A Strange Birthday Present....

What do you get for someone for their 60-somethingeth's birthday?  Especially if that someone is a man.  Yes, buying presents for men can be a real challenge, so if they say, "I would like a...." You jump all over it.

18 months ago my father-in-law put it out there - for my birthday I would like you to drive to JFK Airport, pick up someone you have never met, and take him to New Haven, CT.  Not exactly buying a power tool or new socks - but at least we didn't have to guess what he wanted.  And really, the airport is less than 150 miles away - if you are a crow.  If you are bound to this earth by gravity it is a trip through the Bronx, Queens, bridges, tolls, potholes and the whole reality what makes New York City.

Get in the car kids - to end the summer of 2013 we are heading to an airport (we did visit the awesome Bronx Zoo in the rain on the way by).  With 8 hours inside the car, our 12 hour trip came to an end, and once again we gained more than we gave.  For now we knew Pastor Steward who had just arrived in the USA for the first time in his life for a nine month sabbatical program hosted in New Haven.  We had the privilege to be his welcoming committee.

Steward's first burger ever
his questions, don't the have smaller?

With our outgoing son Corban by his side as we worked our way through the traffic, we got to know this amazing man whom Jen's dad had met in the farthest northeast corner of India.  We heard about what he is doing, about his two girls, the program he was going to be part of, and throughout it all his heart for God shined through.  We sat in awe as we heard how much he does with so little - but that is for another time.

Eight months later we were able to host him in our home in Delmar, NY, introduce him to the congregation we had just begun to serve in Castleton, and continue to build our relationship.  Shortly after our time together he would be returning to his work in India, reuniting with his family after nine months, and he wondered if we would ever come for a visit....

I knew we would be traveling somewhere as a family - until that moment India had not been on the list.  It didn't seem likely, we had so many options (see last post) so I gave a noncommittal "maybe." Over the past nine months that maybe has changed to a yes, and on February 16 we are scheduled to depart for India.  I have a little hunch that the 12 hours we traveled while meeting Pastor Steward for the first time will seem like nothing compared to what lies ahead...

Our next reunion will be in Dibrugarh

Where would you go?

If you could take a trip anywhere in the world, where would you go?  
Right now someplace warm and sunny sounds nice, but putting aside the seasonal realities of living in upstate New York, the world is a big place.

My family was asked this in a very real way one year ago.  The opportunity to take a family trip anywhere in the world: Where would we go?  There was only one stipulation - it couldn't be all about us.  Take a trip anywhere in the world; where you can help, encourage and do good.  A trip where the eyes of our children would be opened to what God is doing in the world and see first hand what it means to live in service to God.  More than a vacation, a trip with purpose.

Well, that didn't really narrow it down too much.  God is active everywhere in the world, and there are endless opportunities to to good.  What we could or could not call "a mission trip" provided almost no guidance - we needed something better to guide us.

We started with relationships.
From our time in Bolivia, involvement with churches, and family connections we had a great list to consider.

Mongolia  - Helping launch small businesses while reaching out with the news of Jesus with the Sucheys.
Spain - Connecting with the media based outreach to both southern Spain and northern Africa with the Walters.
Ethiopia -  It would  be great to reconnect with our friends the Fehls who started as missionaries in the bush, and now coordinate great ministries of health and education from the capital.
Cambodia - Rescuing children from sex-slavery, fear and poverty, and giving them hope and life with Judy.
Bolivia - Continuing our relationships with friends and ministries in South America where there is so much need and opportunity.
Kenya - We have sponsored a child in northern Kenya for close to a decade, we could visit him and participate in the work of Food for the Hungry again.
Or Niger, Nicaragua, Japan, Panama, Hungary, or Mexico were we have loose connections with ministries and or missionaries.

Well, in February we leave on our trip to: none of the above.  

We are leaving to a corner of the world we were unaware of two years ago, and would not have been even a consideration if God had not introduced us to an amazing man living a faithful life.  We are heading to the edge of Assam.

to be continued....