My Letter to Future Goers
If God has indeed led you to this, He will give you the strength and grace to make it through, even if “making it through” means leaving the field before two years is up. It will not be easy; some days will make two years seem like an eternity. He has opened to you the way to eternity through Christ, though, and He will be with you even when you can’t feel it. Remember to show yourself grace. The place you’ve been, probably a college in your culture hopefully surrounded by people who love you, get you, and point you to Jesus, is worlds apart from where you’re going. God is the same, though,… Read more >>
Glimmers
I’ve been really glad for the chances I’ve had over these past two years to see other countries in the region. Part of my thinking in coming to this country was that it would prove a good starting point for this part of the world, culturally and linguistically. My hope in coming here is that I would leave able to somehow bridge the West to the Middle East, or at least try to. I just got back from a couple weeks in a nearby country, seeing if it somehow resonated with me more than where I am now. I wanted to see how the refugee situation is different, how the language was different, and I… Read more >>A Foot on Both Shores
I sit here writing this blog in an American coffee shop, American pop music on the radio, sipping my $3 latte, thinking about how being a western person in this city can present a lot of interesting contradictions. This afternoon, I’m in a coffee shop; I had pizza for lunch. This evening, I will go back to my flat in my neighborhood where my roommate is the only other western person I’ve ever seen in the area, and my other roommates are students with refugee status. I’ll probably have a dinner of the local staple, bean sandwiches, for about 50 cents. Students in our position want to engage… Read more >>Lands on Fire
Our friends come from lands on fire They run, they escape the flames Often badly burned, their minds filled with pictures that should never be taken Our friends look for water They hear America, Europe is all streams and lakes, milk and honey Some will risk everything, crossing oceans for hearsay Some will lose everything Our friends come from lands on fire They thirst And here we are -- porous, fragile clay vessels of Living Water Read more >>