“Were you scared moving here?” we ask Jonas. “Yeah, a little,” the smiling young man answers, and then relates the story of his transition from his predominantly Christian island in East Indonesia to this hard-core, widely-feared Islamic island of Madura. I’m on Madura today with a short term team from a church in Boston, and we’re being introduced to the staff of an English center which is led by my friend Charles from California. A few years ago he and his family formed a team from the church they served in nearby Surabaya and moved across the Madura Strait to reach Muslim people with the good news of Jesus and to help serve them practically by teaching English. Jonas was one of the first to volunteer for the team and now works in the English center.
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Triangulation is the term we use to describe an activated faith that incorporates three essential elements. When you survey your own life, which corner would you like to strengthen?
A very cool and thought-provoking “palindrome.” Make sure you watch the whole thing (you will feel depressed if you quit halfway). Creative stuff!
When I was in my pre-teens, the pop group Air Supply was burning up the American charts with their string of love ballads. I remember listening to their albums (the black vinyl kind, before CD’s) in my big sister’s room and I thought she was so lucky to get to go to their concert when they came to town. She went with her boyfriend and they probably waved a lighter in the air along with thousands of fans while the Australian duo sang “All Out of Love” and “Here I Am (just when I thought I was over you).” I didn’t get to go. I was too young. I’m not too young now. I turn 40 today. And on this monumental day
Read MoreIt was the last show of the day, and it finished right at park closing time. My young family along with my in-laws had just enjoyed a theatrical production of The Lion King at Disney World’s newly opened park, Animal Kingdom. We strapped our baby girl in her stroller, gathered up all our bags and trinkets and geared up for the exiting process. As we made our way toward the exits, a concession worker from a corn dog stand came out and offered the passer-by’s free corn dogs. I love corn dogs! My father-in-law and I scooped up as many as we could for a convenient dinner as throngs of people streamed past us toward the exits. One for you. Here you go. One for you. One for you. Hey, where’s Caleb? Caleb? Caleb? Has anyone seen Caleb?...
Read MoreIn the year 1700, a wealthy family in Germany gave birth to Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf. Though raised in a Christian stream of pietism, little Ludwig adopted the standards of the noble class he grew up with, becoming a spoiled nobleman unconcerned by the plight of his poor countrymen who served his estate. But once when he was 16 and visiting an art museum, he saw a painting of the
Read MoreI love the movie Mr. Holland’s Opus with Richard Dreyfuss as a high school band teacher who dreams of the fame and glory of becoming a famous composer. He never really gets his wish fulfilled, but feels he wastes his life teaching
Read MoreIn my town there lives a king who is building a castle. Seriously. We usually think of castles as ancient European fortresses but this one is newly being built from scratch in the hills of Malang, Indonesia. The rocks for the walls and ramparts are being brought in from a quarry out of a volcano about an hour away....
Read MoreMy doorbell rang this morning at 4 AM. I was expecting out-of-town guests to show up at 6AM, and I figured it was them coming early, way too early. I jumped up in my bed-headed and confused state and greeted the three visitors waiting patiently at my gate. They had just traveled all night in a chartered minivan from the resort island of Bali, which is one island over and 10 hours away from Java, where I live. They came this week to learn from our team on how to start an outsourcing business, something we did three years ago in Java. All three of them have a heart to see people lifted out of drug addiction and the sex trade industry of Bali, and they know that people who escape that degradation need a steady job to stay free. Prostitutes simply don’t have a lot of other job options, even if they somehow able to pay off their debts. They need gainful employment for the long haul. My three new friends are determined to give people like that new opportunities. Welcome to the world of Social Entrepreneurship.
Read MoreClass starts at 7:00 a.m. and the Indonesian college students begin shuffling in just a little after. They make their way to their desks inside this dirty and crowded classroom, which is already a bit hot since there is no air conditioning in the room. There is one fan, and for that their lecturer is very thankful.
The lecturer, an American, begins by giving back homework that he has already graded and corrected. He calls their names out one by one, “Abdul, Much, Dyan, Agus…,” until most of the 50 or so students all have their homework back. He apologizes to the students who have “no credit” written across their papers. He explains to them again that if they copy from each other’s paper they will get no credit. They are not allowed to work together in this way on homework assignments. Read More
