As some of you may know last year, at the end of January, Lana and I had a miscarriage. We lost our first child and the grief was unbearable. It was a very deep loss for us. But later that June we found out that we were once again pregnant. What a gift from God after such a deep loss. Yet the...
Several years ago, when facing some difficulty where I didn’t know how things would turn out, I attended a Prayer Renewal at the DreamGivers Inn. The Lord showed me through His Word that I needed to remain strong in Him and be courageous. In Joshua 1:6 the Lord said to Joshua, “Be...
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation...
There is a new excitement in our children’s program. Teacher Shirley is practicing greeting in Chinese and Teacher Jeff is studying Chinese with the help of JJ and Wendy. Last week the preschool sang Jesus Loves Me in Mandarin, Spanish and Italian. The kids were completely engaged and...
Many people have observed that we are in a season of unity as a church community and that it is delightful. What is even more delightful, and remarkable, is that within that unity there is a growing diversity. We are seeing an increasing ethnic and language and cultural diversity. Generational...
For the past few months, I’ve been slowly (and I mean, slooooowly) making my way through Timothy Keller’s book on prayer, fittingly called—Prayer. In the best way possible, this book has really “messed up” my prayer life. God has used this book to reveal things I...
Doug and I just came back from three weeks of vacation. We started off spending time with my high school classmates for a reunion in Las Vegas for the first week. We then traveled to be with Beth, our daughter and her husband, Jon, and their children: Malia (14); JD (12) and Kiana (10) in Los...
A parent’s life is filled with joy, love, and STRESS! It can be overwhelming to navigate the path of helping our children grow to become faithful followers of Christ. James and I work to provide everything our kids need, and that starts with a healthy and vibrant relationship with God. We...
Last week, during the great 2017 snow storm, I had to spend some time in the emergency room. Now don’t worry, everything is ok and the doctor and nurses took great care of me. Since most of the clinics and doctor’s offices were closed due to the weather, the emergency room was rather...
As we all know by now, this has been quite the winter in Portland. Growing up in northern Indiana, I experienced more snow than I care to remember and while I know I should feel like a “pro” when it comes to navigating the snow, Indiana does not get ice like Oregon and Indiana does...