Thinking About God

Tolkien and Tragedy

Gangs, Prayer, Stuff We're Reading, Thinking About God, Uncategorized -

Sitting at my desk in El Salvador, the news reports are pouring in…bombings, death in Boston. I scroll down the other news stories and I read about death in the Middle East, hatred in Asia. I take in the local news stories. Gangs at war, youth lost again. “So much death. What can man do against such reckless hate?” These epic words were spoken by King Theoden in the second film installment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Those of you who know me, know that I am a huge J.R.R. Tolkien fan. I’ve read the books, and a weekend spent in a LOTR movie marathon is a great weekend as far as I’m concerned. I think Tolkien resonates with so many people because his themes of tyranny, tragedy, […]

Home

Crossing Cultures, Language Learning, Thinking About God, Transitions -

Yesterday I made a quick stop at our local supermarket. I ran in and ran out and just as I was stepping off the front steps and onto the parking lot a feeling of rightness washed over me. The afternoon sun was slanting at just the angle to throw a golden haze over everything, and the sounds and smells of the city swirled around me…horns honking, warming oil from the woman selling tortillas on the side of the road, sun-baked pavement, and the smell of exhaust as cars raced around the circle in front of me. It’s strange, I know, but I felt like I was touching something familiar…like I was home. That word “home” is one that I can’t pin down anymore. It’s here and it’s there. Many of you have followed me on the ups […]

Pursuing

Justice, Thinking About God, YWAM -

I’m in the States right now and quite frankly, I’m freezing. I look like something straight out of someone’s winter collection circa 2008. But at least I’m managing to stay semi-warm. Anyway, I’m here because I was in Philadelphia attending the Justice Conference this past weekend. I went to hear some speakers address justice concerns all around the world, and I also had a space at the YWAM Costa Rica table to represent what the El Salvador base is doing in Central America. It was a great opportunity to talk about what we are up to in San Salvador and I met lots of cool people. The conference overall was a good experience…I felt encouraged and got some useful information from the pre-conference seminars and main sessions that I attended. […]

Staring into the Flames

Thinking About God -

Stop. Be still. Sit down. Take a deep breath. Just relax. It’s easier said than done especially when I feel the urgency of the needs around me, or can’t escape the calendar filled with church and ministry activities, work, kids’ appointments, fundraising, homework, and on and on… Lately I feel crushed as each day seems to step over me in its rush to get to the next. Thankfulness is always the first thing that goes because I simply run out of time to savor the moments, drink them in, and thank the God who gave them to me.  It’s never one big thing but the addition of one little thing after another little thing that leaves me so tired. Frustration creeps in as I think of where I want to be and feel […]

A Dream Come True (or Adventures in Deep Seas Fishing???)

Life in El Salvador, Places to Visit in El Salvador, Short-Term Missions, Thinking About God -

Sometimes I bump into God in the most unexpected places. You’d think that being a missionary would mean that I have some kind of special connection with God, or some “inside track.” A lot of times it’s quite the opposite. I feel lost in the daily things…the little negativities that crawl inside my mind and make their home there. I lose perspective, and I forget that in the middle of it all God deeply cares for us. Then He makes a dream come true. Ever since I was a child if you asked me my dream place to live I would have answered that my dream is to be near the ocean and the mountains. I said this as a kid, but I never really dwelled on it. The other night […]

Peace Without End – Advent Week Four

Advent, Holidays, Justice, Thinking About God -

  “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.” ISAIAH 9: 6-7 From our family to yours- We wish you a Merry Christmas filled with the Hope, Love, and Joy that can only be found through God’s Peace…a peace that lasts forever, a peace that knows no end.

Choosing Joy – Advent Week Three

Advent, Thinking About God -

“A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices…” Our world is weary. Turn on the television, or scan the internet headlines. Schoolchildren gunned down in the U.S., refugees suffering in Syria, rapes, murders, torture…the list grows long and we are weary. Or look around your family, your friends. Divorce, cancer, distances growing ever farther between parent and child, brother and sister, friend. A still ultrasound, a diagnosis, a loss. A world, so weary. Our world needs a thrill of hope, a reason to rejoice. How can joy be found in the weariness and through the pain? How can joy be found when the night is long, and the light is dim, and the hope is lost? When joy is lost, it can still be chosen. That is the miracle of Christmas. That God came […]

A Scandalous Love – Advent Week Two

Advent, Holidays, Thinking About God -

By all accounts, it’s a scandal. The son of a king surrounded by animals, in a feeding trough. His royal bed slimed with slobber and moldy bits of hay. Not in a cradle, not with a royal choir. But humble and poor, born with a cry into a lonely night far from home. He was not welcomed by the best doctor in the land, but by a scared, in-over-their-heads young couple. It makes no sense…how could the king allow it? For Love. A God born as a man, walking around with human feet that have toes that can be stubbed. A man who gets colds, and headaches. God looking through human eyes at a human world with all of its smells, and sadness, and less-than-Godness. For Love. He came, he put […]

Dare to Hope – Advent Week One

Advent, Holidays, Justice, Thinking About God, Urban Ministry -

“..the world in silent stillness lay…” A dark world, a hopeless world, a world that had just about given up. Just about given up on a Savior, on a change, on something to believe in. A world that wondered what happened to God, and why He seemed to have left them. A world trampled by an occupying army, heavy with injustice, thick with unmet longings, and unrealized dreams. A world where hope seemed to have failed. This was the dark still world where Christ was born. A world where justice seemed to lose, and hearts were always broken. A world not so different from ours. But there were those who dared to hope, to dream, to take God at His Word. The Prophets, the widows, the beaten down, and the […]

Ministry Center Update

Discovery, Fundraising, Ministry Center Project, Prayer, Thinking About God, Urban Ministry, YWAM -

I am going to try to put into words the amazing things that have been happening in El Salvador regarding the community ministry center. When we set out to open this ministry center, we did so with a lot of praying and a lot of hoping. We weren’t sure what the timeline would look like, or where the funds would come from. Friends, I am excited to share that in just a few weeks time all of the needed $80,000 to purchase this center have been donated! Yes, the FULL amount! We never in our wildest dreams imagined that we would have the funding so quickly. Literally, we are still shaking our heads in disbelief that this has even happened. There is nothing to do but express our gratitude to […]

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