Missions

The Call to Foster

May 8th, 2023|Missions|

My husband and I have always dreamed and talked about adoption, but could never agree on how – domestic, from foster care, international. Fostering was not something on my radar. Adoption seemed difficult enough but loving and giving back seemed impossible. I think God laughs at us when we think things are impossible. All the questions – how do we deal with the trauma? What about the safety of our biological kids? What happens if they return home? How do we deal with the grief? So, through life circumstances – having babies, job changes, etc. – we never felt [...]

Love Deeply, Hold Loosely

July 18th, 2022|Missions|

I love control, plans, structure and knowing what is coming next. Don’t judge me, but I often read the end of a book before I finish the book. I know that wanting control doesn’t usually end well and I am no exception to that rule. However, I am learning to loosen the reigns a bit (only a little, let’s not get carried away). I wish I could say this has been an easy process, but #life. Corrie Ten Boom said it best when she said, “Hold everything in your hands lightly, otherwise it hurts when God pries your fingers [...]

Christmastime in Japan

January 5th, 2021|Missions|

Legend has it that Americans living in Japan finally gave up on finding a real Christmas turkey and settled for a feast of Kentucky Fried Chicken instead. Their compromise either misled a local branch manager into thinking that all Americans practiced a similar tradition or maybe this KFC employee simply saw an opportunity. Either way, Japanese people have been told that Christmastime equals KFC ever since, and it is now deeply ingrained in their minds and holiday traditions. It’s a tradition that my family has happily joined for the past three years as we have lived and served in Osaka, [...]

Evangelism Isn’t My Job

October 12th, 2020|Missions, Pastoral|

If there’s one thing that any missions pastor hates hearing, it’s “I don’t have the gift of evangelism.” Or even worse “I just don’t feel called to evangelism.”. In fact, I’m willing to bet a few of you even cringed a little bit just reading those statements. However, you’d be surprised if you knew how often I hear it from people who profess to be Christians. I experienced an example of this a few years ago at a meeting I was having with some other pastors from across the city. During the meeting we all introduced ourselves, and spoke [...]

A Psalm For The Times

April 20th, 2020|Missions, Pastoral|

We find ourselves in a situation that many of us probably feel ill-equipped for. The world in which we were raised molded us to survive in a specific environment, an environment that helped protect and safe-guard us from most threats. There have been few times in the past 50 years that Americans were actually confronted with a truth that humans all throughout history have had to accept: We are not in control. Experiencing this fact is a freighting thing to us. We’ve always been able to rely on resources and affluence to escape calamity. Think about the wars, fires, [...]

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