The Land Before Time

I’m not really a person that dwells on the past, I don’t think often about it at all.  Occasionally the past just finds a way to tap me on the shoulder and going through these old pictures has brought back so many things.  I’ve spent my share of mission trips marching through the jungles of the world.  There is nothing like going down a path with a  guide destination unknown.  Nothing like waking up in a foreign city that you’ve never before seen…this one being Bangkok during rush hour…but then when isn’t it rush hour in Bangkok?  Ever heard about those bridges you’ll cross when you get to?  Well, I’ve found a few of them in the jungles of the Philippines.  As a young missionary I never feared the dangers, I thought I was ready to die but when my dear wife and children came along it changed my perspective.  This is an old picture of my first daughter and my son…treasures very precious to me.  Seeing Asian gardens here in the US just isn’t the same as seeing them in Asia.  I remember living in the Philippines…I remember what it was like to have a guard post on our street.  I remember villages that had names I’ve never heard of.  I remember the strange situations I would find myself in time and time again…just don’t ask…LOL!  The thing about jungle marches is that you can go for a long time seeing no opening and feeling very little movement in the air but then you’ll come to an opening with the the breeze finally making itself known…easing the heat…just a bit and you’d swear it was a window to heaven.  Walking down these roads you see that cars are the exception not the rule…cattle remain the family tractor.  I have marched in a line of missionaries looking at the back of the person in front of me wondering when the trek would end and where it would take us.  I’ve taken my eldest daughter to the nations of the world…I can now hardly believe this was her with her makeshift helmet.  I’ve lived like a king and I’ve lived with nothing but the clothes on my back…but whether palaceor a parking lot of an African church with my African brother and his wifeI feel honored…God has been so very good to me.  He has kept me safe even on the backs of elephants.  He brought me my wife from the Philippines…this is us heading to our house.  He kept me safe through danger and illness when I lived in India with Pastor Samuel and his wife.  Looking back I see a land before time and I’m in awe and grateful.  I wonder if I feel like these kids seeing a long line of missionaries coming to visit their village.