I went to college to study Civil Engineering. One of my favorite classes was surveying. I loved being outdoors shooting grades, working with bearings, and establishing benchmarks. I was the guy that got to operate the transit (the thing you look through).

What I learned as a transit operator was a way of projecting a straight line forward. All one had to do was to take a backsight on a marker that was behind me, lock down the controls and just flip the scope over 180 degrees and then whatever I sighted on would be in an exact straight line from where I came from.

So as I apply this principle to my life and look back on 2014…here is what I see…

I have just finished my first year in ministry. It was wonderful, to say the least! We were able to take part in some significant life changes in Guatemala and growth in our ministry. For the first time in my life…I know I’m on the path that God created me to walk.

So as I lock down those controls and flip the scope…

Here is what I see looking forward to 2015…

In order for me to continue to grow and be effective in a multi-cultural ministry, I must be able to speak the language. As it stands right now, I have been relying on two years of High School Spanish to communicate with the people we serve in Guatemala. I’m horrible at it and they deserve better than that. The only reason I have not learned the language is that it’s difficult. I always find “other things” that I need to be doing when I am at home. This must change…

So, I have made the decision to move to Guatemala in June for a minimum of six months in order to learn the language. I’m going total immersion…No English! My plan is to spend the first month going to a language school in Antigua to get the basics. Then after the first month, I’ll stay with Oscar and Amy Garcia, our Ministry Leaders in Guatemala. I’ll work with them doing just about anything and everything… but only speaking Spanish.

I’ll be blogging on a weekly basis and sharing everything that I am doing, learning, and goofing up… The big question for me is…can I do it? Can I really learn the language in six months? What happens after that?

All these answers we’ll soon find out…so I hope you’ll follow me and see what happens. I guarantee it will be interesting!

Wow. What a year this has been. I am in the process of putting together our second annual report which has required me to look back on all that we have been able to accomplish this year thanks to many generous financial teammates. So if it’s ok, I would like to share the impact that we as a team have been able to make…you’re going to love it…

Light of Hope School – Guatemala

Schools

• We have 5 Christian schools still operating in Africa providing education to over 500 children and employing 34 teachers. 90% of our children come from Muslim families. Go figure!
• We have a pre-k school in Guatemala that currently has about 60 children and 3 teachers.
• A Guatemalan music teacher is using the incentive to play in the band as a way to reach children and keep them interested in school and making good grades. The band dreams of someday marching in the Macy’s Rose Bowl parade, and they had all the instruments they needed with one exception…they didn’t have a Tuba. We got them a Tuba.

Community Development

• We purchased and shipped six school buses to Africa filled with school supplies. The buses are now being used to take people throughout the region.
• We provided a Fire Truck that was donated from the City of Tyler, TX to the Guatemalan city of San Jose Pinula. This has also opened the hearts of several firefighters that want to adopt the Guatemalan station as a “sister station.” We actually brought two firefighters from Tyler with us to Guatemala this month.
• We shipped a container full of medical supplies to Guinea, West Africa in response to the Ebola epidemic. The container was filled with protective suits, medical gloves, and unfortunately…body bags.
• We held five medical clinics in Guatemala and treated approximately 1587 people.

Training

• We held a Pastor’s conference in West Africa in March and trained over 50 pastors.
• We held a Pastor’s conference in Guatemala in December and taught over 100 pastors.
• We provided 20 sewing machines to a group of women in Guatemala to begin making items to sell in the marketplace. Many of the women had never sewn before, and the learning curve is very steep. However, while they learn they are also engaging in Bible study!

Home Improvement

• I experimented with a solar light bulb for people in Guatemala to use. It’s a liter plastic bottle that sits halfway in and halfway out of the roof. Light comes in through the top and is emitted from the bottom. It produces the light of a 60W bulb and will last about eight years. We have installed several so far. They love them. The only problem is getting on the roofs to install them…many of the roofs are not stable enough to hold the weight of a person.
• We provided over 26 smokeless stoves for families that had been cooking over an open flame with no exhaust in their homes. This $250 addition to the home has been life-changing to families. It is one of the best things we do!
• We came upon a young girl in Guatemala that lost her parents and, is raising her five siblings in addition to her two children. All of them (9 people) have all been living in one room that a neighbor is letting them use. I’ve seen the room…it’s horrible. We are building them a new home now. It’s under construction, nothing fancy… but hopefully it will be ready by Christmas.

