The day has finally arrived! Rebekah and I are headed to Europe. By this time tomorrow morning we should be in Dresden, catching up with the fabulous international adventures of our globe-trotting son Andrew and his beautiful wife, Alicia.

Of course, in a sense their adventures are only just beginning; because sometime in the next few days baby Pashby-Maul will show up and their tiny apartment will shrink to the size of an Ikea demonstration exhibit!

We have packed accordingly. Just a backpack each and no checked baggage. But we did leave room for “Flat Jesus.” This is an initiative of our children’s ministries team, and so far he’s been all over the United States and beyond.

The idea is twofold:

• First, to share our travels with the church family,
• and then to carry this sense of community, and connectedness with our faith as a physical presence.

It’s fun, and at the same time a tangible reminder that wherever we are, and whatever we are up to, Jesus has promised to go and to be with us.

We understand that we don’t have to bring Jesus into the world; Jesus is already there and our challenge is to join him in his initiatives of light and grace. But it is important that we make the daily decision to invite Jesus into our lives and to intentionally involve God in our plans and our intentions.

So today, somewhere in the top of a backpack, Flat Jesus is flying to Philadelphia, then overnight to Prague (Czech Republic), and then on to Dresden (Germany) in the morning.

May God be in all of us, travel with us, and shine through us – DEREK