About half-way into our eight-hour flight to Nairobi, we glanced out of the window and witnessed a marvelous sight– the most beautiful sunset over the winding Nile River. Deep, vibrant orange fading to pink, then purplish blue. All at once, despite our sleep-deprived minds, it became real to us– we’re in Africa, our new home for the…
Beauty and Sorrow
“I need to see beauty,” Giles exclaimed. It was not a typical Tuesday. We had just found out that our dear friend, who was then lying in a hospital bed, struggling for each breath, had received a grave diagnosis and prognosis. A rare form of cancer that insidiously permeated the fluid in his chest cavity which was also quickly…
Language of the Divine
Fricatives, glottal stops, aspirated stops, nasal consonants, and voiced or voiceless consonants—all terms and concepts we had never heard of before our time in Colorado. This past week in our missionary training, we concentrated primarily on language acquisition. We explored and experimented with different tools that will help us learn a new language. We also…
From “Sign Me Up!” to “Send me!”
This week, a new class of missionary recruits attended their first training and introduction to CMF at its Indy office. A year ago, we were in that class with five other nervous and excited future missionaries, each of us dreaming about what God had planned for us. We each said an initial “yes” to God,…
Learning to Lean On the Everlasting Arms
Growing up in small church congregations, I sang countless old hymns from my pew or the choir loft. A perennial favorite was “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.” The first verse recounts “what a fellowship, what a joy divine, leaning on the everlasting arms; what a blessedness, what a peace is mine, leaning on the everlasting arms.” The refrain…
A Life Called to Love 