My mom tells stories of when she was going to school in Minnesota or North Dakota where they had to walk to school in the freezing cold. Sometimes they would carry baked potatoes or even stones that were hot out of the oven to keep their fingers warm on the…
I am spending 4 weeks in Arop village in Sandaun Province or Papua New Guinea running Trauma Healing courses. This is the same place where a tsunami wiped out half the village in 1998 as told in the book Sleeping Coconuts. But that’s another story. I wish I could post…
As I’ve been reflecting on my recent experiences, I’ve been contemplating on what determines if faith or depression will ultimately triumph. I’ve thought about other people who have pulled through difficult circumstances like a man I met last year named Johnson. Johnson is a Papua New Guinean who lives in…
My knee is recovering nicely from what turned out to be a partially torn medial ligament instead of an ACL rupture as originally thought. This has meant no surgery but has required months of exercise and care to get to the point where I can now run a mile before…
Last Sunday when I was in church, I watched as a cute little two year old girl wandered to the front of the small church. Smiling and glancing back to her mom for approval, she continued to the front where two buckets labeled “tithe” and “offerings” sat on a low…
If I had to characterize Saturday morning, I would have to say it was a morning of lost opportunities. My son played in the provincial soccer tournament on Friday and their team reached the final playoff game. Unfortunately, there was no time to play the game so the final was…
I’ve been privileged to live in a culture very different from my own the last twelve years. Don’t get me wrong. It hasn’t been easy adjusting to a different way of doing things and a very different world view. Things like expectations of becoming a family friend when you hire…
When I asked my 8 year old daughter Abigail what she wanted for Christmas, she replied, “I don’t know. I don’t really need anything”. It’s wonderful to live contented lives but it does make gift picking harder! A few days later she came to me and said, “I know what…
“Have you heard? The tsunami is coming on March 22! NASA says it will come with a magnitude 9 earthquake which will move the ground 2 inches and generate a tsunami which will ravage the coastline of Papua New Guinea.” This proclamation went viral via word of mouth, postings, and…
