Last week on a flight to South America I was upgraded to first class. That doesn’t happen very much in my life, so when it does it is a big deal. Unfortunately it was a pretty short flight, but still nice with a hot meal that the ones in the back didn’t get. Getting perks… Read More Be careful of an attitude of entitlement
Competition, this never-ending desire to be the best, is a heartless master. It drives us, seeps into our daily lives and national discourse and doesn’t let go. It is in our educational system, our media, our churches, our national holidays. Self and national promotion has become so normal that we don’t think twice about, never… Read More Why does it matter if America is or isn’t the greatest country in the world?
Isolation is an enemy that causes a great amount of pain. It places us in a box, often of our own choosing, and yields few ways out. At times in my life, I have known periods of isolation. I hope I never live in it again. This is different from the need for solitude,… Read More Never Train Alone
We all have ‘unsafe places’. Struggles, complexities, people, moments and long seasons in our life stories that cause us to want to shut down and stay far away. These things are normally places of pain that by definition seem better denied and not owned. They are ‘unsafe’ because to allow them freedom in memory and… Read More Going to our ‘unsafe places’ can create safe zones for others
Irregardless of the politics involved in the present issues in North and Central America, there is something very wrong about the nature of a ‘zero-tolerance’ policy. In anything. I do not pretend to understand the complexities of the immigration issues on the US southern borders. I know that illegal immigration has been a problem for… Read More No ‘Zero-Tolerance’ Policy
Sometimes things are too strange to even describe. But I will try. Last week, on a visit with friends to another of the ‘wonders of the Christian world in history’, in this case the 7th century Da Qin Pagoda outside Xi’an in China, we arrived to see a drone hovering around it. I have written… Read More The Stark Contrast of a 7th Century Christian Pagoda and a Drone
Last week I was sitting in Taipei airport minding my own business, waiting for a flight. Then I looked up, seeing across from me a large box rooted to the floor. Half-dazed with a traveler’s zombie like stare, I focused on the words inscribed: Escape Chute. (There was also Chinese on it, which I couldn’t read. Any… Read More The Escape Chute of the Present Moment
One of the Seven Wonders of the Christian world is in Xian, China, the starting point and terminus of the original Silk Road. It is the Nestorian Stele, a 10 foot stone tablet carved in 781 A.D. to commemorate the 150 year history up to that point of the work of the Church of the… Read More The Nestorian Stele of 781 A.D. T’ang China: Our Story in Their Story
I’ve been in Princeton, New Jersey the last few days, giving a lecture at a conference on the history of World Christianity. Yesterday as I walked to the site of the meetings, I came across a yard sign that stopped me in my tracks. It so expressed what I have tried to live by in… Read More No matter where you are from, we’re glad you’re our neighbor!!
This is my first post in 2018, so of course it has resolutions in it. A few weeks ago I wrote on a quote I saw in the Writers Lounge at the Oriental Hotel in Bangkok. (See Write because you have to) The Oriental was a frequent stopping point for authors and other public figures in… Read More Resolutions for a New Year
An Invitation to Pause, Encounter & Grow Together.
a global story
learning life and leadership in Thailand
Our Journey Into Justice, Compassion, and Action
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Thoughts From a Resident Alien
COMMUNICATING ACROSS BOUNDARIES
Thinking Christianly about the American Past
Encounters of Faith in Asia: Past, Present and Future 