Technology & Social Media

• We have a Facebook page that has grown to over 167,000 followers! That is more than many of the fortune 500 companies! We engage an audience of over 20,000 people every day from countries all over the world. We have even had 20 decisions for Christ this year!
• We started a similar Facebook page all in Spanish as well. It mirrors much of the content we have on our main page, but we just wanted to engage our Spanish-speaking friends in Central America directly.
• Chuck’s son, Adam developed a training platform called Conscientia. We have been meeting with churches and hospital groups so they can put their training content on the platform. It’s a great tool, and we just have to figure out how to market it better. So far, we have one church using it and one hospital group (UT Southwestern Global Health Program). They have put about 15 courses on it and are loving it.

Creating Partnerships and Relationships

• By investing all of our time and resources in one common area in Guatemala, we have developed a very strong relationship with the Mayor of San Jose Pinula in Guatemala. He is also the Mayor of over 26 additional cities and settlements in a much larger geographic area. This is fascinating to me because it is rare for a governmental agency to be such a fan of a faith-based non-profit organization…especially from the U.S.
• We have developed the same type of relationship with the government of Conakry in Guinea, West Africa. We met with them in March, and they will be working with us to get land to build a community medical and training facility on. Again, how does an African Muslim country partner with a U.S. Christian non-profit?

Evangelism

• I bought a computer, a projector, church presentation software and had it delivered to our Pastor friend Karim Koroma in Guinea. Having these simple tools is unheard of in that area and it allows Pastor Karim to do Christian outreach throughout the region. Within days of receiving the equipment, he had an outreach event in a city called Kindia. About 75 people attended to watch the Jesus Film, worship, and learn about Christ. The following day 11 people were baptized.
• We have also passed out over 15,000 gospel stories called “The Gift.” It is written in both English and Spanish. One interesting observation after giving them away…I’ve NEVER seen one of them ever discarded on the ground.

Personal Transformation through Mission Trips

• We took a group of six men to Israel this year and hiked what is called the Jesus Trail. It’s a route from Nazareth to Capernaum, and we calculated we hiked over 100K. We did it over four days, and the trip was deeply personal for each participant. Walking the route that Jesus walked has completely changed the way I read the Bible. I highly recommend putting this trip on your bucket list.
• We have taken 57 people to Guatemala this year! These trips are amazing in so many aspects. Each one is different, and my favorite part is watching the Lord move in the hearts of each person uniquely. Mission trips are special in so many ways. I don’t know who blesses gets blessed the most…the people we serve or the people we take!

Summary

So, not bad for 12 months of Ministry huh!

I have never been more uncertain about what the future holds. But I’ve also never enjoyed the level of pure joy and peace that this year has brought. I’m working extremely hard. I’m working on something related to the ministry just about six days a week and about 13 hours a day. But I love it.

Added to the workload is the fact that I’ve gone back to school in order to gain the necessary knowledge and expertise that will allow me to teach better and lead in a multi-cultural environment. I’m enrolled at Fuller Theological Seminary and I’m working towards a MAGL degree (Master’s of Global Leadership). That’s what I want to do…train leaders in underdeveloped countries. School is tough, but I love all the work that is involved because I can apply what I learn immediately to the ministry. So far, I’m straight A’s!

I’m hoping this update has brought you a little insight into what 2014 has meant to me and I hope it has demonstrated how God is using Hope Ignited in a unique and significant way to help bring the light of hope to some very dark places on our planet.

I cannot begin to tell you how much doing this type of work has meant to me. We’ve got a lot of work left to do and 2015 is already shaping up to be a very busy year. I can’t wait to see what God has in store!

Thank you so very much and I hope you enjoyed this report.

Blessings,

Bob

 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. ~ Matthew 5:39.

I’ve always had a problem with this verse in the Bible. Jesus gave this command as part of our “instruction manual” as to how we should live in this fallen world. But to me, this command seemed unfair. Are we supposed to just “rollover” in life and let evil have its way with us? Is that the way God created us to live…as doormats?

