Through the Travels (Years)

My missions mentor spent 8-9 months a year on the road. I was clocking about 4 months a year from 22 trips at my busiest.

Speaking from the perspective of a man and also from spending many years in the pastoral ministry, it is never a good thing to be away frequently from home. Man has physical drives beyond that of food. With no recourse he will be grouchy, miserable and irritable. When I was pastoring, my congregation was at the short end of the stick from preachers and teachers who were away from their family once too often or once too long.

Each one has a certain threshold of tolerance towards loneliness and being homesick. When reached, it will take away their "sweet spirit". The main challenge in missing one another is to maintain a sweet spirit in the course of the ministry, refusing to allow little things to mar doing a good job with a sweet spirit.

When I first started my travelling to the field, it was usually for up to 12 days. And I travel alone most of the time. It was a call of God at that time as He is sending me as, "one man."

And the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man. Judges 6:16 NKJV).

I may be at three countries per trip. So I mitigate the dangers by staying with friends or in family hotels where you can see 3-4 generations under one roof. I never go out after dinner unless I am with local friends in the ministry. And I set a policy where colleagues of the opposite sex will not stay in the same hotel.

As I grew in the ministry, my role changed. Yes, my stature has grown and coupled with an increasing portfolio in the ministry, I was able to break the trips up into 2 or 3. It is more strategic for me to divide my time careful between my base and the field. The base nurtured the field. This was where resources were raised.

At this point the main challenge was the physical body. Every few months I would have a serious bout of viral flu where I will be completely knocked out for up to 2 weeks. On occasions I have contracted flu on the road and it is no joke to be sick when away from home. I do usually pack a course of Zithromax in my luggage to handle these mini-emergencies. And not only that every 3-4 years I would have a serious ailment where I need to cut my trips down for a period of a few months.

Reflecting, all in all it was excitement and passion that started my travels but later sustained by the call of God. We have to care for our total being in order to have a sustained and successful ministry.