“Lord, how long will you continually forget me? How long will you hide your face from me?  Psalm 13:1 It is the unusual person who does not go through times of despair. Plans have gone awry. Having lost a job, subsequent employment is elusive and financial stability begins to unravel. Parents despair in cultivating appropriate […]

Arriving in Surabaya today brings a flood of memories of our time in this city more than 30 years ago. After nine years in an isolated East Java outpost we were deployed to this metropolitan area that is now booming with four million people. We are grateful for what God was able to do through […]

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us…” Ephesians 2:4 During my student pastorate in a small rural community in North Texas I can remember being indignant over a farmer who regularly plowed his fields on Sunday mornings. He never came to church and seemed to delight […]

It was 42 years ago next month that I boarded a ship with my family to sail to Indonesia to embark upon a missionary career that would last 40 years. Lest it sound like a luxurious and exotic beginning, the confinement on an ocean liner for three weeks with sickly toddlers 10-months and 2-years old […]

We shared in our last post of how we were surviving the cold days of winter and actually enjoying the leisure of getting things done in doors. However, with the recent snowfall (pictured in our backyard) it is time to head for the tropics. The snow was beautiful, and lasted only a few hours, but […]

“But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as other who have no hope.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13 Having attended three funerals in the last two weeks, I invariably think of this verse as I reflect on the joy and celebration of these occasions. It […]

“For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it.” Matthew 7:14 We should not be surprised that many are indifferent to the gospel and unresponsive to our witness. We would like to think that the world would be evangelized if we would be […]

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if changing the pages on our calendar represented a change in our world and society? The transition from one year to another is represented by a old man with a long beard, indicating the passing year was really a booger, leaving him aged and decrepit. The new year portrayed, as a […]

I have always equivocated on what is my favorite season of the year. It’s usually a toss-up between spring and autumn depending on which season I’m in. The budding trees and flowering shrubs responding to warming temperatures after a gray, dismal winter stimulates a renewal of life. But the colorful leaves of fall and nippy […]

“Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 I never ceased to be amazed at dramatic testimonies of changed lives. It strengthens my faith whenever I hear of someone who is radically changed by the grace of God. […]