From the Midwest and Around the World

Since my personal Bible is a bit too heavy to carry on the flight, I'm taking "Seeking God's Face," which is a year-long Biblical prayer devotional in the Reformed tradition. I got it when I was a student at Calvin College. To be quite honest, I have not been very diligent with a daily (or at least every other day) prayer and Bible reading time and since journaling is sort of required for this mission trip I decided to integrate it with a short and sweet devotional as well.... Gel Pens, journal, and small (carry-on friendly) Journal! You, Lord, are my lamp; the Lord turns my darkness into light. with your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall. (2 Samuel 22:29-30) The verse above was how the devotional invited me into God's Word. Sometimes you don't realize how thirsty you are for God until he leads you to the Water. This bit of encouragement as well as wisdom caught me off guard. In this world where there is so much suffer...

Hey y'all!  I haven't posted in more than a year or two: partially because I was busy...but also I'm lazy and not good at blogging. So anyhow, this Saturday, I'm going to Beirut, Lebanon for a 10 day mission trip. I will be visiting refugee camps and helping to distribute food and other necessities as well as visiting refugees and learning about their experiences. During that time, I will only have my iPhone...so blogging will be scarce. But I will be keeping a pen and paper journal and once I get back, I will transcribe (with pictures!) those entries and share them with you here. This next week, I will be reflecting on a few questions before my trip, and will also be focusing on questions during and after the trip. If you wish to follow along during the trip through prayer and reflection, please sign up for email updates here .  Ignore the dates, the actual trip is June 18-28. Pre-During-Post Trip Questions 1. What are the 3 greatest needs of the refugee? 2. Wha...