Pilgrims' Home

I remember trying to understand tragedy when Greg Fast committed suicide during 8th grade and when a football teammate JEremy was killed by his friends in late high school. These were friends, who lost their lives too early. I remember attending their funerals and shedding tears without detailed reason, save the absence of people who should not be gone. I remember when Greg Fast died that I wanted to see his mom, and that I wanted to be sure others were not treated as Greg was (had Greg not died, he may have been a professional athlete). I remember calling his mom every few weeks to say I was thinking of her and remembering Greg. For Eric McGinnis, his friends arrived on his mother's front yard irate, and understandably so. THey were convinced, and the rapid spread of rumors affirmed, that St. Joe was up to this killing. They shared their rage on her front step, hoping for Ms. Ruth to come outside and confirm their rage by inviting them to enter St. Joe and seek revenge. She did...

Chapter 4 - Family I began reading the chapter wondering how Kolowitz would unfold "family", the chapter's title. Eric McGinnis was the only child to his mother, Ruth, and his father lived elsewhere in BEnton Harbor. Family was not nuclear, but it was also not volatile. I wondered how the relationships would receive their first introduction. Even more, as I began reading the chapter, I was reminded of the several children I have known who died before their parents - something that shapes my imagination for parenting Micah and Madeline. The chapter paints the story of how Ruth discovered the death of her son, and the affects on the policeman (Jim Reeves) and her other family members. The chapter wraps up with the following quotation, which unsettles my being as I think about being a father; I found myself in grief for Ruth, even on this day - 15+ years later, as the loss of a child is a loss to our entire being forever: "What really bothered me was that Ruth was...

I began chapter 3 in The Other Side of the River. The chapter opens depicting the quaint and even romantic town of St. Joseph. I found myself walking the streets as Kolowitz describes them, and I was remarkably comfortable when I was figuratively walking those streets.             The nature of the book, race relations, however unsettled my comfort on those streets. I wondered if everyone found great comfort and even a teenage romanticism while walking the streets. Is this an inclusive community that welcomes all races, classes, and ages? Or is these streets, and those like them around the country, exclusive for middle-aged, middle-class, dominant race folks? I do not have an answer to my question, but the book is making me ask questions about what makes me comfortable and not necessarily others the same.             The topic of the chapter is Kolowitz’s initial conv...

I have a practice when I travel overseas. I try to find a local book store in order to find a book with a local setting. In Paris, I went to Berkeley Books and purchased The Moveable Feast by Hemmingway and Orwell’s, Down and Out in Paris and London. The Moveable Feast took place on the same street as our hotel. I have repeated the practice in Germany, Amsterdam, and Moscow. It was harder to do with Thailand and Kenya. The engagement of a local tale is intriguing, yet when you discover a local tale in your hometown, the engagement can be daunting. I was telling a good friend about the story, and she said, “I’m in that book.” I knew Eric – we were the same age. This story might be a little too local, and I am somewhat anxious about how the story will raise new questions – as a resident, a disciple of Jesus, but also as a pastor of a church in this community. This tale is a bit more located than Hemmingway, Orwell, or Zamyatin (Russian writer of We ). The opening chapter sets the tone...

This morning I started rereading a book , The Other Side of the River , by Alex Kolowitz . He also wrote There are No Children Here (1991). The Other Side of the River is a tale of two cities, Benton Harbor and St Joseph, Michigan. Kolowitz follows the tragic story of Eric McGinnis, a young African-American boy who was discovered dead in the St. Joseph River. The other way to describe it: Alex narrates the murder of an African-American teenager who was found in the St. Joseph River. Depending on which side of the river you live dictates how you explain the story – found or murdered. St. Joseph is 95% affluent and white and Benton Harbor is 92% poor and black. The story is particularly about race relations in these two cities, but, as Kolowitz states, the story is the tale of Americana. Over the next few weeks, I will be writing my reflections on the story. Most often, I read an entire book and then write my thoughts, yet because of the nature of the story, the intensity of the writ...

We rearranged the schedule today. We had planned to work a half day beginning at 8:30, but we were invited to see the operation of a coffee farm co-op. This was pretty interesting and depressing. The plantation is a fair-trade certified factory, yet a pound of coffee sells for 20 cents. The cartel of coffee has too many brokers who cash-in while the kenyan coffee farmers are shortchanged. The best way to stop this is to connect with a farmer and buy direct, roast and grind your own.  Following the coffee tour, we went to work for one-half day starting at 9:30. We were able to finish everything and depart by 1:00. We left the home and returned to our quarters for lunch and some rest.  We planned to return to Morning Star for supper that evening. We helped to purchase two live goats for supper! Yes, they were living. I will refrain from details, but Shawn slit the animal's throat and drained the blood. Then the rest of the process prior to throwing ALL of the meat into a boiling...

