defining .ro

Some of you may remember Mathisons.ro from years ago – when Amy and I were first married and were preparing to move to other side of the world we purchased a web domain. And as is typical for me, I chose what I thought to be the best available deal out there. Standard site names ending in .com or .org were just too expensive and required an annual fee.  But wait!  What’s this?!?  An ending that you could buy???  One that didn’t require an ongoing financial commitment?  One that we’d own for life???  Amazing.  Sign me up.  And we did.  Mathisons.ro became our web home – well, at least until we started adding kids so fast that we simply didn’t have time to manage a website.

But. Uh. So what’s with the .ro at the end you might ask? Simple! It’s a country ending. You know – like .ca (for Canada) or .uk (for the United Kingdom). Our new site was a ROMANIAN site! Well, at least in name. And ever since I’ve had countless experiences like this:

“What’s your email address sir?” “scott at mathisons dot ro.” “Dot what?” “Dot R O” “I’m sorry?” “Dot R O – it stands for Romania. It was cheap. And I bought it. And my email address is…”

You get the idea.  Anyway, starting today, .ro means something different.  Something new.  Something much more compelling – and packed with meaning.  From now on it will stand for Reaching Out.  Much better don’t you think?

To explain why we’ve chosen Reaching Out over Romania, I must first explain a bit about my new (as of this past August) role with Campus Crusade (Cru).  In our last newsletter I shared a bit about how I am no longer serving specifically in the area of computers, technology and IT.  My new position is much more ‘people-y’.  My job – it sounds funny to call it that since it is so AWESOME – is caring.  Caring for, connecting with, serving, visiting, counseling, helping…the 100+ long-term Cru missionaries that we (‘we’ in this case means the Cru ministry in this part of the U.S.) have sent all over the world.  And I do mean all over the world!  Slovenia.  Germany.  Italy.  Zambia.  New Zealand.  East Asia.  And several other closed countries that I cannot name.  It’s an incredible opportunity for me – and for Amy too – to focus on REACHING OUT.  Not that we haven’t been reaching out over the past 8 years with Crusade, but we are now much more tangibly focused on reaching outside of ourselves; outside of our borders even; to serve, love and care.  It’s exciting!  And we’re excited at what God has in store for us!

www.mathisons.ro — the mathison family . reaching out