From scrolls to IMs

Have you ever pondered what it was like for the early church to communicate with one another as the faith spread around the present-day Middle East and beyond -- especially when they were out on missionary journeys? How long it took to hear from one another?

That thought crossed my mind once again this week in a moment on the mission trip to Belize. While sitting in the business center at the Radisson in Belize City, I was using Skype to communicate with Carrie and Jerrell in the Missions Office at HFBC while waiting for an e-mail from Sarah with the lyrics for a song to use at the orphanage. While doing that, I was on IM with Elmer, a student ministry leader we met in Cuba last summer.

In my inbox was an e-mail from Ricky -- the guy in India I've been encouraging since our trip in January 2005. There was also an Evite from Stan inviting me to a party to learn about all that happened on the HFBC trip to China (which was leaving the next day).

During these few moments in the business center, I also received a reply to my Belize update from Susannah. She arrived in Mongolia earlier in the week for a one-year missionary commitment. She added that two Baylor alums had just arrived, too -- one of whom had just come from doing mission work in Belize!

I mean, come on. That's amazing, isn't it? I'm sure full-time missionaries who may be reading this may be thinking, "What's the big deal? I get e-mails here in my hut in the jungle all the time!" But as a guy who only goes on a mission trip about once a year, I have to sit back and just marvel at it all.

(By the way ... as I type this, I'm sitting in an internet cafe in San Pedro, Belize. I said goodbye to the rest of the team as they took off from the pier about an hour ago for Belize City. In my inbox was an e-mail from Trena updating us on her plans to be a two-year missionary to Africa.)