Welcome to our little corner of the Internet. Kick your feet up and stay a while.
Mexico was the most heart-wrenching outreach I have ever been on. Why? Was it because the town we went to didn’t have any running water? Was it because the cartel ran some of the villages, ruining so many kids’ lives? Was it because kids in villages were being married off by the age of 10? Was it because of the …
That’s the hardest part of being a missionary. You are there to change reality, to change eternity, but you will never be able to fully grasp other people’s reality. Because it isn’t your reality.
I tried to come to grips with that as I sat on the cold tile floor of a Cambodian home. Eight of us sat cross legged on the floor as we crammed inside a twelve by twelve home. Inside the home lived a grandmother and her granddaughter. The granddaughter was an orphan and the grandmother was fighting to make enough money to pay the bills.
With stacks of blue New Testaments in hand we followed three Thai men across the asphalt parking lot. They wore button down shirts and modern day apostles. They lived life with few hesitations. They prayed for almost everyone they met, shared Christ freely, and gave generously. But at that moment I didn’t know any of this about them yet. I just knew we were handing out Bibles.
Airports stir something deep within my heart.
There’s a longing present. A. Deep. Longing. As I’ve contemplated while sitting in lounge chairs, standing in lines, observing people going to and fro, it finally hit me as to why.
Airports draw in people from all nations, all peoples, all faiths, and all languages with the common purpose of going somewhere. And, we are all going somewhere. We’ve been invited to dine with our Papa God.
As I walked down the dusty streets my mind raced. I wove my way through vendors hawking paintings of elephants, colorful bracelets, silk scarves, and carved soap. A sungtow rumbled past us, seeking someone to chauffeur to unknown destinations. We turned down an alley filled with loud shouting and the deafening thump of dance music. The colors faded from the soft glow of streetlights to bright neon strobe lights and discos. And vendors were no longer selling bracelets and soap. They were selling women.
“When we hold bitterness in our hearts, it destroys us,” I said. “We have to learn to forgive people no matter how badly they hurt us.” My gaze traveled across the weathered faces of the villagers. For a moment, my eyes connected with Pastor Nathan’s. All week, he had taken us from village to village across his home country of …
What does it mean to be a Father? I hoped to God it meant more than to Father a bright eyed family only to leave a Father-sized hole in the broken heart of a boy. A boy who just wanted to be like his dad Had suddenly added a long list of bad characteristics to an already compromised character. Are …
“When we hold bitterness in our hearts, it destroys us,” I said. “We have to learn to forgive people no matter how badly they hurt us.” My gaze traveled across the weathered faces of the villagers. For a moment, my eyes connected with Pastor Nathan’s. All week, he had taken us from village to village across his home country of …
We pulled up to the leper colony just as the sun slipped behind a cluster of rundown buildings. I climbed out of the van and followed our guide down an alley that wove past small homes. The guide paused at a home with a white door. “Hello,” he called in the native dialect. “We’re here to pray for people. Can …
Our plane landed shortly after the sun rose on the city of Chiang Mai, Thailand. As we waited for our taxi to pick us up, a heaviness settled in. My team seemed to be in a dream. Everything was so different and home had never felt so far away. We explored and attempted to become familiar and comfortable, but all …