Good Friday is for me the most meaningful “holy day” of the year. Solemnity, quietude, even an appreciation for beauty are all mixed together. It’s easy to be afraid of the day, thinking it’s intended to be morbid or self-mortifying. And I suppose some prefer it that way. Certainly, I make it a point to … Continue reading Into Your Courts I Come

Don’t you hate it when you run across something you’ve written and realize you still need to learn the lesson all over again?  That was exactly my experience yesterday. For Holy Week leading to Easter, I intended to send a past meditation each day—perhaps as penance for my dearth of new entries. What thwarted my … Continue reading Involuntary Sacrifices

Last week, I spoke with a long-time supporter who has been faithfully giving to Kingdom causes for many years. As she told me about a major outreach effort in her area, I sensed a real joy in her. The conversation reminded me of something I’ve been thinking about lately as I work on a book … Continue reading Turning Our Thanks into Giving

The news reports following Hurricane Matthew have saddened and disturbed me. As they say, "all news is local news," I guess.  The reports on national news always seem to start with how close the hurricane is to the USA and what preparations Americans are making to get ready.  News from the devastation in Haiti, or … Continue reading All News is God News

Today marks my 35th spiritual birthday, so I was especially eager to attend church. It was one of those services when the Anglican lectionary was prophetic. A preacher could scour the entire Bible for the most appropriate passage for current events and would do no better than one scheduled decades and decades ago for today … Continue reading Ignoring the Good Samaritan

An allegory: Once upon a time, there was a World Vision Area Development Program (ADP).  And in that ADP there was a lovely latrine, which World Vision had taught the community to construct at a school.  This latrine was even called a "VIP Latrine" (meaning ventilated improved pit latrine).  The latrine had several private enclosures, for … Continue reading Once Upon A Path

Twenty-five years ago today, on May 17, 1991, two World Vision leaders were gunned down on the streets of Lima, Peru as they stepped from their vehicle to enter the national office that morning. Though the crime was never prosecuted, all evidence pointed to the then-notorious guerrilla group, Sendero Luminoso, or Shining Path.It was a … Continue reading Workers, Not Master Builders

Some photos, a few faces, are still etched in my mind.  After 30-plus years for some, I'd like to say they are there "forever", permanently burned on the pixilated screen of my memory. But I know better now.In some darkened file folder, I still have the photos of my first and only visit to India … Continue reading Fading Memories

It was our team’s final weekly prayer call of 2015, just a couple of days before Christmas Eve.  I dialed in a few minutes late, expecting to hear a cheery devotional, or the infancy narratives from Matthew’s or Luke’s gospels being read. Instead, in seeming rapid fire were a succession of three scripture-plus-reflection-plus-prayer meditations concerning … Continue reading Away, In a Manger

“Forgive us our debts,” we pray. But may we never forget them.  There is one type of debt I hold tightly in my mind and heart: my debt to others along my journey.  The past few years, I've had some amazing opportunities to honor some debts (I can't possibly repay them), and the other day … Continue reading Treasuring Our Debts