Lent for Protestants 101
“What are you giving up for Lent?” may be asked of you tomorrow, Ash Wednesday. If you’re not a practicing Roman Catholic, you may think the question irrelevant; or you mightn’t have a clue what the questioner is asking. Lent? Ash Wednesday? If the terms are familiar to you, but your answer might be, “I’m […]
Encouragement: The Antidote to Quitting
“Encourage one another daily,” the writer of Hebrews 3:13 exhorts us. How few words are needed to affect change in the life of another. Last week our pastor shared two stories of his experiences running marathons. In the first, his weary body screamed for him to quit as he started up that last killer hill. […]
Respect in the Jungle
My rookie year in the African jungle taught me so many lessons; none quite as close to home as this one. “Louis (pronounced Louie),” I called to the young boy, “how are you today?” The scrawny, seven-year-old boy clad only in the typical long tribal shorts and worn tee shirt, had just passed our tent. […]
The Search
The heat of another African morning engulfed me. As I prayed, the following picture formed inside my head: In my mind’s eye, I saw the image of a young woman lying on her left side. The relaxed position of her body indicated sleep rather than an accidental fall. I zoomed-in to increase clarity. She’d dressed […]
Ebola: An Insider’s Reflections
Having served the people of Guinea for the past twenty-four years, I find two of the many reports recently released by the World Health Organization (WHO) especially troubling. There’s just so much more to the Ebola story than the media broadcasts. Late last week, we heard a spokesman declare the Encouraging news that the cases […]