Years ago, a young man named Allan courted a young woman named Joan. He was in the US Army, a veteran of the Korean War. She was on stage on Broadway, and claimed a cameo role in a “Lone Ranger” episode. They married … then moved to Thailand for full time Faith work. Decades...

A pastor’s wife met us during our border journey, on the way to a refugee camp inside Burma. Her family set out two boxes of ice cream on long tables in the shade, along with fresh watermelon, soft drinks, and water. Then S asked her for her name. “I was born at night,” she...

Our sons became actors of international renown on our recent trip along the Thailand-Burma border. Our traveling group of a dozen performed the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abedenego three times — once in church, and twice in refugee camps. E, H, and W played the part of the heroes...

Tonight, S and I began the process of thinking through how this trip might affect our lives when we return to Northern Virginia. Our current hosts graciously offered to keep our kids for a night … so here we are at an awesome resort … just the two of us … saying things like...

Reverend Simon leads a Bible college inside Thailand’s largest refugee camp. A walkable mountain and plain separates the campus from  war. Most of his ethnic minority students leave their homes inside Burma’s controversial regions to spend a year or two or three studying...

We’ve just returned to Chiang Mai, Thailand after accompanying an aid group to the border region between Thailand and Burma. Move your mouse over these images from the trip to hear some of the sounds from our...

Our time with the EB family began with E hanging off the side of a bucking pony. He struggled to free his foot that was stuck in a loose and sagging saddle before being thrown under the distressed animal. Days later, W was sampling cooked dog by candlelight at a jungle camp along the...

Hosannah is one our new friends that we greatly admire (true story). On the day we met, one of the first things we learned about her is that she killed a snake while out on her morning run, which made me want to sign up immediately to be on her team. Despite being lethal to snakes, to people...

For the first time in her life, S played a competitive game of five-on-five basketball. In Chiang Mai, Thailand. Go,...

The border between Thailand and Burma is just a few miles from this cafe table in Mae Sot, Thailand. Part of today’s discussion around that table was the explosive power of WORDS and NAMES. The folks in the photo are struggling with what to call the various ethnic groups along the...

Two men recently explained their life’s calling during separate conversations here in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Khem described his birthplace among the country’s poor and persecuted ethnic minority, where his parents — both farmers — sacraficed a great deal to send him and...

On a bike ride this afternoon — up off my seat, slowly climbing an especially steep incline — I noticed a few motor bike treads that had been discarded down a hillside off the road. That’s what had come of a thousand turns for those worn-out treads: a trash heap in a quiet...

Big J turned 42 yesterday in Chiang Mai, Thailand.  The boys planned a full day for him of running, eating, swimming, dancing, playing, and — special treat — napping.  We had Big Birthday Dinner with Mark and Melinda’s awesome family, stuffed ourselves with Lacy’s...

Largely because of our boys’ fascination with lacrosse and all the associated gear, they have developed an intense fondness for anything with an Under Armour logo. Truly, anything: stickers, shirts, shorts, socks, shoes, and on and on and on. You’ll recall that we were robbed last...

We’ve heard some precious stories about life with this precious threesome from our current hosts, M and Mel, in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The children are M’s siblings … and the photo is over fifty years old. M grew up with his sister and brothers in an apartment above their...

This was the scene last night after a championship high school basketball game in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The Tigers — our new team — had just defeated their rivals, the Eagles, in a nail-biter. (The son of our current hosts is a Tiger guard.) In the photo, the Tigers were just...

The results are in, and the winner is…..Malaysia, by about 48 hours. A Malaysian Ringgit, though worth only about 30 cents, comes as a beautiful, periwinkle blue paper bill with a delicate, transparent window and a tropical hibiscus. But H mainly sees a 3-ringgit pack of gum at the...

I’ve been trying to walk the boys through some Easter-related conversations during Lent. We sat down for yesterday’s conversation about MERCY in a perfect setting: each of us oceanside on a reclining chair, the late afternoon sun drooping towards the horizon, water from the...

At this late hour, a group of Japanese fellow tourists are swimming together in the darkness. A lot of laughing is coming from that direction. They may or may not be naked. So it is as we’re enjoying a healthy dose of goofy in our current location, a seaside resort off the western coast...

So I think it’s right that your view of the stars depends on where you are in our world. That would mean that the night sky in Virginia, say, is different than the night sky in Malaysia. If true, it would explain why Orion’s Belt is directly above us … when it’s...

The tooth hangs by a thread, flicking back and forth almost as easily and mindlessly as breathing in and out. If you ask him why he doesn’t just pull it out, the answer is quick and firm: “NO. I DON’T WANT TO.” H is on the verge of losing his second tooth of the trip....

    One of our sons lost a particularly special memento today, a blue bracelet with home memories that he picked up just before we left the USA last summer. It’s been on his wrist ever since. I don’t want to treat his loss lightly. He is devastated. We realized it was...

My first friend was — is — Charles. An early memory: he and I are walking up a hill in our neighborhood, and we’re spitting every few steps. It was a cool habit we’d picked up very intentionally from another friend at elementary school named Scott. “Soon,”...

Another day, another continent…. It seems too soon to leave Africa behind, but here we are in Kuala Lumpur, with all of our luggage AND all of our children. The first food stand I saw in the airport was for “corny fish”. Is this for bad fish jokes or a fishy corn dog? Too...