A Mom’s Cry…a Dad’s Absence
Huge celebrations occur around Mother’s Day in Peru. This year on Mother’s Day weekend, away from the noisy streets and large crowds, we heard a mom’s cry that we will never forget. Read More
Transformation
In His final hours before going to the cross, and just days before raising from the dead, Jesus washed His disciples feet and said:
If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you” (John 13:14-15).
I (Kristin) recently had a holy experience when I joined the other teachers of our Care Center’s Awana Bible Club to wash the feet of nearly a couple hundred children over two days.
Assignment: Arequipa
Our two-week assignment in Arequipa, Peru provided an opportunity to return to our first Peruvian home, where we lived for seven months after first moving to Peru in September of 2014. Our children’s delight matched ours as we stayed in the same apartment, visited favorite spots, and re-connected with dear friends. God gave us some very meaningful opportunities to help the children we serve through this assignment.
New Things
In the Weight of Glory, C.S. Lewis believes that “glory” involves being noticed by God, and that only the humble can carry such a weight. What we might call our “burden” as missionaries here in Peru also represents our privilege, which involves seeing what we believe God notices and reporting such good news to others. We invite you to take a few moments and “notice” some new things happening here in the jungle. Read More
Good News from “Heaven”
On Christmas Eve, we spent an unforgettable night at The Orchard Children’s Home. The children from the home were all dressed up for an elegant dinner. Games and fun-filled dancing followed. For a calming break to the festivities, the children performed a skit they practiced all week depicting the story of Jesus’ birth. I (Mark) received a gift from “heaven” on this night. It began when one of the girls, usually pretty shy, greeted me and asked me to read the Bible to her. When I sat down, she brought over her Bible and first asked that I read the story of Jesus’ birth. Her favorite part was when Mary gave birth to Jesus. Read More
12 Ways of Christmas
From our hearts this Christmas, we offer these 12 praises for the ways we have witnessed God’s goodness in the flesh… Read More
Fishbowl Faithfulness – Part V
As we prepare for Thanksgiving with a renewed vision to daily offer our lives as a sacrifice of thanksgiving, some practical words from Paul provide guidance. He writes to the Roman believers about the path of honor in God’s kingdom. In Romans 12:9, he exhorts them to return to return to the limits of what is good and cling to it. They must turn from evil to cling to the good. This exhortation portrays the positive vision for repentance. To repent means pursuing that which is good, and holding fast to it…at all costs. Repentance requires a turning away from evil, all that is not good. We must return to a life limited to what is good. In reality, such a “limited” life lasts forever. Read More
Fishbowl Faithfulness – Part IV
Psalm 50 reflects the themes of our narrative thus far, including creation, judgment, and the hope of restoring innocence, honor, and power to the relationship between God and His people. In the first half of the Psalm, God appears in His creation to judge His people. The type of people in focus in the first half are those who keep their religious duties, but they lack a true “sacrifice of thanksgiving.” Such a sacrifice testifies to complete dependence and trust on God, as opposed to the performance and achievement possible through various religious duties. God’s people depend on Him, but He is not dependent upon their sacrifices. In the first part of Psalm 50, God responds to the group of those who “do” sacrifice, inviting them to “be” a sacrifice. “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving…Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me” (50:14-15). Read More
Fishbowl Faithfulness – Part III
How then can we better discern the way our culture is wired? Jayson Georges, in his book, “The 3-D Gospel,” illumines what undergirds our culture. He joins other scholars in identifying it as a guilt-based culture. Our understanding of right and wrong, our focus on moral behavior, and our understanding of salvation through legal metaphors, all stem from a worldview emphasis based in the tension between guilt and innocence. It is highly individualistic, and so the application of salvation tends to focus on forgiveness of personal sins and a personal relationship with Jesus. Community living presents a significant challenge, which may explain why church budgets reflect many programmatic attempts to promote such community. Many world cultures default to a relational reality rather than an individual one. Read More
Fishbowl Faithfulness – Part II
Let’s examine fishbowl faithfulness from the perspective of “choices.” In a very insightful presentation on “The Paradox of Choice” (TED Talk, 2005), Barry Schwarz describes a simple scale for understanding how many options are available in any given culture. In his research, having “some” options are better than having “none,” but “more” options are never better than “some.” He argues that our land has long ago leapt out of “none,” surpassing the moderation of “some,” before landing in the excess of “more.” Schwarz finds that the more choices we have, the more we experience “paralysis.”