She sits in my office, crying. “Why am I so depressed? Nothing terrible happened to me. I love my parents. I loved living overseas. I can’t wait to go back. But why do I get so depressed?” I get out a stack of paper, and draw a tombstone on each sheet. On each tombstone, I [...]
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When you start to pick your nose in public, you might be too cheap for Kleenex. Or you might live in a really dry, dusty place and need to dig that one out before it makes you bleed. Or you might be overdue for a break. When you (if a native English speaker) start to [...]
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Missionaries can be a negative, cynical bunch sometimes. And I’m not pointing fingers because I get it. I’ve drunk the kool-aid and have come up woefully short of expectations (of myself, the work and others), and I’ve done this same fall-on-my-face-move on four different continents. Hacking out a life overseas can make a pessimist out [...]
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Have you ever found yourself asking, “What am I doing?” “Is this worth it?” “Is this what we signed up for?” If so you are not alone in your emotions, although these feelings can make you feel very isolated. Missions and any form of leadership carries with it an aspect of loneliness. Ordinary friendships become [...]
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This question must cross the mind of every missionary parent, at least at some point. I know it has crossed mine… and more than just once. First, I wonder- What would it look like, their resentment, I mean? Would my child become angry and act out? Would I see sullen and negative with constant [...]
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Last November, I wrote a post about finding community, pointing to the danger of relying mostly on a virtual world and not connecting well with people around you. But saying, “Find community,” is almost like simply saying, “Lose weight” without sharing ideas on how to go about doing so. In real life—or perhaps I should [...]
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Let’s talk about the weather… even though frankly, I’d really rather not – -but that is because it is miserably, uncomfortably hot these days. When we talk about the weather here, we say we have three seasons: hot, miserably, uncomfortably hot, and even worse. That miserably, uncomfortably hot has begun… well over 104’F/40’C during the [...]
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