Chapter One: Into Dependence

Tbilisi to Lower Omalo 

1 Bus

2 Off Road Vehicles

12 Hours of Travel (counting our wait at the bus station)

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July 21, 2021

This morning we embarked on a journey that I expect to be nothing less than life altering, honestly. After a few scheduling mishaps and some forgotten passports, we hopped on a Marshrutka from Tbilisi to Alvani where we met some off-road vehicles that would take us the remaining five hours to our campsite in Lower Omala where we’d begin our walk across Tusheti.

In an effort to press into genuine dependence on the Father, I prayed diligently about what He would have me bring in my pack and to my surprise, he was quite specific. Here’s what I packed: 

• 3 t-shirts 

• My hoodie

• 1 pair of pants 

• 2 pairs of shorts

• All of my undies 

• 2 pairs of socks 

• 1 pair of tennis shoes

• My PJ’s baseball cap and my Glorieta beanie 

• My sleeping pad 

• My rumpl blanket

• My tent

• Deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrush, febreeze

• My bible and journal

• My stuffed goat that my dad gave me for Christmas a few years back

• 1 small jar of Nutella 

• Dried apricots 

• 1 large roll of flatbread 

That may seem like a lot, but on a trek like this one, that’s not much, especially since none of my gear is actually suited for this type of trip. 

Here’s what God specifically told me not to bring: 

• Personal spending money

• No more food than I could buy with 20 GEL (The local currency) 

• My guitar

Though this trek is scheduled to take five days, we took our first steps committing to interruptibility where the Holy Spirit might ask us to stay longer than we planned. So the potential duration of this trip far exceeded our material preparation, but we were joining together and submitting ourselves to dependence on Jesus in a radical way. 

After nestling ourselves in a neighborhood of trees, we retreated into our shelters and listened to one another’s conversations, shared some laughs, and drifted to sleep. My last words of the night were a prayer of desperation to the Lord, 

I’m fully trusting you, my Lord, King of the Universe. I want to see you, hear you, feel you. I only want to be with you, Jesus. My deepest longing for these days is that you would transform us to look and live more like you. For me, I want you to strip me of all my pride and my arrogance. Do what only you can do and I’ll do all I know how to do; submit my heart and my life to you. Amen. 

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Check out what happened next HERE.  

I love you. 

AWM 

*All of the pictures you will see in this series have been contributed by various members of my team! Check out their blog pages and see more of their work!*