where the heart is – a guest post
Today it is my great privilege to swap blogs with the delightful Bronwyn Lea. Bronwyn and I met at church in Cape Town, and I have had the utmost respect for her since the very beginning of our friendship. She is a committed Christian, a dedicated wife and mother, a deep thinker, a gifted communicator, an encouraging friend ... the list could go on and on. As Bronwyn and her husband have been living in the States for the past several years, we now have even more in common than we did before. The following post was written by Bronwyn, who has been taking part in 31 Days madness on her...
when you want to go home
So, sixth grade was hands down the worst school year of my entire educational career. It was the first year of middle school, which meant that eight elementary schools were stirred up and poured through a funnel into the large vat of one building. The vat was, however, divided into two segments – East Side and West Side. And wouldn’t you know … all of my friends from elementary ended up on one side, and I was on the other. I was lost in a new school of fish, and I hated it. I didn’t want to swim in the sea. I wanted to go back to the comfort of my familiar pond, where the other fish...
homesick for heaven
It’s when you grow up on the Atlantic seaboard, and get relocated to landlocked Nebraska cornfields. It’s that long-awaited return to the coast, when that familiar saltiness of the air reaches your nostrils before seagulls are sighted, and you know that you’re home. It’s when you’ve been away on a business trip, and your aircraft descends through the blanket of clouds so you can see the familiar, sweeping landscape below, and you know that you’re home. It’s when you’ve been cooped up in a college dorm for an entire semester, and it’s finally Christmas break. It’s when you open the front...
My Love Hate Relationship with Airports
I have a love hate relationship with airports. Okay, mostly hate. Airports are actually capable of causing my stomach to churn, heave and threaten to wretch, just by the very sight of them. It’s not that I get airsick. I don’t. Well, except for that one time when I reacted horribly to an Ambien on the way to India, but that’s a different story. No, my stomach doesn’t literally betray me due to motion sickness. It’s a heartsick thing. There have been far too many goodbyes. Sure, there have been giddy days of counting hours and minutes and practically climbing on strangers’...
story – for the (in)couragers
We massage them into the heart of an aching soul. We cup them in feeble hands and humbly offer them to another to drink, with the sincere hope that a thirst will be quenched. We crop them and edit them and slide them neatly into plastic sleeves to be tucked away for a rainy day. We toss them, light and feathery, in an attempt to tickle downcast lips into a full-fledged smile. We stuff them into cardboard boxes, drown them in duct tape and push them, suffocated, into the back corner of the cobwebbed basement. We wrap them up in pretty paper and leave them on the counter, in eager...
eternal houses & heavenly dwellings
On this Lord's Day, may we reflect on the following: "Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the...
where i belong
On one of those rare occasions when I was driving alone in the car, this song by Building 429 came onto the radio: All I know is I'm not home yet This is not where I belong Take this world and give me Jesus This is not where I belong ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he32vwlKQPY And speaking of belonging, I highly recommend the blog series 31 Days of Belonging, which can be found by clicking here. This is Day 12 of 'Defining Home in 31 Days.' Click here for a full list of...
when you wish you had what they have ..
As quickly as I signed into Facebook, I regretted the click of my mouse. Front and center, in perfectly clear megapixels, was the most adorably decorated baby’s room I’d ever seen. You know, the kind that only exists in magazines. Instantly, my inner being was fragmented into dozens of conflicting emotions: giddiness, awe, wonder, appreciation … but clawing its way to the top of the pile was the green-eyed monster. Yep, I admit it. I was jealous. I had left the garage door of my heart open and unguarded, and envy had climbed the ladder, passed the lump in my throat, and perched itself...
ten moves in ten years
On the 2nd of July, 2002, I heaved my burgundy Jansport backpack over my shoulders, hugged my family goodbye, and boarded a plane en route to Cape Town, South Africa. My plan was to stay for six months. But you know what Proverbs 16:9 says – “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” As it turned out, the steps determined for me in South Africa did not fit concisely into the second half of the calendar. Ten and a half years later, on a January afternoon in the Cape Town airport, I heaved that same burgundy Jansport backpack over my eldest son’s shoulders. ...
moving day
This past January marked my tenth move in ten years. Among those temporary abodes in the past decade was the furnished home of some missionaries who went on furlough for a year. Our family had the privilege of looking after their belongings and their dogs while they were away. Prior to this twelve-month arrangement, we had spent four months in a different rental nearby. Shortly after we had moved in, my husband’s back started to give him problems, so we decided to try a mattress with firmer springs. The day the new mattress was to be delivered, we hauled the old one from the master...
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