CATEGORY

Reflection

Taste and See
Taste and See

At a crossroads in the dusty ground, the music reaches our ears. Just past the cozy gathering of houses and huts, yet near enough to be noticed, stands the small cement church in the village, much like a new child at school waiting for an invitation to play with the...

Recognizing Jesus
Recognizing Jesus

When I met Jesus, I recognized him right away. I sat there staring into the campfire as we sang, “Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me, the Bible tells me so.” Suddenly my heart leapt in recognition. Me! He loves me! I stared up at the stars...

Our Daily Bread
Our Daily Bread

“Give us this day our daily bread,” we say together as a family every morning around the breakfast table. Even our little two-year-old’s voice joins in as we recite the prayer together.  We haven’t always had this habit, but as the years have passed, praying the...

Koinonia is Like Sharing Doritos
Koinonia is Like Sharing Doritos

Koinonia. Variations of this Greek word occur throughout the New Testament. It translates into our English Scriptures as community, communion, joint participation, sharing, intimacy, and other related terms. But what does koinonia look like? How does it develop, and...

I Pierced My Nose With a Thorn
I Pierced My Nose With a Thorn

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...

Empowering
Empowering

“Empowering others” has become quite a buzzword in missions circles. Missionaries nowadays are trained not to be the solutions to problems but rather to be catalysts for local solutions and local problem solvers. I acceded to this orientation during my training mostly...

Where Moth and Rats Destroy
Where Moth and Rats Destroy

I hate bugs. No, I’m not the kind of person who goes into hysterics every time I see a spider. I can usually keep my cool. But still — the sight of one gives me an unpleasant shudder and a wish to be somewhere far away. Somewhere where spiders never existed. “If the...

Facing the Challenge
Facing the Challenge

Back in 2021, I was hiking up a mountain with a group of English students and friends. It was a steep and seemingly endless climb of hand-placed stone steps leading ever upwards. The sun hung low in the sky as my friends made plans to race to the top before sunset,...

Choosing Loneliness
Choosing Loneliness

I was sitting on a woven mat in a bamboo-walled house with other people who were talking in a language I did not know. I had no idea what they were talking about, so not surprisingly, I felt a bit lonely. Another time I was conversing with people in a language we all...

Thursday Prayer Focus: Simple But Not Easy
Thursday Prayer Focus: Simple But Not Easy

Many of our overseas workers live in places with limited access to goods and services that much of the world’s population take for granted. During a recent visit, the mother of one of our teammates saw stark differences between her home country and the rural location...

A Lesson in Hospitality
A Lesson in Hospitality

When we landed in West Africa for the first time, I naturally took everything in through my own cultural lens, though I mistakenly believed myself to be open-minded and impartial. It is a noble goal to be unbiased in our assessments of life, but since the only way we...