Going Home...

After two months exactly for Keli & the kids, and an additional 5 days for me;

After more than 5,000 road miles (not counting the generous ride provided by the Weiger's & Claussen's from OKC to Alabama);

After countless air miles on these flights:

- Cairo to Paris (x5)

- Paris to Minneapolis 

- Minneapolis to Sacramento

- Sacramento to Portland

- Paris to Atlanta (x4)

- Atlanta to Huntsville (x4)

- Portland to Denver (x3)

- Denver to OKC

- Birmingham to Seattle (x5)

- Denver to Nashville (x2)

- Atlanta to Portland (x4)

*not including Alexis' air miles!

After visits and meetings with these congregations or representatives of:

- North Modesto ChoG, CA

- Fresno 1st ChoG, CA

- Culver City ChoG, CA

- McDowell Mountain Community Church, AZ

- Antelope Road Christian Fellowship, CA

- Sunset Park ChoG, OR

- Rainier Community Church, OR

- 12th Ave ChoG, AL

- Rainbow City Community Church, AL

- 6th Ave ChoG, AL

- Riverchase Community Church, AL

- Olympia-Lacey ChoG, WA

- Fairview ChoG, WA

- Oak Park ChoG, OR

- Lynchwood ChoG, OR

- Holladay Park ChoG, OR

- Hoodview ChoG, OR

- Blue Mountain Community Church, WA

- Columbia Community Church, WA

- Centralia Community Church, WA

- Mt Scott ChoG, OR

- Rockwood ChoG, OR

After participating in all or part of these meetings:

- Heart for Lebanon Board of Director's meeting, Phoenix, AZ

- North American Convention of the ChoG, Be Bold, OKC

- Alabama Ministerial Assembly of the ChoG Campmeeting, Clanton, AL

- Pacific Northwest Association of the ChoG Family Camp, Double K Camp, WA

- Oregon/southwest Washington Association of the ChoG Summer Celebration, Warner Pacific College, OR

After not nearly enough time with family and friends;

After more calories than any family should healthily consume in a two month period;

After too little exercise;

After meeting and staying with some of the most wonderful, hospitable, and generous people on the planet;

After seeing beautiful places along scenic drives; witnessing the wonder of Multnomah Falls; climbing to the top of Beacon Rock in the Columbia River Gorge; a meditative walk through The Grotto; a time of quiet and reflection in Joshua Tree National Park; a Salem Volcanoes baseball game; Seaside, Oregon; and whirlwind tours through Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, and the Evergreen Air & Space Museum;

After not knowing if we did enough to promote Children of Promise in Egypt, Ana Terzo in Lebanon, or the Next Gen Fund for Three Worlds; after wishing we could have done more to help Langford's and Weiger's get to the field more quickly;

After holding and seeing our newest family members (Lilian, Filla, Avery & Jillian) for the first time; 

After watching our kids grow in confidence and clarity in answering questions publicly and privately like Public Relations specialists;

After more daily blessings and countless amounts of encouragement, sincere prayers, generous gifts, genuine fellowship, and humbling honors than any person or family should be allowed to receive;

After all of that - and a memory that is fading and likely forgetting so much more - we are headed home to Cairo, Egypt.  

We are not looking forward to the travel that takes us on an early Monday morning flight from Portland, Oregon to Los Angeles, California; or overnight from LA to Paris, France tonight; or Paris to Cairo tomorrow.  

We are not looking forward to the likely late arrival to the villas and the frantic search for clothes and necessities for the first day of school early the next morning.

Though I am looking forward to being with the Ana Terzo camp, we are notlooking  forward to the quick turn around for me to repack and fly to Beirut less than 24 hours after landing.

But we are looking forward to being home--back to the CCF (eventually), back to the weekly Kids program, back to serving our community and the Egypt & Lebanon Churches.  Back to the rush & the wait & the chaos of Cairo traffic; back to the wonder of the Nile and the glimpse of pyramids on the horizon.  Back to fellowship with believers throughout Europe and Middle East.  Back to the routines and the uncertainties of this adventure.

Home is where and how you make it--and God has led us to make our home in Cairo.  By His providence and blessing and the prayers of many, we have been able to do that.  

We have enjoyed our summer--how could we not after all the blessings listed above?

None of us had a fit or shed a tear this morning with the prospect of returning to Cairo--that wasn't a powerless resignation that we have to return; it was a privileged realization that we get to return.  The work and the risk are outweighed by the joys and the adventures that await us.

We live in Cairo--a land of such amazing history--and we get to live there on the front row of history being written anew.  We have been invited to walk with others in such a place as this, at such a time as this.

We are the most fortunate people on the planet to be so loved and missed from wonderful people on multiple continents, and yet able to share the greatest love with all of them.  

Thank you for honoring us & loving us with your interest, prayers, support, encouragement, questions, and even concern.

