I had an interesting conversation with one of our missionaries that I've had the pleasure of working with on several occasions. They returned to their field of service with their 2 kids a few days ago from their first home assignment (a.k.a. furlough). I enjoyed hearing how they had picked up many new contacts interested in their ministry and enjoyed answering some technical questions.

Then came one of those sweet moments where you get to really hear what's really going on. You know, the type that only ever happen unscheduled, but are the things that friendships are made of. He shared with me what it felt like to come back to the field for the first time in contrast to the original trip to the field. The first time this family went, they were excited and energized, but didn't really know what to expect or how things were going to work out. This time, they had their home setup. They knew the people they were working with and had expectations of what they were going to be able to accomplish in this next term of ministry. It was the little things that were getting to him though. They wisely had people house sitting who took care of their home, but this meant an empty kitchen when they arrived home. They were hungry and all they had were the remainder of a highly suspect jar of mayonnaise, some crackers and an almost empty bottle of BBQ sauce that was nearly full when they left. It sounded like jet lag was also getting to him. He commented that he went to bed at 2am and woke at 10pm. They hadn't made the transition yet.

I won't reveal the names because that isn't the point of this post. This could really be the story of any missionary in another country that you know. The better we understand the struggles, frustrations, annoyances and temptations that missionaries undergo, the better we can support them in prayer and action. Maybe you could ship some Sweet Baby Ray's Honey BBQ Sauce over to them. I don't know what your other missionary friends like, but I'm a big fan of that stuff so maybe they are too! :-)

Max Donelan is working to charge your iPod or Phone as you walk. This seems like a brilliantly simple idea! Even better, it apparently takes a minimal amount of effort on the part of the user. What better way to harness energy for our gadget addiction than by us doing what we do anyway! Of course, we might be better to gain the discipline to not need that energy for our gadgets...

We had an application accepted at our first choice. We're decreasing space and losing a bedroom, but also losing mold! Yeah!

I'm excited about out new way I've found to bring together and share the great things our missionaries are posting online. A few of our missionaries are already blogging and I only see that growing. Putting what our missionaries say gets in front of more people is a natural progression of getting our missionaries connected more closely to their supporters. To that end, I've brought all the FIM blogs and news feeds that I'm currently aware of into one single place using Yahoo Pipes.

So this new service becomes one central place to come and see what FIM missionaries are thinking, seeing and doing. You can share in their celebrations of what God has done in and through them or stand beside them in support as they enter difficult times. You can also subscribe to this as a news/RSS feed for those of you who enjoy having information come to you rather than going fishing for it.

The FIM Missionary's Pipe is just a neat little piece to the puzzle. I'm looking forward to growing this service to the point where it may make sense to break it up into areas of the world or types of ministry.

The Pew Forum article entitled Young White Evangelicals: Less Republican, Still Conservative resonated with me. It is consistent with what I've been feeling, though my attention is less squarely on Bush and more on the party as a whole. I know my views on things are just incompatible with basic Democratic perspectives on life and yet the Republicans don't seem to be getting anything done that I care about.

I'm concerned about the state of our borders, but less about how to keep people out and more about how to allow them in legally without giving them headaches for years and years after entry. If you know anyone who has immigrated to the US, ask them about the efficiency of the INS.

As with anyone who values the sanctity of life and understands it starts at conception, I'm also concerned about abortion. That drum has been beat enough. You know what it's about.

I'm concerned about the state of social services in the US. I'm concerned about the state of taxes and the way those taxes are being spent. I've grown increasingly convinced that the governments role in social services has stripped the churches feeling of responsibility for caring for the weak and down trodden and the "widows" of our day. Why does the church out-source their benevolence, or at least portions of it to the government? I've becoming increasingly concerned that my tax dollars are being squandered in government assistance programs when they would be better put back into the church where people who really care for these folks could really help. This is the state of things and it's where we are so it's what we have to deal with. I don't have any problem with people using these programs because that's how you get assistance in our country, I just don't like they way they are provided. It is my conviction that this is the responsibility of the church and we've let government take it away.

I'm concerned about war and I'm concerned about its affect on the Great Commission. How can a country invaded by angry white guys with guns in their hands ever see the heart of a friendly white guy with a Bible in his hand? God can make it happen, but I fear that war is building walls instead of bridges in our ability to communicate the gospel. Meanwhile, we're feeding the propaganda that jihadists believe and inspire their wrath and actions toward the execution of "the great satan". I fear for the souls of the people of arab countries watching our countries actions. I'm not saying I'm anti-war. I'm just saying I'm not sure about these wars.

