travel
-
in the wild
I sat in my truck watching the furious surf, as if seeking revenge; the gray-white sea bled into the gray-white sky. I thought, “Sometimes you have to walk headlong into the wind and rain. Don’t run from it; run into it.” So I got out of my truck and walked down onto the beach, heading… Continue reading
Christianity, church, Faith, God, hope, Jesus, love, outside, reflections, religion, spirituality, Trust, wild, worship -
Week 51: waiting
I’m familiar with waiting. I remember spending a 12 hour “layover” at a city train station in Mandalay, Myanmar many years ago, having already taken a 12 hour train ride on an “ordinary class” train, with a 14 hour train ride ahead of me to go further north. (“Ordinary class” trains had hard, uncomfortable, nearly… Continue reading
-
Week 46 / 47: meanwhile
Meanwhile: “in the intervening period of time” The word “meanwhile”… in the meantime, not yet, in between… Do you ever feel in a perpetual state of “meanwhile”? Waiting and hoping but always only that—waiting and hoping without seeing or knowing what you’re waiting and hoping for. For some of us, it’s something (or someone) very… Continue reading
-
Week 35: rest
“I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.” I do not rest as well or as often as I believe I do. Most “rest” is still activity in some way. Then there are the days we have no choice; we are forced to be still. When our bodies are weary and won’t… Continue reading
-
Week 19: when “behind” is “ahead”
I grew up hearing some of the following phrases: make sure you don’t “backslide”; don’t be “deceived”; make sure not to “fall away”; be careful not to “lose your faith.” Do I believe these can actually happen to someone? In a sense, I actually do. Do I think they’re helpful or should be a focal… Continue reading
-
Week 16: India & AIDS
April 16, 2009. Chennai, India. I was on an “around the world” trip with my good friend that would last for over nine months. In Chennai, we were spending some time with local ministries and organizations, including one that helped local Indians who suffered from AIDS (children and adults). On this specific day, we went… Continue reading
-
Week 10: you are a light
“God doesn’t give a gift without giving an obligation to use it.” – Christian Wiman We sometimes assume that to do what we do not desire is to be right, to be the martyr. But to be what we were made to be, this is to be the true martyr, because the greatest battles of… Continue reading
-
Week 6: seeing (part 2)
Almost two years ago, I was in Arequipa, Peru. I connected with a couple who help run a home for young Peruvians with mental and physical handicaps, most of them severe. I remember my first afternoon visiting the orphanage. Most of the individuals have severe mental handicaps. Some of them can communicate a little; many… Continue reading
-
Week 5: seeing
Years ago, during a night in the city of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, I had an ever so small encounter that, for whatever unknown reason, has left a lasting emotional impact. I meandered through a crowded night bazaar with sidewalk shops and stands, enjoying the evening and people watching (as I always did without… Continue reading
-
empty tombs, pt. 2: stories
What they were looking at was the first day of a new creation, with a new heaven and a new earth; and in a semblance of the gardener God walked again in the garden, in the cool not of the evening but the dawn. – G.K. Chesterton on the resurrection For almost two weeks, I traveled through Maine… Continue reading
a kingdom built of seeds 