Well,
it seems that the honeymoon may be over. We have been in Africa three months
now, and our best friends that have been here a month just loaded up to
leave. I am sitting in my office this Sunday morning and asking the
Lord, "How do I keep my family focused and walk us through the next
phase of this African journey?"

Lisa and I miss our parents very much and, of course, the kids miss
their grandparents and friends. Noah was ready to go back with the
Davises this morning to see his grandpa! I woke up yesterday morning
with my first "heart twinge" of one of the things I miss most - the
smell of the Rocky Mountains on a cold, crisp morning - interesting
thought, but very real. About 1 km from our house is the cities trash
dump; when the wind is a little off, or they are doing their weekly
burning of the trash... well, lets just say it's not the Rockies!

We are very busy, and the opportunities for ministry are
unlimited. My radio program starts in two weeks; I will be on Saturdays
and Mondays. The reach is about 2.4 million Africans in Swazi, South
Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe on Trans World radio. The number one
most listened-to radio personality in Africa is Joyce Myer, and I will be on
right after her program.

As a family, we are adopting a few families
here that cannot provide for themselves: all single moms with multiple
kids. Their living conditions are simply unacceptable. The kids are
busy with school, sports, friends and ministry.

Lisa has come fully
alive and is hearing very clearly on our next steps. She is hosting a
women's retreat soon and is ministering daily to our young missionaries
here on ground. (In fact, she is doing a brunch right now for one of
our all girl world race teams, that's why I am in the office on a
Sunday)! The leadership school is starting; the orphan care is amazing,
the vision is coming alive… but….

All of this and much more is why we came, but how do you keep a family
of eight focused, fully alive, and secure when the honeymoon is over? When
the excitement of moving to Africa has died down? The reality of the
conditions here seem impossible, and you start missing the simple things
like a Starbucks coffee, a Big Mac, lunch with a friend or my dad. What do you do when it all hits home?

You do what you were taught to do, what you know to do: you press in,
open the gateway to God's heart which is thanksgiving; you gather your
family around, and you look in the faces of the people God has asked you
to serve… that's better then a Big Mac any day!