Have you ever been one way and then in the next moment you were transformed? Maybe it didn’t happen in a moment, overnight, or even over a week; maybe your transformation took place over years. However it happened, or is happening, there are people in our lives who kne...

“Just do the next right thing, Havah.”

That’s what my friend told me to do as I sat at the bottom of a dark pit in my life. I was at the proverbial “bottom”, and while there largely due to my own destructive choices, the pain was immense, it was dark, and I couldn’t see...

I grew up in the United Methodist Church, and the denomination itself was a huge part of my identity.  You see, I was always told that my mom and dad had struggled with infertility for nine years of marriage, and were super-thankful that an unprepared teenage mom was t...

Martin Luther King spoke to the Jericho Road. He said that it's only a small act to play the good Samaritan, to give aid to those on the roadside, but it's a wholly other act to ask why the Jericho Road is dangerous. Once we understand the road's dangers we should go a...

(Abwe writes this letter to Congress, from March 12th 2019)

To Our Esteemed Representatives and Senators,

On behalf of the recently resettled refugees in Northwest Arkansas, I would like to present to you, our distinguished Members of Congress, our deep and sincere thank...

When we read about abuse that happens to someone else, somewhere else, we can be empathetic. We can be moved to action by the plights of others; we can become more aware, make more thoughtful choices.

But when abuse hits home, it’s something else. Our reaction is viscer...

This time last year, while I was traveling in Central Asia as part of a team from Youth With A Mission, an existential crisis was brewing inside me.

Things had happened so fast as the trip came together that it was kind of like my body had gone ahead of my mind and spir...

It is winter in Capernaum, and business at the customs house is slow. Gazing across
the sea of Galilee, Levi fingers the coins in his collection box. But today, strangely, Levi
isn’t thinking about money. Lulled by the cadence of the waves, Levi thinks instead of
himse...

Dear friends, 

For the past decade Dave and I have lived as foreigners in two different Asian countries. In many ways, being a foreigner makes you feel like a child again, trying to figure out an unfamiliar world. Except that you’re 40 years old and locals giggle at you...

Years ago, I was introduced to the concept of growing vegetables through a technique called hydroponics, which is the process of growing plants in sand, gravel, or liquid, with added nutrients but without soil. I was amazed! Not because I don’t like getting my fingers...