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Showing posts from 2023

Hangamap Long Diwai (Caught on a Tree)

 After a long day at the clinic I shuffled over to my car. It was late and I was really tired and ready to just be home. My mind was full of all the things I needed to do and all the things I needed to decide. I turned on my little car and turned to pull out of the dirt circular drive/parking area near the clinic, when, whump! I found I couldn't go forward and couldn't go backward. I sighed, putting the car into park and climbing out my door. I bent down and discovered, much to my chagrine, that my little tiny car, with about as much ground clearance as a low-riding golf cart had gotten stuck on a tree stump. There I was, my car dangling on a hidden tree stump I hadn't seen and I was powerless to move it. Just as I was about to give up and leave the car for the night and call for help in the morning, a bunch of my friends walked by. "Wanem samting? ( what's going on?)" they asked?  " Kar bilong mi hangamap long diwai ( My car is caught on a tree)."

Brokenness, Hope, and the Now and Not Yet

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Moonrise near my home       I stood in the shower, in the first truly hot shower I’ve had in over a week, the seeping cold slowly melting from my body. Words kept forming on my lips and in my heart in prayer for the twin baby who was rushed to the hospital today. The other twin died the day before yesterday and now the second was in unstable condition at a hospital about 30 minutes away. The babies are relatives of a dear friend and my heart broke in unintelligible words in the shower. It had been a rough day. One woman was brought in without a pulse and it became evident shortly into the resuscitation that she was too far gone. At the same time another baby was fighting for its life hooked to tubes and fluid bags, its fearful mother watching with wide silent eyes as staff worked on her little one.      Less than a month back to my Pacific island home and the black wall of suffering has already slapped me full in the face. The haunting reality of our broken world and the faintly glimme

A Creepy Crawly Welcome

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  Asiatic rhinoceros beetle  Flicking on the light I walked down the stairs to my basement. I had only been home for a few minutes but wanted to check the house and see what I’d need to do to get it into shape after my long absence. The upstairs was clean and tidy and ready for me to start unpacking and the whole house had been cleaned a couple of weeks before. I went down the stairs and turned the corner. I pulled up short. There if front of me was the huge inverted corpse of a spider, curled legs frozen and dangling in the web of another spider. The dead spider was at least an inch across and had to have been quite big when it was alive. Taking a broom from the wall, I poked at the dead spider, just reassuring myself that it was indeed dead. I shuddered and stepped around the web, making a mental note to clear away the cobwebs downstairs as one of my first chores. I’d only gone a step or two when I stumbled on a rhinoceros beetle that was struggling on its back. It angrily flailed it

God is Moving in Papua New Guinea

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 Hey All,  I have a blog post brewing (stay tuned), but I wanted to share this amazing blog post from the Wycliffe Bible Translators website (see link below). It is about a good Papua New Guinean friend of mine who is also a Bible translator and how she is seeing the power of God's Word in the language that speaks to people's hearts in her home area. It's super encouraging and only takes a few minutes to read. I hope you enjoy it!  Christ Follower,  Megan For the full blog (not just my teaser photo above), just click this link: https://wycliffe.org/invest/open-hearts?utm_source=don8print&utm_medium=appeal&utm_campaign=openhearts0523

Lessons From My Nephew

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I woke up this morning and immediately missed him. My little nephew. My mind raced to the comfort of Mark 10: 29-30, “ “I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “ no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields, and with them persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life”.” You see, I just had the opportunity to meet my nephew in person for the first time. I’d been seeing photos and videos of him since his birth almost a year ago. But now I had met him. 8 short, precious days that will have to tide me over for two and a half years. The price of following Jesus felt heavy when I woke up this morning, and the cross of the gospel especially painful. I had to cling to Jesus’ promise that it will be worth every moment of pain. As I sat and had my devotions, still applying the balm of Jesus’ words to my achi