It is always good to get home, however delightful and inspiring travel excursions. After almost two weeks in Texas we faced busy days of yard work, laundry, processing mail and preparing for pending engagements. I will be speaking in chapel at Mississippi College on Tuesday, a missions banquet on the Gulf Coast Thursday night and then traveling to Shreveport for a weekend spiritual warfare seminar at Broadmoor Baptist Church.

After visiting friends and places of former ministry in North Texas, it was a joy to be with Dr. Danny Forshee and the wonderful congregation at Great Hills Baptist Church in Austin for a mission banquet and 9/11 challenge. We concluded the trip with a fantastic World Mandate conference in Waco and filled in the week between vacationing in the Hill Country of Central Texas.

One of our favorite places from the past is Salado with its antique malls, boutiques and coffee shops. Staying at the 19th century Inn of Salado, where Bobbye is enjoying a relaxing moment in the swing, and eating at the iconic Stagecoach Inn were high on our priority.

We did not have to fight any wildfires but we did smell them and drive through the smokey haze from time to time. My suspicion was confirmed after numerous stops along the highway that “collectibles” is a sophisticated term for junk! It is not advisable to go antiquing in a spacious SUV as the ability to transport goods home compromises the resistance to making purchases. We did limit our stash to a few blue and white pottery pieces to add to Bobbyeʼs collection.

Time in Fredericksburg gave us a sense of the historic and pioneer legacy of this part of Texas as well as an opportunity to visit the largest wildflower farm in the world, the LBJ ranch and Luchenbach (pop. 3) made famous by Willie Nelson and still the gathering place for country musicians.

Staying in the restored ghost town of Gruene in New Braunfels at an ancient Bed & Breakfast was our favorite with its endless shops and quaint restaurants. We were disappointed that the drought had reduced the water level of the Guadeloupe River too low to go tubing, but we did enjoy relaxing under the shade trees by the placid waters.

World Mandate is an annual mission conference sponsored by Antioch Ministries International in Waco. More than 5,000 people, mostly students from all over Texas, Oklahoma and from as far as California fill the Ferrell Center Coliseum at Baylor University for this annual event. Characterized by passionate worship and inspiring testimonies, the conference features an outstanding parade of speakers challenging participants to reach the world. The altar and aisles were packed each session with hundreds who responded to the invitation to “Run to the Battle” and give their lives to take the gospel to the unreached peoples of the world. I was convinced the future of missions is in good hands with the generation God is raising up to finish the task!