Recently, I was having a conversation with a trusted and insightful friend of mine. He always makes complicated things seem clear. We were discussing a couple we both knew that were having marital problems and how they were constantly fighting. He told me that “wives always catch what the husband pitches.” Meaning that if husbands are throwing “pitches” that are demeaning, insulting, degrading, and disempowering…then that is what they can expect back from their wives. The opposite is also true. When husbands toss “pitches” from a place of love, thoughtfulness, caring, and acceptance…then that is what they too get back…eventually. (Husbands can’t throw changeups and expect immediate results.)

So I took this “sage advice” and began to apply it to everyday life. The woman at the dry cleaners, people on an elevator, people in the grocery line, people that pass me by on the street…what if I intentionally was throwing out “pitches” of love and happiness? Would it make a difference?

Well, I’ve been doing it for several months and the results are in…. I’m not sure if my “pitches” have been caught by anyone. I seriously doubt that I have changed the woman at the dry cleaner’s life by sending her “pitches” of love and happiness…but something else has happened. I have been changed. I have been filled with joy, peace, and gratitude as a result of intentionally moving through my day in this manner. I have experienced evil people cutting me off in traffic, being rude, and all of life’s unfairness, and yet…I’m full of joy!

So maybe when Jesus was giving us this instruction…it was for our benefit…because in this world…we will encounter evil…but we don’t have to be defeated by it. We can simply choose to throw a different type of “pitch.”

I hope this helps. The count is 3 and 2… Make your next “pitch” a good one!

This fire truck was donated by the City of Tyler, TX. It is a 1997 and is now the newest fire truck in the entire country of Guatemala!

On a recent trip to Guatemala, we were in the middle of co-hosting a medical clinic for the city of San Jose Pinula when I was asked to step outside. I went outside and both Chuck, Oscar and myself were asked to climb into the Toyota pickup truck with the Mayor of the city. The Mayor was a young man that looked to be in his early forties. He was accompanied by two armed personal guards that sat in the bed of the pickup truck and kept a watchful eye on us. The first thing I noticed as the mayor started the truck and drove away from the clinic was the kevlar bulletproof jacket that was draped over the back of his drivers seat. My guess is that it was not merely for decoration!

We drove into the countryside and passed through different areas of town as the Mayor pointed out to us all of the improvements he and his administration had underway. Dirt roads being paved with concrete, underground drainage systems being installed, community centers being built and medical clinics as well. As we toured from area to area, one thing I quickly realized was that everyone knew his vehicle. Evidently, he was quite popular with the villagers as he constantly waived and acknowleged people with a quick “toot” of his horn. However, I also learned that there was a faction of people that did not appreciate all of his efforts…hence the kevlar…

Our tour finally brought us to a beautiful building that was currently under construction and was nearly completed. It was the sole fire station in San Jose Pinula. It was a beautiful two story building with everything you might expect in a fire station…except a fire truck. They didn’t have a fire truck. After we toured the building, the Mayor politely asked if we knew of a way we could help him get a truck. Chuck and I looked at each other and chuckled and said, “we’ll try” knowing full well we had no connections or places to begin the search. The Mayor took us back to the clinic and we shook hands and finished our day in the clinic.

Upon returning back to the States days later, Chuck made a call to a Hope Ignited Board Member, Mark Whatley who is Mayor Pro Tem in Tyler, Texas to give him a rundown on our trip. Chuck said, “Do you have any idea where I would be able to find a fire truck that someone wants to donate?” Mark said he didn’t but would make a call to the Tyler Fire Chief.

Hours later, Mark called Chuck to tell him that he had spoken with the Fire Chief and “it just so happened that the City of Tyler had just made the decision to retire one of their fire trucks.” Within three days of that phone call, the Legal Department had drafted a document that transferred the vehicle to Hope Ignited, the City Council has voted to transfer the vehicle and the Mayor had signed off on it. Three days!

On October 8th in Tyler, Texas at a ceremony in the Tyler Mayor’s office, the keys to the fire truck were presented to the Mayor of San Jose Pinula. Mark Whatley took it upon himself to have a decal designed and created and placed on the Fire Truck that proudly reads, The City of San Jose Pinula Fire Department! In addition, members of the Tyler Fire Department have “adopted” the new fire department in San Jose Pinula as a sister station and several members of the department will be traveling to Guatemala to meet, train and assist the Guatemalan fire fighters.

