Purpose Asia

Every eye followed her in rapt attention waiting to hear what she would say next. She turned from the flannel-graph where she had just put up a new part of the story and asked in  Tok Pisin  (the trade language of Papua New Guinea), "What do you think happened next?" Hands shot up all over the room, and children wriggled eagerly hoping to be called on. Meanwhile, the quieter teens in the back of the room watched with twinkling eyes to see the little scene unfold. You see, these children were hearing the story of Noah and the Flood from Genesis Chapter 5 through 9 in the Bible. This is only part of one of the ministries I'm praying about joining with on a regular basis called The Mambu Haus ministry (this is  Tok Pisin  for “Bamboo House“). It is a ministry to the teens and children of the villages close to the Ukarumpa translation center where I live. The Mambu Haus ministry gives teens and kids a safe place to spend some time on a Saturday where they ...

Mt. St. Helens, WA, USA       Pale morning light wafted over the purple mountains outside the window. Soft shades of pink and yellow filled the sky as the sun rose. My eyes shifted from the window to my grandmother. This was it, her breathing had changed and we knew, soon she would be with the Lord. My family and I gathered around her like guardians as she passed from this world to the next. The room grew suddenly silent and I felt as if an age had passed. Two weeks ago my grandparents were in a serious car accident, and now I had watched the second of my grandparents slip beyond my reach for the second time in a week.      Grief as a Christ Follower is a uncanny thing. On the one hand, our very human nature is devastated. Our heart physically aches as though someone has stabbed us in the chest and we struggle to get up day to day. However, in our spirit a soft voice whispers hope. Hope that our parting from the one we love is only t...