In college, I got a group of friends around me that were like me in that they believed in Jesus, but they were different in some surprising ways. They talked about relationship with God in a different way than I’d ever considered. For them, the Christian walk was not so much about getting from spiritual […]
faith
What My Church Never Told Me
Walking to the edge of our theology, the farthest reach of what we understand of God, is like getting waist deep in the ocean that goes on as far as the eye can see. I was raised in a church culture that did not value mystery. In it, the most important thing about life was […]
The 1 Thing that’s Missing in your Christian Life
The flea market is often where you find the most spiritual people. For many years, my cousin’s father sold collectors’ knives at the local market. I remember going with Kyle to visit his dad’s stand one time. We leisurely wandered around looking at all of the lights, wall decorations, used furniture, antique stoves, classic video […]
Hosted Amongst the Tribesmen: a Descriptive, if not Humorous, Anecdotal Recollection (Part Four)
– 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 […]
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 […]
Hosted Amongst the Tribesmen: a Descriptive, if not Humorous, Anecdotal Recollection (Part Two)
– I didn’t think we were risking our lives bringing the seemingly unknown stranger atop our vehicle. There’s such a honor culture here that we knew he legitimately just wanted a lift. The people in East Africa are quite friendly and content it as a whole, and the tribal individuals in this area especially so. […]
Hosted Amongst the Tribesmen: a Descriptive, if not Humorous, Anecdotal Recollection (Part One)
– Arrival. It wasn’t that I spent half the ride crammed in the back of a 4 x 4. It wasn’t that the dirt roads were bumpy. It wasn’t even that one of our vans got stuck in the mud and had to be winched out. It was that departure had been delayed several hours […]
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, […]
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, […]
A Guy’s Take: Beauty is Not
Can’t we just give the ladies a break? I live and work in what is perhaps the Middle East’s capital of consumerism. I can’t go a single day without driving by numerous billboards of flawlessly airbrushed models promoting real estate and all manner of clothing brands. Every time I walk through one of the city’s […]
Healing is not Your Job (Healing School 12)
God is sovereign. It’s one of the most comforting and most fearful aspects of our faith. It’s comforting for us to realize God’s will is going to get done, whether we succeed or fail. On the other hand, it’s discomforting to think that we can do everything we want or think we have to do, […]
Healing is Your Job (Healing School 11)
I must constantly remind myself that the tree of healing in my life grows in the soil of my understanding of God’s will, that he has put forth in his word his desire to heal me. Each day, the sapling must be watered by my confession – out loud – of the word of God. […]