Africa

We arrived back home safe and sound about 10:00 last night to discover that the election was over and Obama had won. It is good to know that the Lord is in control of all things including the direction of our nation. I am completely optimistic about the future and am anxious to watch it unfold.

Whenever I travel by plane I wonder who will be sitting next to me. I knew that the flight to France would be long and I hoped that I would sit next to someone who might need to hear the Gospel. I thought that the odds were favorable that the person who would land in the seat next to me would not have a relationship with Jesus Christ and that I would have a chance to talk to them about Jesus. On our first flight a man from Nairobi, Africa named John sat next to me for just a few minutes before moving to another seat. The plane was not full and he moved to have more room. He was a business man on his way to Sweden for a meeting and then he was headed back to his home in Nairobi. I asked what his name was and he said "John" and when I said my name was Paul he replied "Two Apostles." Between his name and his knowing the Apostles I figured he was a Christian. Our next flight was also not full and their was no one sitting next to me except of course my sweet wife, Janie. On our return flight Janie sat next to a nurse from New Mexico who had been on vacation in Europe. On our flight to Dallas I sat between to men. The man to my left was a black man from Texas who put his earphones on immediately and slept most of the way and wore his earphones the whole way. The man to my right saw my Bible right off and began to tell me his story. He was returning from a mission trip to Africa. He was a member of Lake Fork Baptist Church near Lake Fork, Texas. He said that they had over 2000 professions of Faith while they were there. I told him about our church and our mission work in France. He spent his flying time reading a book about a missionary in Africa while I read the Song of Songs. It seems that everyone I sat with had some connection to Africa. I return to the news that our country has elected a President with an African connection. I am not sure what is going on with this African connection and our trip to France but at the least I will begin to pray for Africa and God's mission works there. I brought home from France a package that an African Missionary who is in the States right now wanted Jason to send to him. I will be putting that in the mail today.

I got up early this morning to get started on my day. There are several things I must get done today. I will work on my sermon for tonight and do some visitation. I have been working on a text in First Corinthians chapter five, which I will be teaching Sunday night. I will try to put the finishing touches on that today as well. We will be going over to Henderson on Thursday so Janie can see to her parents needs and I will work on our house there. Friday morning I will try to get some more done on my thesis before returning to Hillsboro Friday evening. The picture is of Jason and his kids out in front of a super store named "CORA." It is about 4 times the size of Wal-Mart and has just about every thing you could want. God bless you.