I’d almost forgotten that a couple of years ago I opened a Flickr photo account, not coincidentally titled Travels With Me. (Actually the Flickr account was the first of the Travels With Me social media sites). I was going through some old emails today and came across the account information so I spent some time cleaning it up and making it a bit more presentable by grouping pictures into sets to make them more organized.

It is interesting for me to look through the images I’ve posted and the ton I could still put up from places I’ve been. I can honestly say I would never have guessed 25 years ago I’d travel anywhere. Heck I didn’t have any plans 25 years for much of anything. God has certainly blessed. Hopefully I’ll have many more travels ahead. Feel free to come along.

Too often the images and reports we North Americans see and hear from Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and other Central Asian countries are often alarmist and create barriers in our minds toward people about whom we know very little. We give little consideration to the fact that so many of the people who live in those areas are not members of terrorist groups and are not the politically influential who climb to power on the backs of poor and destitute people.

The reality is little has changed in thousands of years in the way the people live, migrate sheep, shop in markets and choke down dust living in dry, open ranges while sleeping in little huts. The reality is that an alarmingly few number of the people have ever heard the name of Jesus Christ. These are the people who live in countries that are home to the Silk Road.

I have some friends who work in some of these countries and they’d appreciate your prayer support. They’ve developed an incredible website that takes the viewer on a journey to countries in which most of us would never think about stepping foot. Please check it out. You can find it at www.alongthesilkroad.org.

I love cars. I love really cool cars; fast cars; exotic cars. The UK isn’t Germany, but we’ve got some really cool cars from all over the world. I even trailed a 2008 Mustang Bullitt, the 40th Anniversary car of the one in the clip (one of the most famous car chase scenes ever). But those are rare here and the norm is to see a variety of Porsches, Ferraries and other European sports cars. There is a show that originates from here called Top Gear. It is a car junkie’s dream. It can be seen in the US on public television late on Sunday nights, but it is on ALL the time here in syndication.

The host, Jeremy Clarkson is the embodiment of British sarcasm and humor. Beyond his hilarious on-camera rapport with his co-hosts, he is an incredible satirical writer and authors a column for the London Times. I love his humor and he reminds me of a favorite boyhood writing idol of mine, Lewis Grizzard. If Grizzard had been British, he’d be Clarkson.

Look them both up and read….and enjoy craftsmen at work.

There are many reasons to dislike American Airlines. Being dumped in Brussels, Belgium is not one of them.

I was part of a team last year that went to Uganda. American ran behind schedule from the time we left Nashville, enough that we missed our connection in Belgium. As a result we had an all-expense paid inconvenience in a pretty cool place. Since it was an overnight flight we arrived in the morning so my strategy is to always stay up until it is time to go to bed local time. So, several of us dropped our luggage and headed into the city center. Below are some images from that trip. I recommend Belgian waffles covered with Belgian chocolate. They are all they are cracked up to be.

(One caveat to these images….I took them while walking around by myself. It is still in question as to whether I got separated from the other four people I was with or if I was ditched by my four “friends.” I’m not pointing any fingers, but…)

My first golf outing here in the UK. Course is narrow and short, putting a premium on well placed shots. The biggest challenge may be avoiding the dog poop and pedestrians milling about the public grounds upon which the private course sits.

One year ago Friday (Nov. 6) I received a phone call asking if we’d be “interested in throwing some things in a crate” and move overseas. Total shock would be the best way to describe my response. I pushed away from my desk, thoughts spinning, until I could catch my breath. When I did I rolled forward to my keyboard, opened a Web browser, pulled up Google and entered what any other clear-thinking, priority driven human being would surely have searched: GOLF COURSES NEAR REIGATE ENGLAND.

BOOM! Like stars lighting up the night sky dozens of little red balloons populated my Google map. One year to the day later I teed it up at the Reigate and Redhill Golf Course. A private course on public land. Not sure what that means other than you have to watch for the pedestrians roaming around the course like strolling through a park. And in the UK  where there are pedestrians roaming there are dogs roaming. Where there are dogs, there is dog poop. At least the course rules allow for it as noted on the back of the scorecard:

Proof for a particular friend of mine that I can actually hit a green. I did four times, in regulation. Kind of a big deal for me.

“FREE DROP: If animal droppings (with the exception of rabbits), interfere with a player’s stance or playing of the shot anywhere on the Course, the ball may be lifted, cleaned and dropped within one club-length, not nearer the hole, without penalty.”

Unfortunately, there were no course exceptions for six balls I hit among the ever-pervasive, golf-ball consuming gorse bushes prominent here in Western Europe.