We were all back together at work today. The roof needed to be completed, cabinets made, a tire swing hung, and the electrical stabilized. It appeared that many of us were tired today. I, for one, slept about two hours, so most of the morning was a struggle to stay awake, let alone not cut my hand with the saw (as I saw a couple of guys almost accomplish). Something you should know: there were two work teams this week. The first included the roofing team: Gunnar, Shawn, Ron, John. The second team included the more highly skilled guys - Dean, Ken, and Kyle under the supervision of Bill Deetjen. We also had two overseers, who worked diligently trying to be sure that the team had everything we needed as soon as possible (which in Kenya time took longer than some desired) - this included Bob and Reuben. Those two guys gave up the joy of working with their hands for the sake of administration and finance. Without these two men none of us would have accomplished anything. We are grateful. O...

The team of four (Ron, CHris, Kyle and John) traveled back to Stars for Jesus today. We traveled via Air Kenya. The group that remained at Stars continued the diligent work of putting trusses on the roof, finishing the water tank, and making the playground secure - we have dubbed the playground "Papa Bill's Village" since he was the creative engineer behind the whole thing.  Also, Bill made spaghetti for supper. The traveler's were unable to join them for the meal, so they stopped to eat at a place in Nairobi. The downside of our delay was that we missed the great meal creation.

Three members of the team departed this morning. Ron, John, and Kyle traveled to Mombassa area to discover a children's home operated by Larry and Kathy Hopkins of Canada and the African Inland Mission (affiliated with Rift Valley Academy).  Chris Okune of First Love, a children's home in Nairobi, traveled with us. He is the director of the home, and his vision and insight into empowering students to live abundantly in the future is one worth replicating. He is a visionary, and his children's home is an invitation to what is possible for the future of Kenyan children. First Love is committed to two things: 1) housing children whose parents have died; 2) feeding 1000 students breakfast and lunch at a local slum school near Kibira (this is the second largest slum in the world). Rifiki Children's Home is a home for 85+ kids and has a dynamically different feel than either Stars for Jesus or First Love. Rifiki is a more conservative home that seeks to prepare the children t...

We departed Amsterdam after a brief four hour layover (it is 7 hours on the way home). Layovers begin to disclose personalities. Some want to sit in a chair and wait it out - the bonus is that these guys watch the luggage. Others want to walk aimlessly in order to get some exercise. Still, others have a destination in mind - Starbucks or a wireless hotspot. I like this about our group. We are now on the plane to Nairobi. Gunnar has met his flight attendant, the two younger women sitting in his row (one is from North Dakota traveling to Kenya to teach English on the South-east coast), and he is the most diligent at walking the aisles. I think that every time he gets up, he meets someone new. The movie of the trip has been True Grit. I have yet to watch it (I watched Chronicles of Narnia 3, instead). But I thought it odd when Ron Russell and Ken Carlson were playing cowboys throughout Schipohl Airport (boys will be boys). John is our watch-out guy. He is always turning around to m...

We arrived at 8:30. Right on time. We were able to secure the luggage quickly and depart to the guest house. It wasnfun to have a welcome team of Reah and bob and Sandra and others. They had a busy day preparing for our arrival, but all seems to be going very well. Please pray that the Kenya power can be put back together so we have power at the home. We spent some time together in one of the sitting rooms. It is a dynamic and verbal group. We tell jokes,interior each other, and several other quirks that will be sure to make the blog this week. We are safe. Stay tuned.

We departed Amsterdam after a brief four hour layover (it is 7 hours on the way home). Layovers begin to disclose personalities. Some want to sit in a chair and wait it out - the bonus is that these guys watch the luggage. Others want to walk aimlessly in order to get some exercise. Still, others have a destination in mind - Starbucks or a wireless hotspot. I like this about our group. We are now on the plane to Nairobi. Gunnar has met his flight attendant, the two younger women sitting in his row (one is from North Dakota traveling to Kenya to teach English on the South-east coast), and he is the most diligent at walking the aisles. I think that every time he gets up, he meets someone new. Towards the end of the flight he met another missionary couple with campus crusade. They used to live in Minot north Dakota. By the end of the flight Gunnar has connected every passenger to either North Dakota or Denmark. Remarkable. The movie of the trip has been True Grit. I have yet to watch...

