And Away I Go

I am at the Atlanta Airport writing this post. My flight to Ghana leaves in about an hour. In case you are just stumbling across this blog, I am headed to city named Tamale which is in Northern Ghana in West Africa to teach for a semester at a Baptist seminary. While I am there I will be teaching Christian Ethics and Christian Family Life to Ghanaian pastors. I will also be working with Seed Ministry doing the work we always do there (preaching, teaching, and working in the villages). While I am in Tamale I will be living at the Seed Ministry compound with Rev. Bob and Bonnie Parker. That is always a joy.

The best one word description of what I am feeling tonight as I embark on this adventure is grateful. I am grateful God called me to Ghana five years ago and that he has called me back there again and again. I am grateful for all the people along the way that did their part to steer me towards Ghana to begin with, some without even realizing they were doing it. I am grateful that my family understands what I am doing and supports me in it unequivocally. I am especially grateful that my beautiful wife supports me and am even more grateful that she is a partner with me in the work, even if she isn't with me in person this time. I am grateful my parents understand. I will never forget the day I told my parents that God had called me to be a preacher. The first words out of mom's mouth were, "At least you're not moving to Africa or something!" Oops, sorry Mom. I am also very, very grateful for all the financial support and prayer support that makes what I am doing a possibility and, more importantly makes it effective.

My plan is to try to blog as regularly as I can; for my sake as a kind of log of what happens, and for others to read who may be interested in hearing about it. I won't have a tremendous amount of regular Internet access, certainly nothing like we have here in the States, but I'll blog as often as I can. I hope you'll meet me here to share the journey. You can follow this blog, or keep up on Facebook (www.facebook.com/doctorstevej). If you'd like to write me, my mailing address is Dr. Steve Jackson, Box 465 ER, Tamale, Ghana. You can also text encouragement, prayers, and news to my cell phone, which I will have with me while I am there.

Until next time, this is Steve signing off – I'll be in touch again 12 hours and 6000 miles from now. Go with God.