In The Home Stretch

Two more days and, Lord willing, I'll be home in Coshocton. My flight is scheduled to depart Sacramento around noon on Wednesday and, after a layover in Minneapolis, I should arrive in Columbus, OH around 9:30 PM Eastern. Coshocton's about 70 miles NE of Columbus so we'll have a short drive to make once I collect my bags. Karen's going to meet me at the airport.

In preparation for departure, nearly all of my MMS office tasks are complete, I'm starting to move everything that's going home closer to the suitcases, all the house cleaning supplies have been located and, as you can tell from the photo, I'm falling back on about 17 years of professional janitorial and custodial experience to whip this place back into shape. Before I left California to begin mission service with MMS in 1997, my work days and work nights were spent ensuring that public school students had a clean and safe environment in which to learn.

We Are Thankful

Karen and I are very thankful for the opportunity to stay in the Calvary Bible Church missionary house this trip. It was a total blessing to unpack and to stay unpacked for two months. Prior to learning the missionary house was open, we'd anticipated staying with six different families over the course of our eight weeks in Grass Valley. Not that we would have minded the fellowship, but having our own place did help lower some of the stress of constantly being on the go.

Over the course of this trip we met individually with seventy-five people, presented our ministry at two churches, were interviewed by a missions representative of another church, shared with three Sunday school classes and four Bible studies, had multiple follow-up appointments, and chatted with many other folks in the course of our travels. Thank you for your prayers over the past two months. We believe God was glorified as people learned about MMS and grew to know us better.

I'm tired. It's a "good" tired, to be sure, but still tired and I'm ready to be home with Karen and the missionary mutts.

Well, I'd rather keep blogging, but I need to keep cleaning. Thanks for checking in!

It's Been A Good Trip

Carpenter's Crew

This morning I had the privilege of sharing our ministry with the Carpenter's Crew Sunday School Class at Calvary Bible Church. It was a good group, they asked good questions, and they were very appreciative. I also learned that one member of the class, a pilot, is the son of a missionary who used to have MMS maintain his airplane! Is this a small world, or what? I praise the Lord for His making this special connection possible. And thank you Carpenter's Crew for making me feel so welcome. Have fun with the wrench pens...

Final Logistics

Now that my final speaking engagement of the trip is finished, it's time to start thinking about that final load of wash before I head back to Coshocton, Ohio. Yes, that final load of wash, cleaning the missionary house, preparing the borrowed car for return, making the last few phone calls, entering two months of donor contact data, organizing electronic files, returning library books, tracking contacts, logging expenses, trying to figure out how Karen packed so much of my stuff into only two suitcases, writing thank you notes, and realizing how hard I'm going to have to work to drop the twenty pounds I've loaded-on eating so many great meals provided by so may gracious hosts and gifted cooks. It's been tough, but somehow both Karen and I have survived.

As much as my jeans have shrunk around the waist, I've got a feeling that the sooner the Midwest weather allows me outside and back on my bicycle, the better.

A Good Walk: My First Round of Golf in 2008

We've had some rain out here in Grass Valley, CA, too. It started yesterday with some gentle showers just as we walked to the first tee at the Lake Wildwood Country Club golf course. Yep, that's right, the Lord allowed me to get nine holes of golf in yesterday afternoon as part of a threesome with one of the young men from church (Thank you, Grant) and a client of his. Wahoo! We walked nine holes, enjoyed some good fellowship, and for some unknown reason I shot one of the best rounds of my short, 3 year golf "career" which was rather amazing as I was using borrowed clubs (Thank you, Matt) and hadn't played in four months! It was so much fun. (Thank you, Lord!)

We did get a little wet from the rain showers, but I actually had a game on until the 8th hole when the wheels kind of fell off. My drive on #8 barely passed the women's tee, and seven strokes later I was in the water hazard substantially short of the green. I had one birdie putt on a Par 5 (which I promptly turned into a bogie playing "ring-around-the-cup-collar") and a couple shots at par which also turned into bogies. No crisis, I struck the ball well off the tee and pretty much kept it in play with my irons.

Golf is my relaxation. It helps me laugh at myself and be an encourager to others. It challenges me to focus while keeping my mind clear. It totally reflects the realities of life in each stroke and has so many spiritual analogies it blows my mind. Mark Twain called golf, "A good walk spoiled." I would disagree with that. If the "good walk" IS spoiled, it's not because of the game.

Karen's Doing Well & Staying Warm

During our separation, Karen and I have developed a routine of talking on the phone three times a day. We check-in with each other in the morning, the afternoon, and night. If we can't see each other, it's certainly a blessing to be able to talk to each other. Karen's doing well and is back in the swing of life and service in Coshocton: managing our home, serving at MMS, and singing with the worship team at our church, Fresno Bible (Fresno, OH). Tucker and Tanner (the Cocker Spaniels) have had their Spring buzz-cut after becoming rather woolly-bully heading into winter. Hope, the Lab/Great Dane mix is still riding herd on the two Cockers.

During one of our phone calls, Karen held the phone down to Tanner and I talked to him. Karen said Tanner's tail started wagging, he cocked his head at the phone, ran to the front door and waited, and then ran all the way out the back door onto the deck to look for me. He's a good dog.

The weather back there is still wet, though it looks like they're going to have a break in the rain today. The flood watch has been canceled for the first time in two weeks. Snow is still a threat. One of the things that Karen and the dogs enjoy when the weather is so damp, cold, and wet is having a fire. It's a nice picture isn't it? It could make a guy homesick if he'd let it...

The forecast says it should be cloudy with temps in the 30's when I arrive at Columbus airport Wednesday night. I really won't care what the weather is, I'll just be glad to be back together with Karen and to cozy up to that fire.