Another thing that concerns me is the view of individual freedoms. Our government seems to be stripping them and I'm increasingly convinced that those with the lobbying power have Christians in their gun sights. I want a candidate that isn't going to take away freedom of religion. Why are we silencing Christian principles as hate language (Christians' methods are partly to blame for this) and yet chasing muslims in the middle-east. This seems inconsistent. We need freedom for all or we ultimately have freedom for none.

The falling value of the dollar also has me concerned. This has impacts on US Christians' support of missionaries around the world. There are areas of the world where the dollar sent to foreign missionaries is buying approximately half of what it did only a few years ago. This also affects the price of short-term mission trips. This isn't an issue I'd have had on my political radar until getting more familiar with what it takes in our culture to fund missions. As the dollar drops, the cause of the Great Commission becomes more expensive and more money needs to be raised. It is nearly impossible for a missionary on the field to raise support while in another country. This means they have to return to the US or do with less. Either results in a less effective ministry in the short-term and can also have affects in the long-term depending on their decision.

I'm not officially supporting a candidate yet. The PA primaries aren't until April so I'm not in a rush; although, it may not matter by then. If I were to choose today, I've only seen one candidate that seems to echo my conclusions. In truth, he doesn't reach them all in the same way. He really got my attention recently when watching a video in which, toward the end, he talked a bit about immigration. He came the closest to any of the current Republican candidates to my views, but only said a very little bit. Basically, he didn't give the border crossing nonsense much attention and said we need to fix our system. Exactly! If it weren't for friends of mine already supporting him, I'd not have heard much about the guy. The media isn't paying him much attention, but he's drawing large crowds (and donations) on the Internet where the real voice of the people can be heard. There is a website dedicated to introducing Ron Paul.

With Ron Paul comes the argument of "electability". Can he be elected president? I don't suppose that bothers me. I'm sick of voting for the better of two evils and the feeling of apathy that gives me. I'd rather have my opinions heard and represented then put my vote behind someone who doesn't really reflect me, at least in the Presidential election. I'm not sure I'd hold to that if I was voting someone into the house or congress.

Oh, It doesn't hurt that Ron Paul has been married to the same woman for 50 years. That says something to me, especially as we studied the qualifications of an elder in Sunday School last year. A man who has kept the same wife for 50 years has demonstrated some strength and humility. You've also got to admire his courage in standing up and telling the entire country he thinks the entire government is not just missing, but way over-shooting the mark.

I just saw this from one of FIM's missionaries in Haiti. They managed to find a way to rush deliver a chicago deep-dish pizza to Haiti. You can read the whole story in their article entitled Giordano’s Pizza…in Haiti? They included a picture without commenting on the old style coke bottles still in use in countries like Haiti. Those bottles aren't relics. They were probably bottled in 2007. Anyway, I thought this was a fun glimpse into the little things that make a missionaries week and can be really encouraging.

Those of you who received our latest email update know this already, but we left our apartment last night for good. Well, we still have to go back and move everything out, but we aren't living there anymore. I'll quote the relevant portion of the email here...

The idea of being able to print things in 3D seems pretty neat and apparently it is a reality. In fact, Gartner claims they will become much more available for folks. They also claim several other things like we'll be abandoning notebook computers for small devices like the iPhone and Blackberry, which you've probably already heard. Hope you enjoy a video that displays what a 3D printer does...

Back in September of last year I wrote an article while at the Internet Ministry Conference called Taking Evangelism Explosion to the Web. In it I was really excited about the future of Evangelism Explosion through the new tool they are developing called What's My Story?. The things that excited me was the ability to create and build a testimony using the wisdom of EE with the flexibility of the web. What does it matter if you have a good testimony, if others aren't finding it. It sounded like EE was very interested in help getting the testimony out and wanted to build a website that could connect into facebook, forums, social networks, twitter, blogs and things like that. It was supposed to be released on Jan. 24th this year. I'd like to share with you how this is progressing.

The good guys over at Gospel.com let us know that it was missions emphasis week a little while ago and asked us to share materials with them on mission. The Gospel.com blog, despite being young, has a large audience and the chance to jump on this opportunity seemed yet another great way to get the word out about FIM. After all Missions is what we do, so I sent them over some materials. I received an email back immediately thanking me for sending it over. Today, the results came out on the blog. An article almost entirely dedicated to Fellowship International Mission, even including our logo entitled Fellowship International Mission: doing missions differently shared everything I sent them and then more. They clearly dug around the FIM website some to pull out some information.

Even better, it's my birthday. What a great birthday present! I'm really enjoying seeing how God is using me and the experience, talents and passions for the Internet here at FIM. Praise God!