. My life is different. My relationships are different. My business is different. Basically everything is new.

As I write this, I’ve taken four of these mission trips, and have a fifth planned. Each one has been filled with God showing up in obviously miraculous ways. The teams involved confronted darkness and gained wisdom, and I’ve grown from being a baby in Christ - to one who's perhaps not a total infant anymore. More than anything else, it means that I live a lot more of my life in awestruck wonder and worship of who He is.

Several counselors recommended that I share these stories here in this post. My initial reaction was that these are personal stories and don’t have much to do with Kingdom Calling. On the other hand, I love telling them, and if nothing else, you’ll hear some miraculous ways that God has dramatically impacted lives. Yet, when I read them again, I believe these stories will touch you. I know that they’re dripping with lessons for all of us. And I really think that some of the life changes that have happened to me might rub off on you, and help you make changes in your life – like better stewardship.

Please let me know if that happens as we start rolling these stories out. And please share this blog with anyone else you think might want to check it out.