Refreshed, Renewed, Returning!

(Mark's suitcase topped with cards from the girls.)

One week ago, early, before the sun was shining he headed out the door.  Hard to believe it was this time of year already.  For us it is routine now, the packing is down to a science, the necessities of the trip come out of the places they have been since this same trip last year.  Our girls know Daddy is leaving, but Grandma is covering the miles to fill in the gap.  That tug inside screams, "Please don't leave for the week!" only to be quickly followed by the peace of knowing when he walks back in the door he will be physically tired from the travel and hot days of high humidity but he will be spiritually refreshed and renewed.

 This trip has become his "reset button" over the years.  When it seems his perspective is a little skewed, the daily grind of  his routine is rubbing too hard, the "unchangeable" things are seeming less changeable and he begins to wonder if it is even worth the effort to keep trying to change them, when he is having to fight hard to find the joy... within a flip of the calendar this week is in view.  The choice is not always easy to make.  The excitement of the trip begins to turn also to look like another "thing" on the to do list, but the gentle whisper is consistently there, "He needs this like he needs water."  Nothing could be truer.  To see people desperately rely on God daily, to get to be part of His story, to wake up to daily intense prayer time, soaking in teaching of the Word, walking step by step with those longing to serve in obedience. 

Each day back home we long to hear that sweet sound call out from the computer that alerts us to his Face Time call.  Feet race to that small screen anxious to get a glimpse and chat through the choppy connection. The girls talk all at once, I bob and weave to try to stay where I can see him on the screen. (If I can I keep the early morning calls  to myself before the girls are awake.) I am once again amazed that even the look of his face seems softer, relaxed, joyful without the chase. 

So today he will travel home to cooler temperatures, step back into a schedule still packed and routine still pressing but it won't consume him.  We will talk about the experiences of his week, the teaching he sat under, the encouragement and conversations of the mentors who asked him to join this adventure seven years ago.  We are so thankful for the relationships, the week, the renewing, the week already marked on the calendar one year from now.

(By the way, there is always room for you on this trip too.)

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared that we should walk in them."  Ephesians 2:10

Anxious to get him back refreshed and renewed!!