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A Place Called Braverly – Available for Pre-order!
Sometimes God asks us to do things that feel impossible or overwhelming or completely outside of our capabilities. Often, He calls us out of the boat to dance with Him on the waves. Sometimes this dance is just shaky legs on an already unstable ground. Come dance on...
What’s Still Going on in Burma
This week we received news from our translator that we can’t move forward with translating our book into the tribal language of Karen. If you’re just showing up to the party and already feel confused by this sentence, let me explain. In 2018, I moved to Thailand...
in the Stillness, He is there.
This week, winter showed up in Chicago. We’re talking snow and below freezing temperatures most of the day. The wind whips through barren trees and through all the layers I wear when I walk to different homes in the neighborhood. I forgot how much I despise winter in...
A Letter to the Parents in my Neighborhood
To the parents in my neighborhood,I’ve never seen a love quite like yours. I’ve never seen so many moms and dads, grown men and women, give up so much for the sake of their kids. To be fair, some of you came from very humble, war-torn places, so maybe it doesn’t seem...
Christmas—A God Who Didn’t Look Away
I spend significant time with refugees in my neighborhood. In fact, most of the people we serve are refugees. Often, they come to this country with few possessions but heavy hearts. Most days it feels impossible to hold their stories—to shoulder their burdens, to...
Platforms and Kingdoms and The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill
I’ve been listening to The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill podcast in almost every spare moment recently. If you’ve never heard of this podcast, it’s a beautifully crafted podcast from the Christianity Today team about the story of Mars Hill Church, Pastor Mark Driscoll,...
That One Thing that Will make All the Difference
Most of the time, I am a fish out of water in this neighborhood. I am the minority in a city and country where I am the majority. I speak one language in a place where most of my neighbors have at least two or three or six on their list. Often, I step into people’s...
Stories and other things from Chicago: An Intro
I never wanted to live in a big city—not really at least. I used to visit Chicago on the weekends and imagine calling this place home, but in those days, I didn’t understand the cost—the rent and gas money, the struggle of traffic, the strange isolation even when...
That Sacred Space around the Table
In 2015, I left Taylor University armed with a diploma and a desire to change the world. In early spring of that year, the European migrant crisis shook the seas. Thousands of people crowded into boats not built to hold the volume of their needs. Many vessels would...
What’s going on in Myanmar?
Maybe you saw that bizarre video of a middle school PE instructor in Myanmar doing her exercise routine as a pack of black SUVs and military vehicles fill the frame behind her. As she dances, they make hard, fast turns and pull up to a barricade. All of this happens...