Purpose Asia

   The bridge swayed slightly under my feet as I took my first tentative step onto the grating. Taught steel cords hummed as they held the mesh-work of rope and wood and metal suspended over the small river below. My heart thrilled a little as my stomach had that slight fluttering feeling of risk and adventure, like you get on a roller coaster the split second after they take off; knowing you're safe, but savoring the slight feeling of danger all the same. The bridge danced and swung from side to side until I reached the center. On my right was a sign declaring that side of the river was in one state, and on my left another sign announced that the river on its side belonged to a different state with the bridge squarely set on the border line between the two states. I stood there and took in the sunshine and blue skies, the bare, beautiful trees, the scent of pine, the murmur of the river. And then I had the realization that I had my foot in two places at once, literally....

  Bilum  (said "BEE lum")is the Tok Pisin word for “bag” but it’s not just any old bag. Bilums are unique to Papua New Guinea  (see photo above of some of the  bilums  I've been given). Nowhere else in the world do they craft bags in this particular way. It's a mark of both cultural identity and pride for Papua New Guinea (PNG). And rightly so, they are some of the most gorgeous craftsmanship and designs I've seen in my travels.    Bilums are very significant in PNG culture. Not only do they use bilums for everything from a purse to carrying produce from the garden, but they also give them as a wedding gifts, use them to hold babies while they sleep, and carry massive loads with them. When someone gives you a bilum it is a sign that they want to build relationship with you and they are even used a a way to propose to someone when you want to marry them.    Not only are  bilums  important as a craft, but it also show...

  This story was shared with permission from the patient and family “He’s not breathing! Please come now!” The voice on the other end of the line was tense, close to panicked. “I’m coming now.” I replied. I hung up the phone and ran out the door. I drove across the center, praying urgently for God’s wisdom and help. My car rattled to a stop at the end of the driveway and I could see people standing near the door. I jumped out of my car and ran up the drive and into the house. The patient was in the throes of a severe seizure and was surrounded by scared and desperate friends. My eyes took in the situation and my mind clicked over into assessment mode: watching his chest, feeling for pulse, checking for responses from the patient. Within two minutes it was clear the seizure was not going to stop. “We need to get him to the clinic in my car.” I said. One of my friends grabbed my keys to open the doors of my car, and several strong guys came and picked up the patient. I guided them ou...

  " When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. "   1 Corinthians 13:11 (NLT)   Recently I had the privilege of witnessing a good friend of mine complete Confirmation at her Lutheran church. She had worked for many long months doing Bible study, service, scripture memory, classes and more. When the day of her Confirmation arrived she asked me and another friend to come witness it since this other friend and I had been praying with and for her through this Confirmation process. It was neat to see her joy on this day.  Later, since Confirmation is not part of my church tradition, she was explaining to me more of the significance of Confirmation in her church. She told me that once someone has been confirmed they are no longer considered children in the church. Instead, they are considerd fully grown members of the church and the body of Christ. She said that as such, they now were expected to serve t...

A double rainbow that caught our attention "The heavens declare the glory of God;  the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world."                                                                                                Psalm 19:1-4a NIV    A soft breeze wafts through the window of my office. I can hear kids jumping on a trampoline next door and the bustle of the end of the work day as people head home. The smell of fresh grass and light rain and sweet wood smo...

 It’s the rainy season here in Papua New Guinea. Most afternoons are filled with torrential rains that go straight through until the early hours of morning, from October or November until May or June. So, I was steadily chugging away with lavish dish rinsing, normal loads of laundry, and copious amounts of cooking and drinking water. Until, one fateful Friday afternoon, I turned on the faucet to prep things for dinner and was met with a cough, a splutter and spitting brown water. The water pump ran and ran and seemed to be struggling. It had to either be the water pump or my rain tank. I ran out to the rain tank and knocked in its sides. Sure enough, it resounded hollow and empty right down to its base. It was the rain tank. Empty. I was stuck, boiling and filtering every drop of water, from brushing my teeth to rinsing my dishes, and everything in between. For. Three. Long. Weeks. my water for a few weeks. It was grey or brown most of the time.  You’re probably wondering what...

 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)." ...

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 b...

  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 f...

 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

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...

  Morobe Province on the way to Lae, Papua New Guinea 2022 There’s something about moving back and forth across the globe every few years that makes a person feel pretty vulnerable. You surrender your job, your house, your keys, your friends and rhythms and you feel, somehow, that you’ve surrendered your identity as well. You’re bare and defenseless with nothing but your suitcases and a flimsy plan that can go bottom up at the slightest provocation until you reach the other end of what a friend of mine calls “the travel tunnel”.  A friend asked me today how I was feeling about going to the USA for furlough, and about my experiences with God or friends right now. I launched into my long list of to-dos that were done or not done, work tasks, ministry wrap ups, etc… Then she asked me, “but how are you feeling? ” That pulled me up short. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m pretty task oriented. Often, when I’m in a season of transition like this I like to keep the door between me a...

