I am writing this shortly before our final service at Cannon Beach on Friday night.

As soon as the service is over, we will head to Portland to rest at a motel for a few hours before our flight to Seattle leaves at 5:05 AM. We change planes in Seattle and fly on to Dallas, meaning that we should be home by mid-afternoon. 

In the last two weeks we have traveled over 5500 miles. We have flown from Dallas to Philadelphia to Bangor and from Portland to Atlanta to Portland and now from Portland to Seattle to Dallas. So far every flight has gone well and we’ve not lost a bag yet.

Along the way we’ve enjoyed ministering at Living Waters Bible Conference in Maine and Cannon Beach Conference Center in Oregon. I’ve preached 24 times in all so my throat feels a bit scratchy but otherwise I feel fine. Marlene told me I looked tired, which I guess I am, but it’s a good tired, and I’m glad we were able to make these two trips.

I’ve enjoyed preaching from the life of Joseph both weeks. You can’t study his story without coming to a deeper appreciation of God’s providence in the tiniest details of life. I think it has been good for my soul to get a new view of God through the lens of a man who lived almost 4000 years ago.

We’re grateful to our friends who have prayed for us, and to the folks in Maine and Oregon who encouraged us both weeks. It’s been a good trip.

And soon we’ll be home, which certainly puts a smile on my face. 

This morning we start our journey home.

The Great Circle Mapper says that starting in Taipei, Taiwan, we will travel 8075 miles to Memphis, Tennessee. We go from Taipei to Narita, Japan to Seattle to Salt Lake City and then to Memphis. Nick will travel from Seattle to Detroit and then to Chicago. All told, we will be en route for about 28 hours, including a six-hour layover in Seattle.

This has been a whirlwind trip that has taken us a total of 16,684 miles in 10 days, a truly amazing journey when you think about it. But modern technology makes the amazing seem commonplace. In 1807 it took Robert Morrison, the first Protestant missionary to China, 113 days to travel by ship from America to China. We did it in less than 30 hours by flying over the North Pole.

In reflecting on this, I remember Morrison’s famous comment when asked shortly after his arrival if he expected to have any impact on the Chinese:

“No sir, but I expect God will!»

Two hundred years later, the fruit of his labor can be seen in the vibrant Chinese church. When I was asked this week why we broadcast into China, I gave a simple reply. For a long time, the “face” of Christianity has been a Western face. Within 20 years the “face” of Christianity will be a Chinese university student. If this is where God is moving, we want to be a part of it. 

As a result of this trip, we have some dreams of what God may be calling us to do in the future. A Chinese leader said to us on Friday morning, “There is plenty of work to do in China.” I’ve often thought that I’d rather have a small part in something big than a big part in something small. At KBM, we’re joining hearts and hands with our brothers and sisters in China to help move the Great Commission forward.

On behalf of Nick, Mike and Wesley and myself, we thank you for your gifts and prayers that made this trip possible. If you read this before Saturday night, please pray for journey mercies as we come home. 

Tuesday 7:24 AM