GlocalNet

It feels so good to be back home. This was a long, busy, and, in some ways, hard trip--yet incredibly fruitful. I have a lot of work to do from the trip, but all of it is engagement that makes a difference in the world. Several people told me they saw me on CNN, I didn’t see it. If you find the link let me know. I made a lot of new friends that are on the same path from the Middle East to South Korea. It’s amazing how God is bringing all our paths together. We are all very different in our expressions of the church, yet we all have the same passion for Jesus and vision for the world. Two people I really appreciate in all of this. . .

My wife - Nikki. I don’t like being away from her, maybe it’s because our kids are gone now and she is my home. When she met me at the airport yesterday, decked out in her jeans and red blazer and black turtle neck - woooo baby . . . . . But beyond that--her prayer, her walk with God, her faithfulness, her servants attitude to so many women and pastors wives in our church, her “give ‘em all you got Bob” kind of spirit - I couldn’t do these things without her. Some women, are really beautiful when they’re in their 20’s and after that it’s all down hill, not just looks, but Spirit and attitude, and maturity. God gave me a wife who is a class act--her beauty outwardly is more than matched by her beauty inwardly. Thank you Father for my wife. (Nikki, we need to talk about that BMW motorcycle later today! - just kidding!)

Chris Seiple - I’ve been with him a lot in delegations and meetings and etc. We are constantly interweaving our networks and relationships - we both do top down and bottom up engagement - but his speciality is top down and mine bottom up. His is more the realpolitik diplomacy, mine is more the realpeopleola connectatoa. He really loves God, thinks deeply theologically, debates vigorously sensitive issues when we are alone, and doesn’t mind laughing at me a lot. Two weeks is a long time to spend with someone - we had a blast. How he does diplomacy and how I do church is very different in our world - combining the two according to our strengths and then creating something new and unique has had a lot of power. I’m excited about where this is leading. We did Vietnam together the past couple of years, then the Middle-East - a long way to go there - but there’s this other place we keep talking about. He has his contacts and invites there and I do as well - I think they’re about to come together--hopefully God will give us a little more time before they do.