Bridges and Boundaries

Bridges and Boundaries

Missionaries move a lot. Our three-year-old Giant tagged along as we traveled from place to place. To place. From his home in smalltown Poland to a missionary-house in smalltown South Carolina where his tiny sister (Bean) joined us. Then we were off to Lithuania, merely dropping nine out of ten suitcases off at our new […]

Open Minds

Open Minds

If I could lock myself away somewhere for a day—to spend it in any way that I like—the day would involve three things: fresh dark-roasted coffee, a cozy place to curl up, and an excellent book. Now, I don’t generally get those days. And even when I do have miraculously little to get done, I […]

Division Among the Ranks

Division Among the Ranks

People. Working with them can be tiresome. And you know what I’m talking about. Right now, you’re picturing someone who has made your life difficult—maybe because she can’t find anything pleasant to say. Maybe because his sarcasm grates on your nerves. Perhaps because she seems to willfully misunderstand everything you say, seeing awful intentions where […]

Recognizing God in the Language Barriers

Recognizing God in the Language Barriers

I am a grammar nerd. I have played this game for hours: Someone suggests I write a sentence meeting certain requirements (say, one including an adverbial clause, two prepositional phrases, a compound subject, an appositive, a reflexive pronoun, and a transitive verb in the perfect tense), and I do it. I love that. There are […]

Resentment (AKA I Didn’t Sign Up for This.)

Resentment (AKA I Didn’t Sign Up for This.)

Once upon a time, I had only three goals. (1) Become a teacher. (2) Become a wife and mother. (3) Become a missionary. I never bothered to prioritize. Any order in which the Lord allowed me to succeed was acceptable. Not succeeding? Not an option. And it never occurred to me that those two little […]