Let’s keep Bell’s book in perspective I finished Rob Bell’s new book, Love Wins . I hadn’t read any reviews of his book prior to reading it myself, yet now I am amazed to see the prolific responses. Online respondents either seem to overly sympathize with him—“finally, someone has taken on this monumental issue that is consuming the faith of young and old, alike. Most, however, have responded the other way – exaggerating Bell’s devilish and heretical qualities; one blogger noted that Bell’s book has created a TSUNAMI in his community. I think overly romanticizing Bell’s contribution is a bit much, but more so comparing Bell’s book to a recent natural disaster that has threatened nuclear meltdown and innumerable deaths is out-of-bounds, also. I wonder if we, Christians, will find a way to debate texts, ideas, and questions without having to follow media’s personalist attacks. The one person who seems to always accomplish gracious speech is Scot McKnight . He is one worth hearing,...

We just concluded a series on friendship at Harbert Community Church. As preachers, it was a profound series, and we hope the same is true for the hearers. I was curious as to what was the primary grammars of friendship operating throughout our series. I used wordle (www.wordle.net) to configure the word picture of each sermon as well as a composite of the weeks together. I will post three of the weeks, along with the current composite. The worship services from this series will be posted sometime this week on the church website: www.harbertcommunitychurch.org The weeks of the series were as follow: Week 1: Friendship Week 2: Trustworthy Friendship Week 3: Generous Friendship Week 4: Critical Friendship Week 5: Friendship Failures Week 6: Reconciling Friendship Wordle for the Series Week 2: Trustworthy Friendship Week 4: Critical Friendship Week 6: Reconciling Friendship

Most loving Father, whose will it is for us to give thanks for all things, to fear nothing but the loss of you, and to cast all our care on you who cares for us: Preserve me (us) from the faithless fears and worldly anxieties, that no clouds of this mortal life may hide from me the light of that love which is immortal, and which you have manifested to us in your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one Go, now and forever. Amen. U ~The Divine Hours, Morning Office, Week nearest February 24~     I want to make clear that the following is not a prescription for any one person’s life. It is merely a description of my engagement with God and the world in the recent days. Every morning when I rise, I turn to the left to pick up my “smart” phone (an odd phrase I say) and begin reading the news and checking my email. I check out the world news section and the US news, but I try to skip by the “top news” as popular opinion on ...

Herald Palladium Insights Section Is your faith one of movement? Published:  Saturday, January 29, 2011 1:06 PM EST My wife and I recently returned from a trip to Thailand. We traveled from the far north to the far south and places in between, exploring the vast terrains of Thailand for 12 days. The landscapes are beautiful, but what continually captured our attention was the dynamic and living Christian faith throughout the country. Our purpose for traveling to Thailand was to witness, first-hand, the movement of God in this country. We were there to meet Thai Christians and discover how they are living out their faith. Our exploration uncovered a lively faith that sent us home wondering, "How do we live more faithfully in God when we return home?" The work of Christians in Thailand is alive - the church is dynamic and the ministry is holistic. Without overly romanticizing the work in Thailand, it is clear that a love for God is deeply embraced by the believers in thi...

more photos at www.gallery.me.com/small_kyle/100064

Today we began with an extensive talk with Jim about the Sustainable Development and Relief foundation (SDRF). He is not merely inspiring but extremely efficient. His work involves people in their gift areas for the sake of community empowerment. Even more, the work is a brilliant avenue to see the gospel flourish. People come to say yes to Christ simply because they come to realize that their lives are not cursed but blessed. The flow of energy from the SDRF staff is christ-centered in ways I hope to invite others to when we return home. We are in Southern Thailand now (Songkhla), and we visited a ministry center today - CHAT. The ministry is committed to networking people with HIV/AIDS together for fellowship and sharing of health practices. In a world and local culture where interaction with people infected with HIV/AIDS is taboo, the loneliness of this disease is debilitating. When the Tsunami hit a few years ago, Jim and Nu-Chan came down here to assist in the redevelopment of t...

Thank you to everyone who has visited the blog. We will continue to write even after we return home, posting photos and videos of the trip. Sorry to be sparse on the photos, but internet has been so spotty that uploading was a bear. See you soon. We are missing the kids today. Kyle and Lindsay

Yesterday we woke up to the cool mountain air of North East Thailand and toured a local village and the innovative agriculture work in the area. We also saw the school built in partnership with the crown princess. These two projects invite wonder into what is going on…. The school allows over 20 villages to attend an accessible school. Prior to this school was limited to sixth grade, which largely meant post-sixth grade was an invitation to the sex industry or sweat shops. Now children are in school to ninth grade with future dreams of building a prep school or a 10-12 high school. These later years of education prepare students for university, which means choice beyond indentured servitude. We headed back to the center (SDRF) for lunch and the traditional string tying ritual. This was a powerful time of encouragement and blessing. It has become clear – friendship is the ability to bless one another. We headed back to Nan (south) to catch a plane from Nan to Hat Yai and the dr...