Well, I have made it home from Romania after 8 days of hard travel, keynote speeches, meetings and intense writing before trying to challenge 300 leaders in Romania about the connection between the crisis of abortion and fulfilling the Great Commission. It was a great time. But I am dressed for outdoor work and painting today because it is my habit whenever I come home from a long trip, especially one where I have traveled alone to come back home and try to find something to do with my hands. Usually that’s yard work, but today I had to paint the bedroom and I find this to be very healthy for me because of the level of concentration.

Whenever you travel alone in China or Uganda or Romania there is always a low grade anxiety because you very rarely understand what’s going on around you. You’re always relying on so many other people to get you where you need to go. So when I come home, I’m exhausted mentally and emotionally drained. I usually have to take a couple of days to sleep and then I have to go out and do something physical.

I find that my spirit is renewed and I’m ready to re-engage the mission with study and writing, planning, managing, fundraising and doing all the other things that we need to do to advance our mission. So that’s how we work when we go off to the mission field and then come home. Today it’s a painting job. I don’t know how you do it, but we should all find a way to balance that work and recreation. Thanks.