She’s a scholar of the Old Testament and her reading glasses sit on her nose, and then she takes them off, and then they’re on again, and she’s talking about hope and my son Jonathan is here in the group of adults because he has asked if can stay. The rest of the seven-year-olds, known […]
Children and hope at one crossroads or another Read More »
Liz is now tall enough to legally sit in the front seat when Daddy drives. Oh no. Today, it’s the front seat; tomorrow it’s a new car. What you might find more interesting is that young professionals in, of all places, Africa have some entitlement issues of their own. Here’s a recent commentary on it. PDF Version (Christian Week –
The Lord is my Shepherd. So why do I want a Porsche? Read More »
(Christian Week – June 2013)
KAMPALA, UGANDA ✦ The Lord is my Shepherd, the Psalmist wrote, and I lack no good thing. The waters are still and I’m not afraid. How can I be? My cup overflows with goodness and mercy. Even when nothing goes my way and hell itself threatens, I’m at peace with myself and the world. I am, for lack of better words, happy.
Of course, we’re not happy. Not really. This is the very nature of it, this life, this nagging feeling that there has to be more. We’re created in the depth of our cells to feel this uneasy yearning, because this world, after all, is not the end, not our real home as much as a fleeting shadowland.
In pursuit of happiness Read More »
Ten years ago, in June 2003, my daughter Elizabeth Katherine was born. My life as a father began. And life changed, forever. I immediately wrote about it all, what I thought fatherhood might be about, especially as a travelling family with a foot in two worlds. The Hamilton Spectator published those thoughts at that time. Below is a
A Father’s Day letter to my daughter – Faraway home is where the heart is Read More »
(The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, June 15, 2013)
It’s 10 years later, dear Elizabeth, and it’s true: Home is where your heart is. You’ve said it now in plain words. Your heart, with your imagination, is in our African home.
This is what I know you mean when you say with sorry sadness, “Daddy, the roads are too smooth here. Everything’s too perfect. I’d rather be in a place where the roads are bumpy but more interesting.”
Faraway home is where the heart is Read More »
It’s hard to know exactly how many orphans Uganda may have. Some estimates are as high as two million. What we do know is that there is one less. Her name is Hannah. She has been in our home for almost four years now. The interesting thing about Hannah is that long before we met
A prayer for Hannah. And this return visit to her orphanage Read More »
(The Hamilton Spectator – Friday May 31, 2013)
JINJA, UGANDA ✦ It’s Monday and we’re on the road early, dressed up, driving the 90 minutes down a dangerous road, the road that we won’t drive at night anymore because we fear it may kill us.
We arrive at the court in Jinja, a relaxed beach-town on Lake Victoria, to finally be told ‘Yes. Yes, everything is in order and the court is satisfied, and Hannah will never have any family outside of yours, the family she clearly belongs in.’
Hannah is the Ugandan girl who’s been in our home for almost four years now. We just need the final stamp of court approval to make her adoption official.
A place called ‘Baby Cottage’ Read More »
The thing about dragons is that you have to believe they exist before you can go and slay them. And even after you believe, you have to somehow care. It’s much easier to let any old dragon open its mouth and breathe its fire and destroy what it may while you leave the poor villagers
On dragons, Bilbo Baggins, and My Bride’s honorary doctorate Read More »
