Celebrating from a Distance

This will not be the first time I’ve been out of the country on the 4th of July. In fact, I’ve been away several times. It never gets easier. It’s like missing the birthday of a loved-one. In fact it is missing the birthday of a loved-one – my beloved home-country. Home. Now there’s an interesting subject and a difficult one for me to discuss. In my lifetime, I’ve lived at twenty-eight different addresses in twelve American towns, plus spent extended time in four foreign countries. I really can’t go home again. It would take too long and some of the places are not even there anymore. What I can do is celebrate my home in Christ. The Message translates Jesus saying in John 15:4 “Make your home in me just as I do in you.” While others celebrate Independence Day in their home-country, I will spend July 4th celebrating my dependence on the Lord, my home away from home.

A new story has been added to the “Mud Hen in a Peacock Parade” feature on my web site. Check www.discipleallnations.org for “Baptism or Burritos?”

Join me in remembering these global concerns:
• Pray for me as I travel this week to Interlaken, Switzerland to teach each morning at the Summer Assembly of the International Baptist Convention.
• Pray for dozens, perhaps hundreds, of mission teams that will be serving somewhere in the world this week.
• Pray for American missionaries and military personnel who will celebrate the 4th of July outside of their home country and away from families.
• Pray for the annual meeting of the Canadian Baptist National Convention, June 30-July 2, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
• Give thanks for successful surgery and ongoing good recovery from cancer of the tongue for Carrie in Austria.