One of “those” people…

I love the holiday season.  But not for the same reasons most people love it.  I do like the jingle-jangle music, the decorations, the smells of pine in my home, the joy of seeing a loved-one receive a gift… but that’s not what I really love about the season.
People watching is at it’s height during [...]

Homeward Bound

Coming from the equator to northern Europe is a shock to the body.  Almost like a defibrillator!  We’re in Amsterdam now (technically Den Haag just south of Amsterdam).  Rob and I are spending some time with my college roommate Justin, and his wife Jen.  Jen and Justin are a part of this organization called Christian [...]

The Last Goodbye

These last few days have been extremely needed, both for me and for my family home.  Today we spent the day at church saying our goodbyes, but then we just spent some time alone (collectively) at Herbert and Ruth’s house.  We napped.  We packed.  We ate and ate some more.  We cleared our minds and [...]

Marriage and Divorce

Monogamy is most common in America.  In fact, it’s the law.  It’s also taught in the Bible that a man is to be husband of one wife (however, this is only in respect to overseers of a church, not the common layman as far as I know).
In Africa, there are tribes today that still accept [...]

Watching paint dry

Do you remember taking the SATs in high school?  It wasn’t so much the testing that scared me, it was the long hours of sitting and staring at the page all day long.  At the time, it seemed like the longest day of my life.  This day was a great blessing, but it’s the SAT [...]

Amaini

Amaini is “peace” in Kiswahili.  Retreat.  A time away.  Amaini is also the name of the conference center that we’re staying in.
Today I spent the day speaking on cell groups.  The cell group/small group concept is relatively new in Kenya.  They’ve been indoctrinated by a group out of the UK called Cell UK.  I know [...]

It happened…

This morning I woke up promptly at 6:00am to the alarm on this cheap little phone that we bought over here.  The retreat center that Rob and I are staying at has rooms that are like holding cells.  The room barely holds my double sized bed and I can shave or brush my teeth while [...]

Home

Waking up this morning was such a good feeling.  I spent the night with Herbert and Ruth, whom I spent quite a bit of time with in their home last trip here.  It was a different pace waking up to a familiar place and feeling like I was actually in a home.  It makes travel [...]

Charity will never help anyone get out of poverty

When the word “slum” is spoken, a certain image comes to your mind.  For some, it may be the image of the inner city projects with too many children and all the parents huddled into one apartment doing drugs.  Something like a Cabrini Green on the south side of Chicago.
For those of us who have [...]

Grace and Birthday

Sundays are always fun for me in Africa.  I love worshipping in a setting that is entirely different than my own, but still so familiar.  It never ceases to amaze me how people from different cultures worshipping the same God can come together and quickly become like family.
We heard a lot of songs that are [...]