Land of Our Sojourn

For the past several years the task of all of our written communication has fallen to B. He’s asked me to write a post for the blog and I responded that I’ll try to get to it. The inevitable reality is that the pressing needs of family (dinner, potty training accidents, running out of some staple food…) always take my time and brain capacity. However, somehow, miraculously at this moment the dishes are washed, children are in bed, and I have a moment to try to share a bit of the journey God has had me on lately. We returned to our Asian home just over a year ago. One of the interesting things of our Home Assignment in 2016 and the return to the field in 2017 is that B and I dealt with a minimal amount of culture shock going either way. (It was quite a different story for our kids, but that’s for another time.) The excitement of living overseas has long lost its glamor and we knew exactly what we were returning to as we returned to our city. We also had seen that some of our bigges...

As you think of us, please continue to pray for a healthy balance in our home life. In many ways, though culture, language, and ministry do take its toll, the difference between thriving and simply surviving lies in the health of our home. Helper Over the past month we have been without our primary helper, Nopi (we have another dear lady who helps us twice a week though). Nopi has been dealing with severe heartburn. Last month we took her to the hospital because her heart started racing and she struggled to breathe. Since that episode a month ago, her heartburn continues to get better. But over the last few weeks she is not sleeping at night. We desperately want her to get better. Mostly for her own sake. It is hard to see her and her family struggle through this without knowing what has caused any of these symptoms. She is tired of staying at home and some days just shows up in the morning. But after sweeping a little or preparing a small lunch, see is noticeably exhausted an...

Every July we find ourselves meditating on God's grace. You see, in July of 2006 we first arrived in this country and with each passing year we become more aware of our own weaknesses and more stunned by the goodness of God. This year we celebrated enduring for 11 years working cross-culturally. But enduring is hardly the right word. Yes, there have been many difficult moments. We have seen two teams fall apart. We have seen many friends move on for a variety of reasons. We have endured our fair share of smoke, heat, and power outages. But honestly, we cannot claim anything as coming from ourselves (2 Corinthians 3:4-6). It is unfathomable to me that 11 years later we are still here and doing reasonably well emotionally and physically. Why, Lord, are we of all people still here? We have seen so many high-quality, amazing, diligent, and more qualified people come and go. All we can come back to is that God has sovereign plans that make no sense to us. We just keep walking, trust...

I was asked recently to try to summarize the work of the past 10+ years. Obviously, that is a difficult task to do. However, an image has come to my mind as I have meditated over the past few years. Imagine walking into a pitch black room. You've never been in this room before. You have no clue as to its contents. Slowly you step in and begin groping around with your hands. BANG! You smack your shin on something low. You stop and begin investigating what this object might be. Upon rubbing your hands down the surface you have discovered a small table. It might be a coffee table. "Yes, I recognize this" you say and then move on. However, you bang into it again! Hmmm. This is not a type of coffee table I have every known before. The shape and surface are totally different. You make a mental note. This may or may not be a coffee table. Then you turn around. BANG! You have just bumped your head into something that might be hanging from the ceiling. As you had done previo...

I listened closely to his story, hoping my 7 months away from the language wouldn't inhibit my ability to understand. He spoke rapidly but in between the colloquial words I grasped that his family were not true believers. I had asked the group of seven young Bible students to briefly tell how they came to know Christ. The next young man started his story. Apparently just after being baptized his pastor asked him if he wanted to go to Bible school. Having been here many years, I have heard this story often. Everyone wants to get a college degree. But few can afford it. So, of course, given the opportunity one would say 'yes.' The question in my mind was did he truly encounter Jesus? I had hoped that through their stories I would get to understand their background better. The pastor had asked me to come and teach the group about how to share their faith. But it was becoming increasingly clear that this group may not even totally understand their faith themselves. It is one...

The night before our flight I lay in bed thinking. I was exhausted from the work of cleaning our house, packing our 10 large bags, and the constant questioning ‘am I forgetting anything?’ That night I couldn’t sleep and began worrying -which I have discovered is something that my body does when it has hit physical and emotional exhaustion. 'Why am I doing this? Why am I taking my small kids across the planet? Have you really called us to this? What good are we doing anyway?’ The questions scared me, but I knew I just needed to get some sleep. A few days later we finally flew to our home. We got through immigration, wheeled are many bags to a friend’s car and saw many smiling faces. People happy to see us again. We drove to our home commenting on the things that had changed and hadn’t changed since we were gone. And then we came to our home. We opened the door and I felt a rush of peace. I cannot explain why. The house is just a normal house. It had the same smells, the same h...