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

3 weeks ago the internet told us that an unborn baby's genitals were differentiated enough to tell gender. Anya danced around with joy, begged us to go to the ultrasound "right NOW!" and at dinner prayed, thanking God that the baby finally had private parts. Today, those private parts were none too private, and there's no doubt a little boy is on the way! At first I was too wraped up in excitement over having a boy and feeling little flecks of sadness over all the girl-dreams that would never be. But then I started watching the screen as the ultrasonographer was doing her training (and thus took twice as long). I took in the 4 chambers of the beating heart, the perfectly straight spine, the arm and leg bones just the right length, even the little bladder and two kidneys formed as they should be. We saw him swallow, kick, and flip over (to the irritation of the tech, who just wanted one good look at the entire spine!) With baby number 1, I soaked in the beauty of the u...

Perhaps this will be a surpise to those of you who know me, but I am a veritable paradox of values (and my husband says 'Amen!'). I have an un-natural drive to be thrifty (do I hear cheap?), while at the same time longing for highest quality items which I will never be able to afford, nor would I ever allow myself to splurge on even if I could. All this to tell you I have a special bed. A single piece of furniture that finally blended my two selves...$1500, solid maple, 4-poster giant of a bed, purchased brand-new from Eddie Bauer home for $200. The irony is that in the 9 years and 4 houses that have passed since this monumental, crowning achievement of a purchase, it's never once actually fit well in our bedroom. We had become masters of re-arranging our lives to fit this bed into its rightful place of honor. In our last house, we even had to relegate it to the spare bedroom where it became our 3-year old's bed. And still it survived with not a scratch. Then came this ...

At age five, in East Africa, I became a believer. My name is Chad. My parents were missionaries to Uganda. I was among the first to come to faith in their 26 years of service with the IMB. As a missionary kid, I was deeply impacted by witnessing my parents’ ministry, by interacting with African friends, and by seeing lives transformed by faith in Jesus. Miriam, my wife, is also a missionary kid. She grew up in Ethiopia. We always wondered if God would call us back to the mission field, and so, committed ourselves to live life ready to answer that call. One night, browsing the IMB website, I learned of a need for Seminary teachers in Malawi. I read the job request to Miriam and, at once, we knew it was God’s call. As I finished reading, she said, “Let us go!” Now we and our three young children are moving to Malawi, often called “The Warm Heart of Africa.” There, I will join a team of missionaries and Baptist nationals to provide theological education to Malawian pastors and church plan...