Like many other tourists in Israel, I enjoyed walking in Jerusalem between the three sites dedicated to prayer. Muslims worship at the Dome of the Rock, their third most holy site. Jewish men and women gather endlessly at the Wailing Wall, forming long lines, leaning forward and backward, recalling their ancient city’s history.  Standing in front of the stone wall that supported Solomon’s Temple, their prayers take place in the open air...

From time to time, I used to take a day away from home, work, and all distractions. I set aside time for meditation. In Brazil, that meant setting up a hammock under the shady trees in the city park. In Turkey, I went by ferry to one of the Princes Islands, a beautiful set of pearls sprinkled across the Sea of Marmara close to Istanbul.  For a few hours, I watched clouds...

I grew up learning that persistence matters. When 21 girls graduated from school in Kabartonjo, Kenya, the African village where I grew up, their sun-kissed smiles left my mother overjoyed. She knew they had struggled to concentrate on their studies and still found time to help their mothers. Their reward was not only measured by high marks...

Sports Day in Kenya! It was the highlight of the term for me. After a day of intense competition under the scorching sun, my voice hoarse from cheering, and the end-of-term Bar-B-Q in sight, I finally found a moment to rest. Our team was a force to be reckoned with in team events, although my individual performances in races...

As a Grade seven student in Kenya, East Africa, one verse used to terrify me. Some of our boarding schoolteachers were known to use this verse in chapel meetings after a student had seriously flouted the rules. That student might get away with merely...

What have been your life’s top five challenges? Three? One? Well, this month, we have five stories that show what our Latin America Mission workers face. From one point of view, we know almost all the people in the Bible faced incredible odds. Looking more closely, we discover how faith developed their spiritual life. They needed God’s strength and power because challenges matter!

Jesus trained many disciples! And twice during his ministry in Galilee, he sent them out, two by two. At first, Jesus gathered twelve men and taught them. They watched him preach, teach, heal the lepers, cast out demons, and raise the dead. Then, it was their turn to go out and do the same thing! Twelve men going out two-by-two formed six teams...

The face of poverty appears in many places, forms, shapes, and sizes. And how Christians think about poverty is a window into understanding Christ’s demands for discipleship. Poverty matters!...

Growing up at our home in Limuru, Kenya, my mother loved working with widows and orphans. Early every morning, women from a nearby village walked to our rented property. My parents, who rented a six-acre farm, believed God could continually supply the funds to hire a dozen women. My mother asked widows to care for the crops from 8:00 until noon...

Has a crying baby ever disturbed you during a church service? Did you ever see children running around during worship, wishing their parents would control them? How did you feel about children and infants creating a fuss during prayer?...

The Kenyan preacher’s words gripped me one night. “How many stars can you see? So many! And God knows the name of each one. He has a big book, too. In that book, he has the name of all who love him. Do you love the Lord Jesus? Has your name been written in that book?” At age 4 and a half, I wanted to love the Lord Jesus...

Our worship of a holy, loving God is the most critical thing we can do as humans. From the beginning of the Bible to the end, the theme of worship permeates every book. Putting God first and listening to his voice was what the Lord wanted. But when our first human parents failed, sin entered the world. Immediately afterward, the first violent action happened, and it was over the question of how God was to be worshipped was introduced to everyone. Worship Matters...