Finding Faith in the Battle

This past weekend we went to an Ethiopian friend's wedding. The wedding included an Amharic prayer of blessing and the reception had a traditional Ethiopian feast and Ethiopian dancing. We always encourage our children to participate in the customs of our international friends. We are preparing them for Malawi, you know, so that they engage people with a warm smile, can shake hands, and are able to say, "That's interesting and different for me," instead of, "Yuk!" when served something new. During the wedding dance, one of the bride's aunts took Anya (age 7) by the hand and before we knew it she was jumping and dancing in the midst of all the Ethiopians. On the way home, I congratulated her on her willingness to try something new. It made our friends so happy that she celebrated with them in that way. She said, "I think I'm ready for Africa, but I'm not sure about you and mom--you didn't even dance. You weren't a very good example fo...

Breathing air is the witness of God's goodness to me. I have struggled with asthma throughout my life and it has been a major problem for me in the athletic and active parts of my days. Over the last three years I have been blessed with a decreasing number of attacks and over the last year I have been attack free. This year I have trained for the Portland Marathon, a longtime dream of mine. It requires frequent long runs. Today I ran 17 miles in 2 1/2 hrs (without medication). During mile five I took a deep breath. God revealed himself to me in that moment my lungs filled. The air I breath is a witness to the goodness of God. Paul told the crowd in Lystra (Acts 14) that even when God allows us to go our way, God does not leave us without a witness in doing good-there is rain for the growing season, food to fill our stomachs, joy to fill our hearts, and, adding to Paul's list I say, "air to fill our lungs." Praise God for life's seamingly ordinary blessings. Chad