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One Greater Than the Witch Doctors: The Story of MaSihuanh
In the animistic Pnong tribe with whom we share Christ, villagers often understand sickness as a spiritual attack. Their tradition speaks of spirits that “eat souls.” When someone becomes seriously ill, many believe that a spirit is slowly eating their soul during the night. Terrifying, isn’t it? When people face…
Purpose Found
Twenty years ago, I preached my first sermon, entitled “Finding Your Purpose.” I focused on a passage in Romans: “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them” (Romans 8:28 NLT). I…
Searching, But Not Yet Finding
As we boarded the plane and took our seats, the monk quickly began a conversation. He was dressed in the maroon-colored robes of the local monks. Even his bag was maroon. He was very friendly and spoke English quite well, so our conversation for the next several hours was a…
Dog Treats and Bread
“Chris, Mr. B saw me walking Chloe as he drove into the neighborhood today. He parked and walked around the other way, coming toward us, met us on our walk and gave Chloe some dog biscuits”, Erin, my wife, said. “Wow!” I said. “Mr. B never walks around the block.”…
Many, Many Reasons
“This is crazy!” Mark said as we post-holed through knee-deep snow. “But in a good way!” he exclaimed and continued up the slope to the ridge. From the ridge, we continued hiking up a steep draw to the peak, where we found a rock bench to eat lunch and take…
Thinking in Generations
Every twenty years in Japan, something remarkable happens. At the Ise Grand Shrine, one of the most sacred Shinto sites in the country, the entire shrine is carefully dismantled and rebuilt from scratch. Craftsmen have done this for over 1,300 years, not because the structure is failing, but because they…
आशा, རེ་བ།, and Hope
*Becoming Hope* “Your new language name is Aasha (आशा),” my language teacher said on the first day of class. “It means Hope.” Thus began our language journey. Now, after completing three language learning phases in a year, it was time to begin a new journey—in another language—to connect more deeply…
The Holiday Miracle
Bending at the waist, I extended my hand. Positioned as I was, the monk either had to run me over, walk around me or stop. A quizzical smile appeared on his face as he took the two gospel booklets from my hand. “Happy New Year!” I said in English, a…
Go to Class!
I just do not have time for the two-hour Japanese class tonight . . . I debated back and forth with myself multiple times throughout the day. Go. Don’t go. Go. Don’t go. Too much to do, so little time, and avoiding one class would not hurt. But every time…
God Knows the Way
“This gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world as a witness unto all nations . . .” (Matthew 24:14). As field directors, we see a wider swath of the world than we did when working in one country. General global trends have become more evident, and…