This poem portrays a person wrestling with their calling, with the trials they've faced, and with the unknown trials ahead. Two different voices speak to the weary pilgrim: the voice of the Liar, our spiritual enemy, and the voice of the Lord. Turn back, turn back,...
I send you out as sheep among the wolves, yet take no staff And bring no sturdy sandals for this steep and narrow path. You’ll be accused, yet make no plan in your defense to speak. You’ll hunger, yet your purse and plow and fields – behind you, leave. I send you out,...
Mamata, I got to watch you grow and make your mistakes along the way; Scrubbing floors with your little one at home, like so many everyday. Another poor choice: a second baby, with still another man. Wishing for more, looking for love, trapped in the cycle of strife....
Before the ends of the earth, there was an end. Before the Spirit came, the Savior left. And they waited — not looking at the sky for the return of what was past, but devoting themselves to prayer for the revealing of what was promised. Do not look for times and...
Come, follow the pilgrim journey.…
For a time, we lived in a refugee camp with people who had fled across the border from war in their home area. That border was less than 30 miles away, and when their villages were bombed, our tin roof would shake. Learning to distinguish the sounds of war from the...
Every year when the rains come and the river swells, the land floods. When we visited North Africa prior to settling there, we could hear the children laughing and playing in the temporary lake created by the floodwaters. Sadly, one morning we heard that a young...
You go through so much training and preparation before moving overseas. You enlist your prayer and financial partners, make your plans, say your prayers and goodbyes, and step into the life of your dreams … and it absolutely knocks the wind right out of you....
A fire and a cloud.Set up like flag poles,Waving in the night,Waving under the sun.Heat in the night,Shade in the day.Lord, guide my way. “If you lack wisdom…”He says.You mean when, not if.My muscles stay stiff.Daily is my norm,Nightly is my trial.Lord, guide me all...
Once there was a North African baby who was named after me, and before she was a year old, she died tragically. A few years later, our translator’s baby daughter — named after one of my teammates — also died. I am tempted to say this is their story, and the story of...
One time I pierced my nose with a thorn. Actually someone else did — I just sat there as the thorn pushed steadily through my nose, my eyes closed peacefully, measuring my breaths, water seeping out of my eyes. It was blissful. There is a pain deep in the bodies of my...