Serving Christ in México
“I’m a good person for the most part.”
“My good outweighs my bad.”
These are common responses when people are asked about the morality of their life. Most of us consider ourselves good people, and yet we also readily acknowledge that there is an abundance of hate, violence, and brokenness in the world. How does that compute?
Continue reading “Book of Sins”
About three weeks ago we ran our first ever kids’ club event here in Santa Barbara. There was a moment during that kids’ club that will stick with me for a while. It was the third day of the club, which was two hours of games, crafts, singing, and a bible message, and I walked over to a corner of the sports court to take a picture. As I held up my phone and looked through the screen, I could see about thirty kids running about, a handful of parents watching from the bleachers, and all the volunteers overseeing the whole operation. I felt really grateful and silently thanked God for answering our prayers.
Continue reading “Kids’ Club”
Things are fairly slow on the news front. I’d love to tell you of the smashing success we have had and the hundreds of people reached with the gospel. But that hasn’t quite happened and we get excited when even one person shows up to the Sunday evening service. At times it has been discouraging. Of course we know success is not measured strictly by numbers, but by faithfulness to the task which the Lord sets before us. Truly and honestly that is a wonderful truth that keeps us going, but that doesn’t mean discouragement or doubt are magically eliminated. Those thoughts persist and have to be dealt with.
Continue reading “A Little Nudge”
King Jehoshaphat was a mixed bag. At times he displayed godly wisdom and a clear-sighted vision of what God requires of the king of His chosen people. At other times he lapsed into human folly and sought to make Judah strong through ill-advised alliances. However, in the Chronicler’s account of Jehoshaphat’s “battle” against Moab and Ammon, we see in this mixed-bag king one of the most clear and memorable confessions of dependence on the Lord.
Continue reading “We Don’t Know What To Do”
Unless the Lord builds a house,
its builders labor over it in vain;
unless the Lord watches over a city,
the watchman stays alert in vain.
In vain you get up early and stay up late,
working hard to have enough food
Psalm 127
You moved across the country to start a new job. A dear friend has wronged you. Your husband has cancer. Your child is rushed to the hospital.
Continue reading “The Parts We Leave Out”
We’ve finally moved and are more or less settled in, so it is high time for an update. It has been an exciting time as we have been adjusting to our new neighbourhood, arranging our new house and planning more ministry activities.
Continue reading “In Santa Bárbara”
I sometimes joke that the national pastime in Mexico is searching for change. Mexico is still very much a cash economy and there are many places that won’t accept a credit or debit card. In addition to that, there are security concerns which means many stores do not want to keep large sums of change in the till. This leads to a never-ending pursuit of looking for change, of which there always seems to be a shortage.
Continue reading “¿Traes Cambio?”
It is easy to draw a bold, black line through the empty page between the old and new testament and to think that what God did in the past with Israel is largely separated from what he is doing today in the church.
Continue reading “The Same”
A lost sheep
All his home in a heap
Wears the street on his feet
Bones with no meat
Cause he struggles to eat
The wind at his cheek
Searches retreat
From the shame and the sleet
Discovers relief
Beneath headlines of last week
And slips to sleep
Between a snitch and a sneak
Is the Christian life one of sustained joy and blessing? Does the Christian ever suffer from forces outside their control? Does our prosperity in life correlate closely with the strength of our faith?
Continue reading “A Sojourn in Meshech “
The Rabbi's Burrito 