How cool is that? Who could have ever guessed that so much would come from a simple step of faith…

We answer to a big God and at times…many times…we will be asked to do things that don’t make any sense. My hope is that we will recognize these opportunities as small tests of faith. If we move forward regardless of what logic, reason or other people say…amazing things often happen.

The recent weeks have been a roller coaster for me. My emotions have been tested and my heart has been stretched in many ways I’ve yet to fully process… So, I am going to try to lay it out…as it is…straight from my heart…

My Dad –

My 90-year old Dad had surgery on Friday to remove a tangerine-sized brain tumor that was surrounding his optic nerve and growing rapidly. Who in their right mind would operate on a 90-year old man?

Taylor, Bob, Allen, and Steve

Our family has been blessed with longevity, but the odds were certainly stacked against Dad. We all had the opportunity to discuss the odds of him just making it through surgery and we all finally just turned it over to God. His will…was our will. A difficult place to get to…

My family responded the only way we could…in prayer….a relatively new place for us.

But God evidently was not finished with my Dad. He made it through the 9-hour surgery and surprised everyone when he was feeding himself the very next day and walking the day after that! Each day has been an extended blessing and miracle.

How can I express such gratitude to God?

Guatemala –

I just returned again from a week-long mission trip to Guatemala. We held a medical clinic that treated over 300 patients, we built 2 stoves for widows, and we helped establish a woman’s sewing center that also serves as a Bible study group for the women as well as a means to make income.

I met two women that are widows and have blended families living together in a small hut with all of their children. They all share one bedroom and an outdoor community toilet, an outdoor water source, and a cooking area. Deplorable conditions for anyone. They don’t know this but we are going to be building them a new home in the upcoming months.

Why?

It’s not about the clinic, the stoves, the sewing machines, or even the new homes…what we are bringing each time we go to Guatemala is hope. We are trying to let them know and see that they are loved and noticed. We won’t give up on them…regardless.

Africa –

I’m sure you’re all aware of the Ebola virus and the effect that it has had on the countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. These are all the countries we work in and have several new schools in both Guinea and Sierra Leone. The virus was announced while I was still in the country back in March and it really took off just days after we left.

West Africa is one of the most difficult places on earth to live as it is…it is even more so now. While thousands have experienced its health effects, hundreds of thousands have been affected economically. Maintaining a sense of hope in such an environment is the key to survival… and in recent months, hope has been in decreasing supply. How can we restore it?

With the school year beginning, it is our goal to give a sense of normalcy to the communities in Guinea and Sierra Leone. We need teachers, administrators, pastors, and staff to be paid. This is something that has been missing as a result of the health crisis. We need to help families with tuition expenses and school supplies so that children can begin the school year and continue their education without interruption. We need to join our brothers and sisters in Christ to help and it doesn’t take a lot of money either!

I watch social media daily as people pour ice water over their heads to raise awareness for ALS. What hurts me so much is that the $2.00 that was spent for that bag of ice could have bought a pair of protective surgical gloves that doctors in West Africa no longer have! They have been using PLASTIC BAGS for gloves and many of the doctors have either abandoned their hospitals or have died by treating infected patients without protective gear.

I’m not trying to create a guilt trip or to minimize the good intent of what people are trying to do…I just know suffering…and I know how far one simple dollar can go to ease such suffering…and I wish I could divert just some of the money to help those that need it desperately…for the hope of a better tomorrow…something we all take for granted.

As I said, this has been a difficult couple of weeks and I’m not sure what to do with all of it. My heart is full of gratitude and at the same time…it’s breaking for the things I see and watch take place in our world. Through it all though…I’m just hanging on to the one thing I know… my heart is not the only one breaking…

Blessings to us all,

Bob

My Dad…

Today is Father’s Day.

It’s typically a day of Hallmark cards, meals on the grill, and carving out a bit of our day to say a special “thanks” to our Dads. But today I wanted to do something in addition to that… I want to reflect on all of the men that have touched my life in a marked and significant way.

I’m sure they are used to being thanked by their families, but I’ll bet they never thought of the influence they were having on someone else…namely…me.

