Freedom so often means that one isn’t needed anywhere… Off there in the cities there are thousands of rolling stones like me. We are all alike; we have no ties, we know nobody, we own nothing. When one of us dies, they scarcely know where to bury him. Our landlady and the delicatessen man are [...]
Archive for category North American mud
Frock Coats and Fiddles
Sep 3
Back by popular demand, here’s a blog written back in 2008 while in South Africa, about children soaking up a different perspective on the world’s resources:
Today Phoebe spoke five miraculous words: “I really like this spinach.”
In that moment I believed my husband was the greatest chef who ever lived.
Or just that Phoebe is learning that [...]
Filters off
May 27
Living among the poor is like having all the filters taken off of life. In North America, we can hide our problems, our sins, our addictions, our worries so much more easily. It’s like in North America we can pave over the mud, wipe it off with antibacterial soap, step over it as we climb [...]
How to Share Our Stuff
Apr 5
One day while I sat at my computer, four-year-old Zeke walked up and proudly waved his hand one mittened hand in front of my face. “Look Mama!’ he insisted. “Two mittens on one hand!”
On closer inspection I saw that he had managed to stretch one mitten over the other, both on the same little hand. [...]
Wanted to just share a quote from Paul Hiebert, one of my favorite writers lately, about the importance of seeing ourselves through the eyes of outsiders. In our travels lately Adam and I have had many blessed opportunities to dialogue with people about our own North American culture, about African cultures, about how they see [...]
Acting Above Us
Mar 12
They come and act like they’re above us… like we need them… like they’re more Christian than us. Until now I have never met someone like you who understands this. I feel bad saying it, but I often think, ‘We don’t need your food, your money, your help… This so-called help is destroying us.’
Today [...]
Where you are right now might really hurt. You might be wishing for a spouse or a child. You might be wishing you were done with school, or done paying off loans, or done caring for a child or relative. You might wish you weren’t locked into car payments, house payments, boat payments, or credit [...]
“I see such truth in the idea that poverty is not a project; it’s not something that can be solved through our continuing to throw money at it, because at the end of the day the change we seek is less economy-related and more people-related.” -From an email from a friend. Read more…
As I speak with college students and Christians in America today, I notice an undeniable new vibe among Christians. Social justice is cool, mission projects are not just for the radical and rare, and incarnation is a concept that people have actually heard of, while some have even applied it to their lives. While there’s [...]
“What can I do to make a difference for people across the world from where I am?” That’s a tough question for a missionary to answer, not because there’s nothing you can do, but because there are so many things! Some people are called to move and go across oceans, but others are called to [...]
