Bridges of Trust That Bear the Weight of Truth
Over the last few months I have developed close friendships with a group of girls from the Middle East, as well as one girl from Europe. We all arrived here around the same time and have supported each other through the ups and downs of culture shock… Up until a few weeks ago we just hung out to eat together or to study Arabic, but recently things have changed. We’ve started to talk about Jesus. The seven of us gather once a week in my house--reading the Holy Books and spending up to five hours in conversation. My next blog posts are a four-part series capturing what God is doing among… Read more >>
Eat My Flesh, Drink My Blood
The last couple months I have started spending part of my time in the Word by reading it in the local language, and today as I was reading John 6 I was struck by the powerful simplicity of Jesus’ words. First, in verse 48 Jesus describes Himself as the Bread of Life. I have heard this many, many times, but reading it in a second language the images that popped into my mind were different. Bread. Immediately I saw a soft, brown loaf of bread. I realized that while reading the Bible in English, I immediately turned “bread” into another name for Jesus and never took the time to picture what this… Read more >>
What is Grace?
The other day I was talking with a few girls who have become close friends, and they asked me (somewhat out of the blue) what does the word “grace” mean? Caught off guard, I did my best to explain but to my extreme frustration I couldn’t articulate a simple definition for them. I walked away from the conversation kicking myself. What an incredible opportunity, and I had blown it! As I reflected on my struggle to articulate the definition of “grace”, I realized I rarely (if ever) talk about grace outside of the context of the Gospel. That afternoon I wracked my… Read more >>
Disciples Making Disciples
2 Timothy 2:2 “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.” This week has been full of powerful breakthroughs: in the language, culture, and relationships. One of my language teachers is from a Christian background, but growing up she rarely had opportunities to go to church or read the Bible, so she is still unsure what it means to walk with Jesus. We are about the same age and connect really well, and one day during language class all we did was read the Bible together (in the… Read more >>