Latest Posts

  • Driven Away

    God seeks what has been driven away. Ecclesiastes 3:15 Hagar was driven away from her home (see Genesis 16). Her name, Hagar, carries the root in both Hebrew and Arabic that means to flee. For Christians, Muslims, and Jews, she has become a symbol of fleeing. Some might call her the mother of refugees. The God Who Seeks Those Driven Away pursued Hagar in the desert. Alone with her child, destitute, she believed death was… Read More

  • The Accuser of Our Brothers and Sisters

    And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God." Revelation 12:10 What’s happening in Afghanistan right now has everything to do with the church. [bctt tweet="As the second-fastest-growing church in the world, Afghan followers… Read More

  • When You Don’t Know What to Do, Lament

    Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you. 2 Chronicles 20:12 Jesus sends us out to help people we feel helpless to help. I had this text exchange with a dear friend from Afghanistan a few days ago. How is your family in Kabul? We are praying for you… Read More

  • What is Your Name?

    And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” Mark 5:9 “What's your name?” the kind man in the appliance department asked my eighteen-month-old daughter. Blonde curls framed her dimpled face and her blue eyes sparkled as she answered. “Fweetie.”  Fweetie was her version of the affectionate name we always called her: Sweetie. Unashamed of her name, she knew who she was: dear to her father and me, no matter how she pronounced it. Not everyone… Read More

  • The Sin and Shame of Suffering

    As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. John 9:1-3 His espresso eyes welled with sincerity as he sat gingerly on my bed. What sin have you committed, sister? I have come… Read More

  • In the Company of Outcasts

    Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him and it is he who is speaking to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. (John 9:35-38) Jesus was comfortable in the company of outcasts. For so long I… Read More

  • The Table-Setter

    Thou preparest a shulchan before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with shemen (olive oil); my kos (cup) runneth over. Surely tov (goodness) and chesed (lovingkindness) shall follow me kol y’mei chaiyyai (all the days of my life)... --Psalm 23:4-6, Orthodox Jewish Bible Shulchan: (Hebrew) a king’s table, private use, sacred use (Brown, Driver, Briggs, Gesenius Lexicon; keyed to the "Theological Word Book of the Old Testament"). My table-setter was very… Read More

  • Shame Nation

    You have made us a byword among the nations;     the peoples shake their heads at us. I live in disgrace all day long,     and my face is covered with shame… Rise up and help us;     rescue us because of your unfailing love. Psalm 44: 14, 15, 26 Shame is not a foreign concept limited to countries where women are hidden behind the hijab, men commit honor-killings, or children with disabilities are forced to leave the… Read More

  • unClean

    Everyone was settling down for sleep, but the old woman had to talk to the teacher. What she’d heard tonight was earth-shattering. Mind-blowing. Life-changing. Filth removed, disgrace transformed to honor, rejected now accepted? The story of the sick woman and Jesus was unlike any of the stories told in her tribe. The flickering firelight deepened the rich, warm espresso of her wizened face as she leaned close to the storyteller. “Thank you.” Like the woman… Read More

  • unKnown

     Is being unknown such a bad thing? The thought of being known can be terrifying if we don't like what we know about ourselves. The possibility of rejection looms large and threatening, and sometimes, like during a global pandemic when we are forced to distance ourselves anyway, we wonder if being unknown might be a good thing. It's nice not wearing makeup, working from home in pajamas, just coming as we are to life, nobody watching… Read More