Finding Encouragement Sometimes it’s hard to find joy or feel encouraged in a given moment or a given day. Life overseas in a different culture can be hard. Physical comforts are sometimes lacking. Relational support is sometimes lacking. And sometimes it’s simply your own attitude that is lacking. But instead of making a top 10 [...]
Our work at the center is still going very well. We have had people showing up nearly every day except Friday for English lessons. But today almost no one has appeared because the metro is on strike. I have loved teaching much more than I thought I would, which is good because it is a much larger part [...]
When I think of fatherhood – and especially when I reflect on becoming a dad for the first time – it’s very much linked with my experience of living in Kurdistan. When our oldest was born (he’s 4 now), my wife and I had been teaching there for a year. Just long enough to finally [...]
This morning I headed to the port of Athens ahead of the team and served with the Greek Red Cross. I teamed up with them distributing food, clothes, toiletries and cleaning the port terminal. It was a little difficult communicating, but with broken English from them, little phrases in Greek I’ve learned and lots of [...]
“I need you to fly to Baghdad.” I was in the shower when I got the phone call from my friend. I don’t usually get phone calls, most of my communication in Duhok is done over text, so a phone call means something serious is going down. My friend is also the person [...]
For a few days this year Nashville was a winter wonderland. Snow fell for one whole day and it was glorious! Nashville isn't famous for having snow, but my daughters, born and raised in Nashville, love snow! Last January we were living in Iraqi Kurdistan. Every winter in Iraq we missed having snow. It snows plenty in Iraq, just [...]
Helping Christians Prepare to Meet and Love Our Refugee Neighbors When: March 14th, 7-9pm Learn how to meet and make friends with a refugee Practice basic greetings and customs Discover more about their faith Learn how to talk about Jesus with people from other cultures Discover how pray and study the Bible together And much more! Space [...]
There are candles lit in the living room, the wind is howling outside and we had a snow day last week. Were it not for the constancy of baklava and old men in huge pants, I could think I was in the US. (Though, honestly, my city in the US has baklava and big pantsed-men in spades.) This [...]
I served with a Servant Group International team on a Greek island. Each day we accompanied approximately 1,000 refugees arriving on the northern coast. The refugees arrive on shore wet, hungry, thirsty, exhausted and frequently in shock from the 6-mile journey. Most have been displaced from their homes for at least a month – many [...]
