Life is Travel

For the past couple years, whenever someone has asked us where we live, we say, “Our car.”  While we don’t actually reside in our car, it is true that we have no permanent home right now.  Life right now consists in traveling from one place to another and staying wherever we can find someone willing to put us up for a time.

Along the way, I try to keep a camera handy to catch some of the beautiful scenes we see.  Here are just a few of them.

    

While in Charleston, SC, we visited with friends.  We were so near the beach that even though I had a sprained ankle, I begged for a walk on the beach.  It was an exceptionally pretty day – blue skies, cool breezes, and sand crunching under foot.  We kept our walk short, but the soft sand under foot was easier on my ankle than regular walking, so we were able to walk longer than I had in quite a while.








Usually Charlie drives while I do other things.

Like read the Bible aloud

Or take pictures of interesting bridges

Or be amazed by snow-covered fields in Iowa in late April.

Of course, the best part of our trips is when we stop and spend time with people.

Here Charlie got to participate in the ordaining of our friend, Pastor Greg Loveless.  You can’t see Charlie here, but he was in this photo.  You can see his blue shirt sleeve hanging down to the right of the man whose back is to the camera.  I think one of the hands may be his as well.

Here Charlie is encouraging the people of this church in Iowa to return that evening to hear our report.  It was great to be back in this church - a church my dad pastored when I was in college.  They were the ones who sent me out on my first missionary journey.  They have prayed for me over the years, and there were still quite a few faces there I recognized.  It was great to reconnect with some of them and to hear how the Lord had worked in their lives through the intervening years.

We are grateful for this season of our lives when we are able to connect with so many people we haven't seen in years.  Even though the travel gets old sometimes, if it means we get to see old friends and make new ones, it's worth it.

In Praise of a Spiritual Foundation

Last week we returned from a trip to South Carolina.  For me, it was only my third trip to the Charleston area, but for Charlie, it was like going home again, especially spiritually.  Victory Baptist Church is the church where he became the man of God he is today.

Jimmy Flowers, the associate pastor, stood to his feet and said, “Brother Charlie was here when I was this high (holding his hand at his hip) to this high (and he moved his hand up to his shoulder).  Some of you remember him and may have been present at his ordination.”

When Charlie got up to speak, he reflected fondly on his years there.

“I helped build that building back there.  This was where I was baptized.  This is where I taught my first Sunday school class.  This is where I sang in the choir for the first time.  This is where I sang my first solo.  This is where I became a deacon.  You ordained me.  You commissioned me as a missionary, and you supported me when I went out to Arizona to work with the Apache Indians.”

What a blessing it was for me to hear that commendation to the church.  They laid the spiritual foundation in the man I love.  How grateful I am for their work in his life.

I hope there are many people who read this who can look back and say, "That was where the spiritual foundation of my life was laid.  If it were not for them, I would not be where I am today."

Shannon

I wish I had taken a photo of her.  Her straight brown hair streamed down to the middle of her back, and her big brown eyes smiled as I talked with her.  Her skin was the color of carmels.  As a seven-year-old, her black velvet and red taffeta dress and shiny dress shoes seemed perfectly suited for "Sunday-go-to-meeting" clothes.

I wish I had recorded her when she spoke.  Her eyes lit up when she talked to me, especially when she said, "I'm going to be a missionary when I grow up.  I'm going to tell Muslims about Jesus. "  You would have seen the intensity of her desire to serve her Lord and heard her compassion for those who do not know the joys of having Jesus as their Savior.

She knows all the missionaries in their church by name and where they serve.  She prays for them.  She prays for us.  When we go back to her church, I look forward to seeing how she has matured in the Lord and what God is teaching her to prepare her for her future.

I'm encouraged by children like her who love us and pray for us.  It is the joy of my heart to hear someone say, "We pray for you every day."