So here is an attempt to think back and to highlight just some of the men whose words or actions have made an impression on me in my life…

• God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – thank you for being who you are, doing what you did, and doing what you are doing.
• Allen E. Cloyd, Jr. –thank you for telling me you’re proud of me and that you love me…most men never get to hear that.
• Andy Danielson – thank you for teaching me how to approach problems as opportunities and to keep things in perspective.
• Andy Stanley – thank you for continuing to inspire me, teach me, and challenge me to grow spiritually.
• Berkley Williams – thank you for showing me that even adults can act like kids.
• Billy King – thank you for being a great cousin that always made me work hard just to try to keep up.
• Bob Lucas – thank you for the significant mark you made in my life as a man and a stepfather…you’ve shown me the way.
• Bob Saelinger – thank you for showing me how to “prepare the man for the path…not the path for the man.”
• Chad King – thank you for being the first person I knew to openly embraced your faith and live by it.
• Chuck Jamison – thank you for your continuing friendship and mentorship and for encouraging me to “push all my chips to the center of the table.”
• David Hammerstrom – thank you for adding me to a very special group of guys that shaped my life in such a positive way.
• David Ripley – thank you for pushing me to do the right things the right way.
• Dr. James P. King – thank you for paving the way for our family in so many ways.
• Dr. William Whitman King – thank you for being like a second dad to me.
• Father Nick Rice – thank you for loving me through all the mistakes and for showing me what a man of faith looks like.
• Fred Hames – thank you for your constant friendship and for teaching me so much about business development.
• Grady DeVilbiss – thank you for sending me to football camp, the many trips up the mountain, and for being like an older brother to me.
• Guy Newton – thank you for making work so much fun.
• Hal Flowers – thank you for including me on the many trips to Key West to dive for the lobster…I still am uncertain as to why I was so fortunate.
• Harvey Jefferies – thank you for allowing me to earn Christmas money working in the hot attic of your department store.
• Jack Cook – thank you for your family that became my family and for driving me home up the mountain so many times when you would have much rather been home.
• Jack Johnson – thank you for hitting me on the football helmet with that twirling whistle that made ears ring…just to let me know that you were watching me.
• Jay Leopold – thank you for being such a great leader, boss, and friend and for including me in the conversations that helped me grow in so many ways.
• Jim Coughlin – thank you for the many afternoons in your Florida office with the styrofoam cups filled with ice and crown as we struggled with completing a difficult project together with humor and excellence.
• Jim Norris – thank you for years of support, love, and friendship despite the circumstances.
• John Kratzer – thank you for trusting me enough to give me the job that changed the trajectory of my life.
• John Waterworth – thank you for being such a good football coach and not laughing when I called you “Dad” after I got a concussion.
• Lincoln Lee – thank you for being such a great teacher that I both loved and feared.
• Mark Hopkins – thank you for leading me into the Bible to see things I never knew were there.
• Mark Thompson – thank you for being such a great dad to my daughter.
• Mikel Homa – thank you for being such a great friend and for teaching me so much about my walk with Jesus.
• Miles McPherson – thank you for baptizing me and giving me the opportunity to build your church.
• Norm Lineburg – thank you for being such a great role model and football coach and for showing me that your point could be perfectly made without using profanity.
• Oscar Garcia – thank you for showing me what a life of ministry and faith can and should look like.
• Pastor Karim Koroma – thank you for inspiring me just by knowing you.
• Peter Nosler – thank you for giving me the opportunity you gave me to work with your incredible company.
• Peter Salvati – thank you for your leadership and friendship and for giving me so many opportunities to “do great things.”
• Ralph Doud – thank you for the many trips up the mountain when Grady couldn’t and for being like an older brother to me.
• Rev. Charles Charlton – thank you for being such a great soft-spoken coach to a young and impressionable boy.
• RG Stevens – thank you for Claytor Lake and the memories that were made there.
• Ron Lindon – thank you for being my coach and for constantly pushing me to be a better quarterback.
• Russ Richardson – thank you for your service to our country and for your devotion to your family.
• Sam Reed – thank you for your significant influence on me to dream bigger and think deeper.
• Steve Cloyd – thank you for being such a great brother and for goofing up so I look better…just kidding…kind of.
• Tommy Hassell – thank you for being such a great coach and for afternoons filled with baseball tossing in the street and basketball games in the alley.
• Wilmer Villacorta – thank you for leading me down the road to a new realization of just who I am and who I am becoming.

This is just a shortlist of just some of the men that have touched my life in some significant way and to them, I take a moment just to say a long overdue “thank you.”