 Note: I wrote this back in August and forgot to publish it, but it was too good not to share. So, you guys get two blog posts this week. :) Ukarumpa with a lovely double rainbow over it  The smell of freshly roasting coffee and rain glide through my window into my office. The weather is turning cooler and more foggy but the rain has slacked off as we creep into the dry season. And so we make another determined march through the seasons, ticking off the months in their turn. In the northern hemisphere Summer is tantalizingly close. Schools are finishing up their year and kids are counting down the days until break and endless hours without homework or classes. Right now some friends and I are studying the way God’s story starts in Genesis and wraps through the whole Bible, weaving in and out of what feel like unrelated stories and poetry and pronouncements of doom should the people not repent. But as we look for the common thread of God’s story I can see God’s rhythms of creat...

 The words of 1 Peter pulsed through my head, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire —may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the sa...

  I laid my head down on the desk. It all just felt too heavy. The giant hole from the leaking pipe in my front yard. The fourth request for work or money in as many days. Waking up with a sore throat and a throbbing leg. Feeling totally unprepared for the study I’m supposed to teach tonight but knowing I have to work all day and wondering when I’ll have time to prepare. Then there’s the patients. The neglected rash turned septic. The simple wound from stepping on sharp grasses threatening the viability of a foot. The double break in a 9 year old’s forearm. Being told I can’t give crutches to someone because we don’t have them. Getting the wrong thing in a medication shipment so I will have to wait another 1-2 months for supplies I have several people asking me for urgently. Staff calling in sick and trying to figure out who I can call in, or how I can find a way to juggle three roles in a four hour shift. And then add to that the self-condemnation that is plaguin...

John 15:1-2 The Vine and the Branches “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." Psalms 127:1 Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. Philippians 1:6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. * Have you ever planted a garden or watched a farmer clear his fields in preparation for the sowing season? Recently I walked up the steps of my garden and noticed that my gardener had cleared out a huge swath of decorative plants. I remember the first time she did this. I was appalled! She had just reduced a lush landscape to bare earth. I remember feeling horrified and desolate. However, as I watched over the next few months, the beautiful plants slowly began to retur...

There’s a worship song that I love here, it’s called Sindaun Long Heven. A line that says: Jisas laikim b’long yu, long laif bilong mi, emi winim silva na gol Jesus your love over my life, it exceeds/is better than silver and gold. I love this song. I have loved it for a long time for its catchy tune, good truth, and sing-ability.  But today it hit me really powerfully how incredible it is that Jesus — that the Trinity, ruler of the universe, maker of all things, judge, sacrificial king, master and provider for all peoples everywhere — pours his faithful, pure, powerful love over my life. I nearly started crying in my kitchen as I sang along with the video below while I made dinner. I thought to myself, It’s true Jesus, Your love over my life truly is better and far exceeds money or possessions or anything I could ever pursue or desire. It was a humbling, holy moment in the midst of the mundane. Another friend sent me this verse from Zephaniah 3:17 that seems even more incredible t...

  Every night at twilight for the last month you could hear it, the droning hymn. The steady hum of a beehive and the crackle of electricity all rolled into one deep thrum. It sizzled from every tree and buzzed from the moment the sun began to think about laying down for the night, until he covered his shining head in a mantle of deep black. I hadn’t heard it before, or at least I didn’t remember it, and it puzzled me until I started to pay attention. It wasn’t a beehive or an electrical current. Instead, it was the steady, rhythmic thrum of the hard-sided, armored wings of a beetle called the muna beetle*. It’s a brown beetle about the length of your thumb, chubby and winged, and apparently tasty. And, as I asked my friends about it, they really only come around during this time of year. It made me think, this hymn of the muna beetle, about rhythms and seasons. A friend and I were talking the other day about how, when we first arrived here, we tried to make sense of the seasons in...

  My PNG family and I once we arrived in Jiwaka        Fog rolled around us in the thin light of dawn. We waited, engine idling, on the side of the road just past the large billboard welcoming us to Jiwaka province. We had arrived. Across two provincial lines, lots of bumpy road and tanked up with roadside three-in-one coffee we had trekked to come and visit my Papua New Guinean brother Michael's family for a very special occasion. Michael's younger brother and his wife had a new baby and this weekend they were going to have a baby naming ceremony, a celebration that's observed in only a few provinces in Papua New Guinea (PNG). I had never been to a baby naming ceremony, so I was excited to see what this ceremony would be like and to see what this new province, and its unique culture, would be like.    The sun stretched and began to push away the rumpled coverlet of fog, revealing a beautiful landscape of steep mountains, f...