For those of you who have gone on big, once-in-a-lifetime type trips, you know the doldrums that can come after you come back home.  We spent the last two years planning this trip to Kenya and there was a ton of excitement and energy that came to our home because of it.  There are so many things to plan for, to arrange, to buy, to pack etc.  We bought gifts for our sponsored child, Isabel even raised money for gifts to give away at projects.  She spent months doing odd jobs to save money for “African children.”

Now we are home and it’s back to school and tests and mowing lawns and paying bills and all the other boring stuff of life.  I have been thinking lately about how not to lose the passion and excitement of what God taught us and showed us while we were on this trip.  How do we not forget?

Isabel told Patricia the other night that she is sad because she wants to help children but she doesn’t know what a kid her age can do.  God did some amazing things in our hearts on this trip, He changed us.  He didn’t want us to come home and just jump back into our normal lives.  Our hearts attest to that.  We know we are different.  But what are we supposed to do about it?

You would think that after 15 years of working at Compassion and leading these trips I would have all the answers.  But I don’t this time.  It is different because I wasn’t the Compassion guy on this trip.  I was a dad and a husband and a member of this Jones clan.  I don’t have to answer the “what now” question just for me.  We as a family have to answer that question.  What now?  What was the purpose of this trip for the Jones family?  We are trying to answer that as we walk through the inevitable downer that comes after a big trip. 

If there is anyone out there that has processed this kind of stuff as a family, please pass on some wisdom.  I would love to hear it.