They say it takes a village to raise a child…and I think by reviewing my list…I can attest to the truth in this statement.

Today more than any time in history, our future is dependent on the lives we touch. The reality is…we are influencing more people than we may be aware of…we only get one shot at this life…but the lives we may be impacting are endless…

Happy Fathers Day.

Today is Good Friday.

I’ve never really understood the “Good” behind it. Yes, I understand it “intellectually” but my heart hasn’t fully caught on… thinking about all that happened to Jesus on this day.

Today is a day of introspection for me and I do it with a heavy heart.

So this morning, I was reflecting on the events of that day and their significance. I was reading the book of Matthew and this sentence jumped out…

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. – Matthew 27:51

You see, the curtain of the temple closed off the holiest room of the temple. Only the high priest could enter, once a year and stand in the presence of God.

The tearing of the curtain was a symbol that the death of Jesus had opened the way for all of mankind to approach God…but the funny thing is…

…it was torn from the top down…

Never again would we be separated from God…and He was the one that ended that separation!

Ok…maybe I’m beginning to see the “Good” in today after all… 🙂

This has been an amazing couple of months for me. I have traveled over 25,000 miles and have been in 5 different countries.

I’ve hiked, toured, preached, taught, built, led, and followed…and all the while I’ve tried to keep my awareness centered on the overwhelming gratitude I feel to be fortunate doing what I’m doing.

During the past couple of months, I’ve been able to travel to Israel and walk in the footsteps of where Christ walked. Hiking through Israel brought the Bible to life for me. Being able to spend day after day in the quiet countryside walking from town to town was almost like walking quietly with Jesus himself.

Then spending a little bit of time in Paris was eye-opening as well. Beautiful churches and cathedrals of massive scale but in a country where 63 percent of the youth claim to have “no religion.” I read in a recent poll by the Christian Missionary Alliance that less than 0.5 percent of France’s population claims to be Evangelistic Christians. What was once the world’s center of Christian faith is now quickly becoming a Christian graveyard.

Then moving into Africa where the exact opposite is true. Christianity is growing at a significant rate and Africa will be the world’s center of Christianity by the year 2050. People in Africa have nothing but their faith…and that in itself makes them rich in God’s eyes.

Finally in Guatemala, I got to observe Oscar and Amy Garcia. A husband and wife team living out their faith…not by what they say…but by what they do. They care for an entire village by providing the spiritual, physical, and emotional needs of anyone that they come in contact with. Much of what they do gets no “air time” and many times they provide for others out of their own finances. But in doing so, the community gets to see something they may not understand… they get to see a glimpse of Christ moving through the hearts and resources of Oscar and Amy and into their own hearts.

During this period of intense travel, I wanted to always be mindful that “God was with me.” Either as a protector, a guide, a doctor, or my father and Creator, I never wanted to get so caught up in what I was doing that I overlooked my need for God. So during my travels, I decided I would seek Him out. I would take a photograph of anything that existed in nature that looked like a cross or reminded me of Him.

Here are some of the photos of what I saw…

Carpet in our hotel room in Israel.

Window in Paris

Light pole support in Israel

Tow truck on the freeway.

Utility cover in Guatemala.

Telephone pole in Africa

Guatemala home

Widow’s home in Guatemala.

Marking on the wall of an old cathedral in Antigua, Guatemala.

Side of a home in Guatemala.

Marking on a stone in Zippori National Park in Israel.

These are just a few of the photos…but you get the idea… God is all around us… and is available to us at all times…we just sometimes forget to look.

Christ’s Burial Tomb

I really enjoyed doing this…and like the Bible says…seek and you shall find. My prayer for all of us…especially during Easter…is that we take the time to look. If you do…He promises…you’ll find Him.

Happy Easter!

~ Bob

Question: What’s the best thing you’ve ever spent money on?

I’m sitting on a Delta flight as I write this and I’m about 12 hours into a 20-hour trip back home from a marathon travel trip to Israel, Paris, and Africa. I’ve been gone for 21 days and have hiked well over 100km, explored new cities, and endured others. My stomach is at war with me at the moment due to contracting something in Africa and I am exhausted…but my heart is full and I wouldn’t trade any of it for anything. I paid for the trip out of my savings and I would do it all over again. I believe the return on my investment was significant.

