Participant Blogs

    I always thought the words  and then  were a prelude to something wonderful. Like seeing a ship come in or finding a note in your letterbox, when you weren't expecting one. That swift, surprising transition from nothing to everything.  And then .   Two little words that hold a world of promise.  And then  the light pierced through the dark sky, and the rain stopped falling.    And then  I met you.    Uganda, experiencing you was like being ten hears old again, scaling a tree with my eyes bright and skyward, wanting to get higher and higher...

    We leave something of ourselves behind when we leave a place. We stay there even though we go away, and there are things in us that we can find again only by going back there. Kenya is such a place. It is truly like Narnia.  There is something beautiful  about Kenya that is thousands of years old. Too old to be truly captured by poems and songs. Loved by everyone, loved so very deeply. Kenya is everything real in a world of make believe.    But even though I left some part of me behind, I also found...

"Be Still." Two words. Constant and always present. Having morning coffee, I hear it: "Be Still." Swimming in the clear blue ocean. Walking on snow white sand. Watching a Fiery red sunset. "Be Still." Fellowshipping with people who have become family. Listening to music, old and new. Feeling the presence of God. Be Still. Two very simple words, put together to speak chapters. Our time in Tanzania and especially Zanzibar has taught me a very important thing. And that is to practice the pause. When in doubt pause. When angry or irritated, pause. When tired or stressed, Pause. And when...

After an excruciating two days of travel by bus and train and hanging out at various interesting stop over stations, we arrived in Macedonia in the middle of the night - tired, dirty and hungry. Our moods were immediately lifted when we were welcomed by our friendly hosts who received us at the train station with big smiles and joyful hearts. They treated us to a midnight feast of the biggest hamburgers we have ever seen and it was not long before realized that Macedonia, like the Middle East has a very late night culture. Nothing happens before 10 in...

What? How does that work? It does, if you're a sinner. I am a very honest person and I want you to fully understand my journey, so yeah, sometimes you're going to think I am an absolute fool. Great! Please think that, because my friend, that's exactly how gross and sinful and foolish I am, without God. Great thing that God doesn't leave us in our sins. Thank God He doesn't. Now of course, you want the juice (news) of what I have done. I thought that I had the right to want. I started to want the things other...