Sharron Pankhurst
Executive Editor

No matter where I’ve traveled -- to Paris, Italy, Barcelona, Latvia, Lithuania, Denmark, St. Petersburg, and, a personal favorite, Santorini in the Aegean Sea—when I made time to sit back and people-watch, I realized that they were just like me.

I saw women with short hair, long hair, tinted hair with roots, old men with canes, young women with a baby on their hips … I saw me and I saw you. A rainbow of colors from the tones in our eyes to the black, red, yellow, and grey of our hair, plus all the beautiful skin tones, we are part of the human family and we belong to each other.

Citizenship Redefined, 2008 International Travel Edition is map’s winter theme and our desire is for you to read stories about travel with a global perspective. As fellow travelers, we’ve all asked, “Honey, where’d I put my passport?” Make sure you review the suggestions in this month’s Travel Tips.

In the Bible there is a scripture (Hebrews 11:8) that states, “By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God's call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going …”

Saying yes to God’s call to travel to another land is a choice we have today. Yes, God was asking more of Abraham than he’s asking of us … but, as a people of faith, we are still God’s representatives in another country and we can enjoy seeing the world through God’s eyes.

So much to learn, so little time before that next trip. Michelle Clavijo-Diaz with Lifetree Adventures wrote about her extreme love for distant places in Wanderlust in Her Veins—could it be in yours?”—if you’re going for an adventure trip, do it right by working with someone who loves to travel.

As an editor, I troll the newly published book lists looking for new books in the marketplace. I order and review books that will be a good fit for you, our readers. I found an excellent book for mapping your next vacation: “The Christian Travel Planner” by Kevin Wright, president of WRTA. Read the Book Review—you’ll want this travel companion for your library and another one as a gift for a fellow traveler.

Several articles in this month’s publication are humorous and Urban Survival Skills in Stockholm is one of them. Note the picture with my traveling buddies in Stockholm (I’m in the middle with dark glasses a black baseball cap). We enjoyed Stockholm’s old town, an outdoor museum, and the food at a little café on the water just past this bridge.

If you have business that takes you international, take someone with you, —your spouse, —a parent or grandparent, —a teenager (see The Family Experience homeschool articles in map’s July/August publication).

My husband officiated at a wedding this summer and we met the groom’s mother who is from Brighton, England. She’s a charming, soft-spoken Englishwoman with whom we quickly established a kinship. When she discovered that my husband and I love London, she offered us a bedroom in her home and her services as a tour guide. We can hardly wait to map a trip to visit her corner of England.

One way or another most of us have been touched by breast cancer. Read Janet Thompson’s, “Charting A Course Through Cancer” for 13 tips on what to say or do when someone you love has cancer.

Remember, when you start mapping out your life and God meets you on the journey, we’d like to know about it. And, if you have a humorous, laugh-out-loud travel experience, share it with us and we’ll tell others.

Let’s keep it personal in this sometimes impersonal world. See you in the next issue,

Sharron

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