So what makes a good investment…a good investment? It’s certainly more than just earning more money. A recent article in the February issue of Men’s Health magazine addresses this issue and the following list is what they call the Bang for the Buck Bible:

1. Give a gift to someone you know or are close to. There is no better feeling than when someone’s life has been made better just because you contributed in some way.
2. Invest in something you have to train or work hard for, like a marathon. The feeling of accomplishment carries more meaning than any single purchase.
3. Travel. It creates feelings of connectedness to people and places around the world that provide vivid and lasting memories.
4. Stretch yourself. Invest in learning a new hobby that brings you joy and expands your mind and senses.

I think this is a pretty decent list and it only gets better if you can find a way to combine them into the same activity. Going on short-term mission trips is a perfect way to do this because you’re providing some type of service to someone in need, you certainly work hard, you travel to places that are sometimes difficult and uncomfortable, and what you learn about yourself and others really expands your mind.

I’d say going on a short-term trip gives you a pretty good bang for your buck! It certainly was for me!

Delivering school supplies shipped from Texas!

I would love to hear what the best thing you’ve ever spent money on!

Let me know in the comments below!

I never knew how prophetic this question would become until I would experience it firsthand.

I recently returned from a two-week intensive study as part of the Master’s Degree program I’m enrolled in. As part of our class requirement, I was to give a 10-minute presentation of “my story”. We were asked to highlight our spiritual journey as well as other details about our life that would enable the class to get a good sense of who we were and what we were looking for by taking the class.

These types of class projects are always difficult. How do you select a life’s worth of events and string them together so they become an accurate representation of who you are? Also, I’ve never met anyone who has had a spiritual journey that didn’t have a significant amount of pain and regret included… and how much of that did I want to add to the mix? So I made a conscious decision to add “some” of those painful moments and to intentionally skip over some of the others that had a deeper “sting”.

So presentation day came and I stood before 25 of my brand new fellow classmates and shared the story I was comfortable sharing. When it came time for questions at the end of my presentation, I was asked a very specific question that could only be answered with a “Yes or No”. This particular question was one of the most regrettable and painful parts of my life and story. Well, it surprised me when the words that immediately came out of my mouth were not the truth. It was a lie. There I stood…in front of a classroom of people I will spend the next 3 to 4 years within a class on Character, Leadership, and Community and I was misrepresenting to them who I was. In other words…I lied. Nice start Bob.

Three days went by without me saying anything to anyone, but I knew…and God knew. Then as God would have it, I was having a conversation with one of my classmates over coffee and I slipped up and gave away the very fact I had misrepresented to the class. In the first few seconds, I hoped it had not been noticed…but I was wrong. I had been confronted by my deception….now what?

My mind was racing. I knew what I had done. I knew what I had to do. I had to “come clean” with my classmates and admit what I had done and ask them for forgiveness. I was embarrassed, ashamed and I was certain that I would be asked to leave the program. The demons in my mind were having a ‘field day”. I had lived up to everything I didn’t want to become. Good job, Bob.

So that night I prayed and wrote a letter to my classmates on our private class website. I outlined exactly what I had done and asked them for forgiveness. When I pushed “send” it was like pushing the knife through my own heart. I then turned off the computer and tried to bury myself in a book.

Hours later before I went to bed, I opened up my computer one last time just to see if anyone had read or responded to my confession…. and what I saw and read brought me to tears. I was met with such an outpouring of forgiveness, love, support, and encouragement that my heart couldn’t contain it all. Note after note expressed heartfelt love, expressions of gratitude and forgiveness, and even admiration! I was overwhelmed and humbled by it all. I was loved…despite my actions. I was loved for not what I had done…but for who I was. I was loved for my weakness. I was loved by my community.

I was loved as Jesus loves us.

Let me say this…there is nothing that can compare to this kind of love.

Since then, many other hearts in our class have opened and we are interacting authentically and deeply with each other. It is a beautiful thing and I guess I am thankful that God chose to use me in such a way I never anticipated or expected.

So, when I think about the story I want to tell…more importantly…the story I want to live…I know in it…I don’t have to be perfect. I don’t have to be ashamed of the failures…past, present, and future. My story is still being written…each and every day…and it’s not so much what I’ve done that is important….it’s how I respond. This is what matters most…and this was the gift my classmates lovingly extended to me…

It’s called grace…and I’m grateful for it.