– I wish you could be standing here with me right now. I’m far outside any signal that my cell phone could pick up, where a dirt opening before me stretches with a few trees, and then behind me lies a community of manyattas. This particular community is called Tubcha 3, where we don’t know […]
Life
Hosted Amongst the Tribesmen: a Descriptive, if not Humorous, Anecdotal Recollection (Part Three)
Under the tree were a small group of wazee (“wah-zay,” that is, older men). They were sitting around in a circle as we shared with them. One man gazed intensely through his glassy cataract-covered eyes. His forehead was covered with so many wrinkles it looked like a topographical map. We sat with the men as […]
Africa 2017: A Day in the Life (cont.)
12:30 This is a rare treat but a real challenge. The next intercession set is led by some of the Borana students in the school of Ministry. This is extraordinary because, even a generation ago, the tribe was almost entirely Muslim. Now, close to 10% of them are followers of Jesus, which, in sociological terms, […]
Africa 2017: A Day in the Life
6:50am. Wake up. I prepare my bucket shower. I go to the bottom floor of the house and fill up the electric tea kettle with water. Put it on for a few minutes, and it is boiling. Pour it into the plastic basin that I have in the downstairs shower/bathroom. In the areas of the […]
A Guy’s Take: Beauty is a Choice
I am going to marry the most beautiful woman in the world. Just watch me. Who is it, you may ask? Well, I can’t tell you. Why? Because I don’t know who it is. How can I be so confident I’ll get such a beautiful woman? Now that is something I can tell you. First, […]
Prisoner of Hope (Healing School 5)
The first pale crack of sunlight peaks through iron bars. Your roll over and brush off the smudge of mud and dirt on your elbow, rising up to a sitting position. The air is stale and quiet. There was evening, and there was morning. The 1442nd day. Three – going on four – years you […]
Healing School: Let the Journey Begin
Many of you know that over the past decade I’ve struggled with intermittent chronic pain in many different areas of my body. I’m writing about this not because my symptoms are gone. It’s because I’m currently in the healing school of Jesus, and I want to invite you into my journey.
Jesus: Don’t Judge? (pt. 1)
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged” (Matt. 7:1). These oft-quoted words remain a favorite of Generation X and millennials, but what do they really mean? The term “judging” is used by my generation with an almost universally negative connotation. “Don’t judge.” “Only God can judge me.” “Don’t judge me if you don’t […]
Jesus: Go Watch Some Birds?
My apartment smells like sweet potato fries with adobo and curry seasoning. The kitchen is half cleaned and hot. I walk outside to the cul-de-sac that rounds our apartment community. It’s unseasonably cool for a fall Georgia day with a glassy grey sky behind brown, bare tree limbs. I look into the tree and see […]
Jesus Says NO to Self Defense?
There is plenty in Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount to wrestle with. Does he really mean, “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and threw it away”? Does he really mean, “Blessed are those who mourn”? Wait … um, doesn’t the Bible also command me to rejoice? (See Philippians 4:4; Nehemiah […]
Jesus Has a Brand?
It is interesting how powerful a symbol can be. There is one particular logo I have seen in many different languages (the one shown above is in Amharic, the most common language spoken in Ethiopia, where I went in 2012). The same is true for the other languages in which I have seen the classic white […]
Faith Journey (East Africa pt. 5)
Imagine going off the edge of the map with no money, no extra clothes, and no plan except listening to and following Holy Spirit. Then imagine Him putting together the most amazing cultural experience of your life. That’s a faith journey. In Luke 9 and 10, we find Jesus sending out his disciples in a […]