She was a refugee from Syria, a beautiful young woman, dressed in black from head to toe. A patterned scarf was tied around her head and tucked into a lightweight double-breasted suit coat that skirted the floor. She spoke passionately in a language I couldn’t understand. Her young interpreter had to stop a time or two to choke back tears. As I listened to her story, I realized Jesus was a refugee too as a baby. One Mother’s Story As the... Read more
“Lots of people in the churches around here are offering animal sacrifices,” a lady in one of our Bible studies shared. Animal Sacrifices in Mozambique Out in the villages of Mozambique, illiteracy was a problem, and preachers had too much power over their members. I suppose if you only read parts of the Old Testament, you might think animal sacrifice was required. The lay people were trying to do something based on scripture, trying to please God. Unfortunately, church leaders in... Read more
Unity seems to be in short supply in 2021. I don’t know what the answer is, but I can share the little I do know about the “art” of unity. A while back my art students and I enjoyed a glorious afternoon of peacemaking through painting. This might not work for everyone, but my students loved it. Here’s how it went. Peacemaking With the World Affairs Council Because of my husband’s ties with the World Affairs Council, we heard... Read more
The combination of President’s Day and Black History Month reminded me of s special presentation I heard in Northern Cyprus. The following is from my journal writing while there. Learning about Black History While Living in Cyprus Finally, the streets were quiet enough I heard the call to prayer from the local mosque. We rarely heard it because of the traffic. My phone said 4:59 AM. I let the call to prayer be a reminder for me as well, and... Read more
“Right in the middle of it all, there’s this random white family! What in the world are you guys doing here? Are you undercover Bosnians, did you convert to Islam, or what?” We went to see a comedian at the mosque, and we became the entertainment for the evening. The Challenges of Peacemaking One challenging part of what my husband Martin and I do with his organization, Peace Catalyst International, is introducing Christians to Muslims so we can build friendships... Read more
Flying Kites Created From Garbage in Mozambique I just heard Kirk scream—the kite string broke, and it’s lost. The kite carefully fashioned out of garbage had flown so high! I’m surprised it flew at all. With the help of his Mozambican friend, my 12-year-old son Kirk unraveled a length of nylon rope into many short strands and spent hours tying them together end to end for the kite string. They used a plastic grocery bag over two sticks for the kite, scraps... Read more
Too often, I forget to celebrate the good times in life. I focus on the bad that could have happened and move on, waiting for the next catastrophe. Now more than ever, we need to focus on the good. Learning to Celebrate From a Six Year Old When we first went to Mozambique, our son Joseph was 6. After a short time there, he dictated a letter to be typed into an email. He wanted his friends back home to know about... Read more
Is 2021 going to be a Groundhog Year, a repeat of 2020, or are we going back to Chongololo racing? The isolation of the pandemic has been difficult, but it’s also an opportunity to take another look at our culture. Perhaps we can slow down enough to examine the advantages and disadvantages of racing around as we all did before COVID-19, and maybe we can change for the better as we look to the future. Chongololo Racing Children are so... Read more
But Some Lived in Mud Huts I don’t know what I was expecting when I moved to Mozambique. We knew it would be difficult, but it was beyond imagination. My house wasn’t finished, but some Mozambicans lived in mud huts. Begging children approached our car whenever we drove to town. What is our responsibility to the poor? That question haunted me constantly. Getting off the airplane, it felt as though we had traveled back in time. Mozambique was the third poorest country in... Read more
My family and I had just arrived in Maputo, Mozambique, from Louisville, Ky., and it was our first trip to town. A bunch of us piled into a double cab truck and bounced over the sand roads until we came to the asphalt roads that led into the city. We had entered a whole new world. The New World of Mozambique Houses of sticks and then more buildings of concrete emerged as we drove closer to the city of Maputo. Men... Read more
Learning to Love God by Loving Others
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