The cat is meowing, the sun is shining and the children are across the way, at the park, playing in the sand under the mango tree, excited as ever about the castles and rivers and other things they’ve been working on feverishly for several days now, excited that last night’s light rain hasn’t washed much […]
Finding craziness in the world’s sanity Read More »
Today, April 8, 2013, is, we hope, the day we finally get Hannah’s adoption approved. We have been here before, to this court in Jinja, Uganda, but the wheels for this sort of thing, especially in Africa, can grind slow. Today, Hannah has on her best dress and, with us – and her siblings and
Hannah’s adoption is official. Today. We hope. Read More »
A child is just a child, you say, and when I was younger my own father would make a point of telling us what his father would tell him, namely that ‘Children are to be seen and not heard.’ Some children are neither seen nor heard, true, especially the many orphans – estimates are as
Liz is 9. She’s making a difference. This is her message. Read More »
He was a hard-working man, which isn’t the worst, except that he worked so hard and so long and his love for it all was so very satisfying that his wife and children stopped expecting him to join them around the dinner table, never mind the Little League games and the school plays and evening
Why slowing down matters Read More »
We’ve heard the story so many times – Jesus died, Jesus rose from the dead – that we think we know something about something, and maybe we do know, if nothing else, a profound hope, the hope of eternal life not on some fluffy cloud playing a harp with cherubs floating around, but a hope of
A different sort of Easter bunny story Read More »
(The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, March 30, 2013)
KAMPALA, UGANDA ✦ I’m the odd man out in a loose circle in the campus home of the university president talking about God’s grace, an unsurprising discussion because, besides being a university and my own family’s home, this is a nearly century-old theological training centre.
The horrible news of late is the roadside murder of a young law student, John Otim, beaten dead with an iron bar for money that he didn’t even have.
Of grace, forgiveness and tears Read More »
It was in the garden where he talked to his Father. ‘Abba,’ he said, which is to say, ‘Daddy.’ ‘Daddy, I know you can do anything. And I know you can take this away from me. This cup. I know you can take it away. It’s too much. Too bitter. Too awful. Daddy. Please, Daddy,
The prayer of all prayers Read More »
(Christian Week – April 2013)
KAMPALA, UGANDA ✦ Jesus wept. Not long before he set his face like flint toward Jerusalem and the cross, he wept. Why?
Surely he knew how it would all end, how he’d resurrect Lazarus, who lay nearby so cold and dead; how this miracle would foreshadow his own final triumph over the grave. Was he playing his audience? It’s a scene with at least some strangeness. Here’s another.
Light and shadows in a Good Friday world Read More »
