I was reading the other day an article that Rick Warren wrote about faith. He said, “Faith is like a muscle: it can be strengthened. It can be weak or it can be strong, depending on how much you use it. How does God build your faith? The first thing God […]
Saving Face Doesn’t Save Time
Photo by Tokyo Times It is amazing how long it takes to “settle in” to a new place. I think the process time increases when you are in another country. It is not only the issue of language, but various cultural expectations and values do not help in the speed of […]
Spiritual Observation
After we dropped the kids off at school, Christina and I had some time in the morning to run various errands. It has been good to spend time together as we get adjusted in a new country and culture. We live in an area that is very expat friendly; therefore it is easy to […]
Getting Lost
Photo by Corey Amaro Driving in Indonesia is incredibly fun. I still can’t believe the freedom that drivers have on the roads. You can throw away the “rules of the road” manual in Indonesia. Rules are usually suggestions and driving etiquettes are luxuries. Also, it is not the cars that you […]
Passion and Talent
The YouTube below just reminded me about the importance of passion and talent. When those two things come together it makes a powerful combination. Passion is often times the fuel that enables a person to do something, while the talent is the tools or the instrument in which we can accomplish things. There are […]
Responding with Grace
Photo by images.com Every day as the kids finish their day of school, we ask them how things went for them. It has been our ritual so far. Christina and I just want to make sure that the kids are adjusting well. One day, Karissa responded by telling us of something […]
Incarnation or Isolation
Yesterday, Christina and I had a great lunch with a couple who have been coming out to our informal gatherings. They are Chinese-Americans who are working for the U.S. Embassy (expatriates). It was great just hanging out and getting to know each other a little bit better. One topic of conversation that came up […]
“We Are the Foreigners”
Photo from Empire and Sleep I have found myself constantly repeating the phrase, “we are the foreigners, not the Indonesians.” When it comes to doing cross-cultural missions, it is easy to see everything from a self-centered perspective. Christina and I have been feeling some of the frustrations of not being able […]
Missing the Simple Things
Photo by Telegraph News The phrase, “you don’t know what you have, unless it is gone” constantly rings out to me as I try to go through daily life in Indonesia. There are a lot of things that we are still trying to get set up for the house that we […]
Start of LIFE Groups in JKT
The small group ministry has always been our church’s “bread and butter” (colloquialism for describing our basic function for our church’s livelihood). Throughout the history of our church, people have said that various aspects of the church helped them grow spiritually, but hands down, the small group ministry is always in first place. We […]
First Day of School in Indonesia
Do you remember the first day of school? Whether it was at a new school that you were going to or you were returning to the same school, there is something exciting about starting school. But in the midst of the excitement there is some level of anxiety. I think our kids were experiencing […]
Another Sunday
Sundays are turning out to be our longest days so far. We started off early this morning at 8:40AM because we had to drive out to Jakarta. Our team was visiting another church to get a better feel of the spiritual climate in Indonesia. This church was highly recommended by many people as one […]
Basics of Relationship Building
In many ways starting a church from scratch is completely different than being in a church that is already established. But there are also a lot of similarities as well. In the last few days, I have been pondering on what are the basics of doing church and what are some of the peripheral […]
Kids’ School Orientation
The whole family and I went to the kids’ school because of the new students and parents orientation. It was a great opportunity for our kids to meet other fellow students who were also new to the school. It was also good for Christina and me to meet other parents. It was great to […]