The Good, The Road, and the People of God

The good, the bad, … and the ugly?

Yup—there’s a Western in there somewhere, but today we’re hanging up our Stetsons and talking about the wild frontier of “itineration.”

Missionaries itinerate every few years—the dictionary defines this as “going from place to place”.

Returning to the U.S. for a year after being away for so long has good benefits:

–We get to reconnect with people who have had our backs.

–We get to see our kids, our family, and celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas with them.  Woot woot!

–We get to say thank you in person to all those who pray faithfully and give sacrificially.

–We get to make new friends. 

And yes, here’s the bad of itineration:

–Our ministry and life in another country come to a screeching halt—a year-long interruption.

–What do we do with our stuff?? The furniture, the dishes, Paul’s bazillion books and notes, the little tchotchkes collected as we go about our life—that we hold on to as reminder of where and with whom we have just spent years and how they blessed our life.

–Having to set up a temporary residence for the time in the U.S.

–Having to learn how the U.S. culture, lingo, and people have changed during our absence and how to communicate our call all over again.

BUT—we realize we can’t return to Mexico without adjusting yet again to life in the U.S., and then once the challenge of adjusting is met, we recognize that the bad is not so bad after all. 

We might be tempted to focus on this bad, and even to call it ugly.  But the reality is, this is part of a holistically good process, that enables us to participate in the mission and purpose God has for His people here in the U.S., and in Mexico.

We have good, and we have some bad, but praise the Lord, we have no ugly (unless you count the guy below).

We have a beautiful and loving tribe made up of His good people.

So, we are reframing the wild Western of this year of our lives from the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, to The Good, the Road, and the People of God. 

Thank you for being our people, and for walking with us on this road.

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