Once we began to seriously explore the plausibility of actually doing a Round the World trip, Kelly and I both knew, from learning the hard way, that we needed some sort of higher purpose for planning this trip beyond all the pragmatic reasons.

Having been in full-time ministry now for almost nineteen years, one of the little lessons I have learned is that without a grateful heart, there is no hope. No hope for myself and the others I have been commissioned to serve. This simple lesson has been lost on me many a days but thankfully God has re-reminded me countless times that this is vital to any successful endeavor.

Two people can visit the same place, meet the same people, eat the same food and yet have two completely different experiences. The cliche of having a good attitude no matter what life brings your way is absolutely true. Our wisest President, Abraham Lincoln once said “If you look for the bad in people expecting to find it, you surely will.” I don’t want to be the type of person that can’t see beyond the faults of other people, places and things. I consistently pray that I don’t allow a critical lens of life to blind me of all the joy and wonder that fills my days. This is a prayer I have prayed many times over my own kids as well.

So, the first component which we will use to help guide us on this trip is a family gratitude journal. For every place that we visit, we will have one or more of the Tippit tribe post in this space what they are grateful for. I will kick off the initial post in the gratitude journal. Just know though that there will be many more journal entries to follow from all of us. It is difficult to fathom the countless things we will become more cognizant of and as result be more thankful for by the time this trip comes to a close.

Kelly and I also genuinely believe that without prayer for our family, that ultimately, this trip will fail. I know in today’s modern world, prayer seems like an antiquated Christian relic that is only done out of obligation to satisfy Bible Belt cultural mores. But as a couple, Kelly and I have both experienced transformative prayers by others for us that have shaped who we have become. We wanted to create a space titled Purposeful Prayers for those who were interested in praying for us. In this Purposeful Prayers section will be our own prayers and we would treasure any prayers that may be birthed within your own heart as well.

The final part to the GPS guiding system for this trip is a section titled Stones of Remembrance.. In the Ancient days of nomads, we are told in the Scriptures that many of the heroes of the faith practiced an important tradition. The tradition consisted of piling up stones up in a place where they wanted to remember something special that God had done there. It served as a visual reminder of God’s goodness in their lives.

We plan to have our own modern day Stones of Remembrance which will serve as a visual reminder for years to come of God’s goodness in our lives. The plan is to produce a short music video for each country that we visit. The Stones of Remembrance section will serve as a fun-filled reminder for our family of all the amazing adventures we will be privileged to have.

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