Finally Home! (by Ken Cantrell)

Ken & Ginny Cantrell
Missionaries to Burkina Faso

When the man put his ink to the parchment in Ecclesiastes 3:1, I wonder if he really knew how applicable the words would be in this dispensation?

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven;”

It is my understanding that there is or should be a precise time or place when a missionary feels a direct calling to the foreign field.  Possibly during a service when the word was being preached and you knew that it was a rhema word for only you, or even in a quiet closet of prayer.  Regardless, most if not all missionaries can point you to the time or the place.

1996 was a year of spiritual transition for the Cantrell family.  God had begun to deal with my wife, Ginny, and I about Africa.  We loaded a plane to Arusha, Tanzania with one objective in mind, to find out if God was calling us to this Dark Continent.  My mind clearly remembers the morning after our arrival, the sounds of children playing outside our window, roosters welcoming the sun.  At that moment, less than 12 hours from our landing, God spoke and said, “This will be your land.”  I also remember dancing wildly outside in the courtyard after preaching in the headquarters church in Moshi, again God spoke, “Just like Abraham, I will give you the land you walk upon.”

This was 1996, the call was given, we would wait for God’s timing, and wait we did.

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven;”

It seemed that the years passed quickly and we lived almost every verse in Ecclesiastes 3, we lived, we died, we planted, we harvested, we received and lost, finally, we loved and yes at times it felt like war.  Still through all of the blessing and all of the trials the call was sure and God was true. His grace was sufficient.

May 16th, 2010; fourteen years later the plane begins it’s decent into Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.  I look at Gin and hold her hand.  The lights of distant villages come into view first, then the city where we will live and serve the Lord.  Suddenly all of the deputation miles were worth it, suddenly all of the tears shed in telling our children goodbye made perfect sense.  All at once all of the unknowns had vanished.

The airport was hot that night.  It could have possibly been over 100 degrees as we pressed our way to the luggage area.  There were hundreds of Burkinabe people pushing, customs agents directing, me smiling.  I glanced over at Ginny who was standing along the wall waiting for me.  No words needed to be spoken.

We were here!

We were home!