Back in Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, in the KLM Sky Lounge, thinking back on Cape Town 2010.

It dawned on me that 21 years ago, the second Lausanne congress was wrapping up in Manila.  As the Director of Communications for the Lausanne Committee on World Evangelization, I had a few days of clean up to do and then fly with the completed PageMaker files to Hong Kong to print the final commorative edition of our magazine World Evangelization.

With me was my incredible wife, Kathy, and our newborn daughter Tori.  At the end of this trip, she would have spent more time out of the United States than in it!  Her passport photo was the official hospital photo that’s taken after birth.  She caused a ruckus everywhere she went in Manila.  People would stop and stare at this little, white girl with seemingly translucent blonde hair.  She was a trooper and did incredibly well everywhere she went (as long as the air conditioning wasn’t too cold). 

How time flies.  Today, she’s a junior at Seattle Pacific University.  Kathy is a professor at Cornerstone University, and I’m freelancing.  We added a second world traveler to our team, Alex, who is preparing for a YWAM DTS in Tanzania this spring.

Thanks for joining me on a jaunt through some memories.  Those flying home today from Cape Town 2010 will no doubt look back on this trip someday hence and I trust those will be warm, wonderful memories as well.

On Christmas Day, I turned my Blackberry off as I boarded a flight from Grand Rapids to Ft. Lauderdale.  The four of us (Kat, Tori, Alex & I) were off for a week of relaxation, sun, scuba and fun in Key West.   The next day, we used the phone once to set up a lunch and then to find our girls on the beach, and then I turned it off with no intention of even thinking about it for the rest of the week.

I brought my trusty Toshiba netbook with me, but only used it to do a mapquest and check diving conditions.  For the first time in  – well, maybe ever – I totally unplugged my business side for an entire week.

Finally, ten days later, driving to a client location on January 4, the phone went back on and the list of messages (email and voice) was lengthy.  Some were thought to be emergencies when they were left, but everyone survived, no projects derailed, and I could just smile…

Try this on your next vacation. As I found out, not only will you benefit, but your family will feel they finally have you – and your full attention – and that will be reward enough.