The Phil Files

After 26 hours in transit, I am home! I was able to catch an earlier flight from DFW to Abilene so I arrived about 11:10 Saturday morning. The flights went smoothly and my luggage made it. It is good to be home, but there is a touch of sadness at leaving behind people precious to me that I will not see for a long time except through Skype. This sadness is compounded by Donna being with Megan — she went there to be with her for the appointment with the rheumatologist. To combat my weird sense of homesickness at home, I have had my Heartlight.org article, completion of my sermon prep, washing my clothes, and trying to help my body figure out where in the world it is to distract me.

As for the goofy picture, well, because of the flooding in southern Thailand this winter, production of Coke Zero was greatly delayed and unavailable in Chiang Mai. So I got back on the Coke Classic bandwagon — not good. So after some nudging and cajoling, I promised my precious Chinese friends in Thailand that I would lay off the sugared drinks and in my weak moments, drink only Coke Zero — yes, no Dr. Peppers either, but I’m mad at them for what they have done to the Dublin Dr. Pepper plant. So it was sweet delight to get home and taste the familiar taste of Coke Zero. But only one! I also promised not too much caffeine either! 8^)

This afternoon, I have been busy washing clothes and putting away my travel gear. Washing clothes after a trip like this is an interesting job after the experience of the last ten days. Clearly, some of my clothes desperately needed washing — YIKES, they were stinky — but some of them were not stinky, they just carried the aroma of another land with its rich smell of places, people, and spices. Each load evoked memories just from the fragrances of my trip. It is a reminder that I have not only changed time zones and cultures, but there is an undeniable distance of place even though there is no distance in heart.

Part of changing 13 time zones, especially coming from Asia, are some weird things that happen to your body when you fly back against the time zones — not to mention I watched the sun come up twice on my trip home. It just zaps me. Going west seems so much easier than flying back east. Part of my accountability to my friend Don had to do with spiritual feeding time as well as being accountable for what I did, thought, and exposed myself to. Since Donna and many of her friends have been doing James, I have read in James while I was gone and I have escrowed some time tonight to do that. I will also do my next chapter in Names of God workbook I’m doing with my mens group. I have also taken a 2 hour nap to try to help my body get a little sleep without ruining a good nights sleep back on Texas time. So I’ve tried to rest some this afternoon and evening.

I have not been good at resting most of my life, much less resting in the Lord. Yet as I have looked at Jesus and his times of withdrawal and rest, then realized he celebrated sabbath times, I was convicted by the importance of Biblical time (Realizing that in God’s eyes, the day begins with the gift of rest in the evening to allow us to serve God and bless others during the day! This is the pattern of Genesis 1, “And there was evening and morning — the first day” {Genesis 1:5 and repeated in vs. 8, 13, 19, 23, 31}) So before jumping back into my final polishing of sermon preparation, I am taking time to rest in the Lord with another trip through James and some time for thanking God for a great trip with no health or travel problems, for answered prayers, for special moments of knowing the Spirit was at work doing things things I could not do or see, yet got to celebrate as they began to bear fruit.

Tomorrow will be a special day. Preaching with my church family at Southern Hills as we begin a new focus on Jesus in the Gospel of John called, UNPREDICTABLE. We will join Jesus as he repeatedly does the UNPREDICTABLE to demonstrate God’s love and grace to people he came to save. But it will also be hard — not because I’m unprepared, but because my heart is full of so much emotion as well as my body being weary. To see how seeds planted two years ago are bearing fruit is an unspeakable great joy and deeply humbling. To realize that God is stitching lives together to use people to grow the Kingdom who two years ago knew nothing about Jesus is so moving to me. And these are people who are deeply important to my heart — I come back again to Paul’s words to the new followers of Jesus in Thessalonica:

For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you?  Indeed, you are our glory and joy (1 Thessalonians 2:19-20 NIV).

In fact, all of Paul’s deeply personal and emotional language of 1 Thessalonians 2 is no longer the focus of study, but an existential awareness: these people are my family, and their eternal destiny is my passion. My prayer is that when the time comes for Jesus to bring an end to tears and saying goodbye, that each of these precious ones, along with those precious ones that God has given me as my physical family, will enjoy the grace and relish the moments when distance, culture, and language are dissolved in the grace of unending glory and there are no more partings or sickness or separation.

May God bless you with a great Lord’s Day,

Phil

P.S. Robert and Jan, thank you for more than two decades of friendship and partnership in the work of the Lord and for the journey we have shared that was God’s gift to renew our passion and remind us that the book of Acts isn’t ancient history, but God’s desire waiting to be realized in us today. God bless you and your precious children Ericka and Bransom. You guys are so SPECIAL! And to the interns, Sonya, Constance, MamaZone, and Ven, all I can say is muy sic ‘em: thanks for sharing your time with me and may the Lord bless you in ways you cannot imagine. And to Melody and Karen, just remember that you are precious and incredible.