Another Road Trip Playlist, Day 4

From Oregon back to Washington today as we head north one more time to meet with Outreach Pastor Elmer of the Centralia Community ChoG.  We are blessed by Centralia's partnership and sincere support of our family, and wish we could have spent more time with them.  In scheduling our time out west, we tried to give Sunday morning priorities to the congregations who did not have us on a Sunday morning before, or whom we had never met.  That wasn't always possible, and so we have also been scheduling Sunday and Wednesday evenings--but there are not enough of those prime days in the summer for everyone out in the northwest, and so we have had to do several of these weekday meetings, too.

We're trying to see everyone we can--time is running short, for sure, as we're just days from leaving the USA.  In less than a week, our kids will be sitting in a classroom and I'll be in Lebanon at the Ana Terzo camp.  That' really amazing and overwhelming to think about all at the same time.

So on the road lately, I've been remembering all the places and people we have been blessed to meet and share with during this trip.  It's been an amazing summer among amazing people--and to make road trips in this part of the country this summer has been amazing, filled with beauty and moments of sincere wonder at the creative work of God.

We're not done yet, but almost.

So today's song goes back in the vault to a truly classic song, "What a Wonderful World," by Louis Armstrong himself...


Thank you.

Thank you Lord for the blessing of safety and your beauty along every stretch of road.

Thank you Lord for your wonderful people who have greeted us, fed us, served us, encouraged us, prayed for us, sheltered us, blessed us, and loved us.  You know each of their names and where they are; bless them as they have blessed us that they may continue to be a source of blessing to others.

Thank you Lord for our family with whom we have been able to laugh and share time together again. Thank you for their understanding and support of your calling on our lives--and the support they also give us.  Thank you for the opportunity to see our newest family members, too.

Thank you for the home you've made for us in Cairo--for the people of the Church throughout Europe and Middle East to whom we have been sent to learn from, love, and encourage their own journeys and ministries, too.  Our hearts and minds comprehend you, your love and your purpose better for being there--we are better for being there and for knowing each of them.  Enable us with your strength and love and grace and wisdom to serve them as you would desire.

It's been an amazing summer--and as we look back with joy, we look forward with great anticipation of all the Lord has in store for us individually and together...

Another Road Trip Playlist, Day 3

Another day in Oregon, without too long of time on the road.  Today, the boys and I were able to begin with a wonderful, home-cooked breakfast with our hosts Owen and Joyce of the Newberg congregation.  They have a wonderful little country home where Owen restores tractors and where they raise their own beef and pork; that's right, we had some of the best bacon and french toast ever to begin our day :)

And then we got to know Pastor Matt Ingalls better over a cup of coffee at the Newberg Bakery--great town here.  Pastor Matt was a college buddy to our friend/future teammate Josh Weiger; and his wife Abbey knew Meghan & Rachel (formerly Chapman) from the 6th Avenue congregation.  I love the heart and vision he has brought to the River Street Church of God.  We've just got the coolest congregations supporting us--full of genuine, sincere believers offering wonderful service to their communities.  It's awesome--I love conversations like this and I've had them all summer.

Then, the boys and I hit the road (short trip) to the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum.  Several people in Oregon had encouraged us to take the boys there, and even contributed to help pay for the entrance fees.  I was pretty pumped - anytime we get to look at military aircraft and history, I'm ready.  I am a proud grandson of a WWII bomber pilot and I love any chance of meeting veterans and seeing things that he may have experienced.

To make the experience all the cooler, Evergreen hosts the "Spruce Goose", the famed air-boat invention of Howard Hughes--nearly all made of wood (because the government wouldn't free any metal for the project at the height of WWII), and boasting the widest wingspan of any aircraft ever, it is an engineering marvel.  My dad first told me the history of this goliath when I was a child and to have the opportunity to see it was more than exciting.

But that's not all...

Terry Shrout of the Salem congregation took the boys and I to a baseball game last week.  While there, Terry introduced me to a friend of his who happened to be the Executive Director of the museum.  He gave us his card and encourage us to call him upon our arrival.  We did, and are we ever glad we did.  He met us and gave us a VIP guided tour, taking a hold the exhibits, showing the boys how and why things worked, and got us behind the glass and into the Spruce Goose for an inside tour of this massive plane.  Titus got to sit in Howard Hughes' captain seat as we had this picture taken, too...

What a day--really cool stuff.  So, surrounded by jet fighters, WWII bombers, air and space replicas and restored projects all day, I had to go back in the music archives to pull out the theme song from "Top Gun" -- eat your heart out Patrick ;)

In the evening, we were able to share the River Street's simple supper with the community they serve, and then share with some of the congregation about the ministry they are supporting in Europe and Middle East.  One cute little girl up front shared that she was bored near the end of the presentation--classic moment--and during the prayer time for us, she began by praying "Thank you for this food".  She stopped, embarrassed by the little laughter in the prayer circle; but she came back up and prayed near the boys, "help them grow up safe."  Special moment.

A wonderful day among wonderful people -- we are so blessed.

Thank you for your continuing interest and prayers...