The way home
It was wintertime and I had just arrived in the state of Goa, the former Portuguese colony on the southwest coast of India. I was a long way from my home country of Brazi... »
Personal Accounts
Joyeux Noël
Without an enemy there can be no war. I recently rewatched the movie Joyeux Noël (Christian Carion, 2005), which tells the story of a well-documented event that occurred... »
The request
It was my first Christmas in Taipei, Taiwan, when I heard the Christmas classic “Silent Night” sung in Chinese for the first time. It made a special impression, and I rem... »
Alone at Christmas?
Over the years, Christmas has taken on different meanings for me. When I was a young child, it meant a special family holiday, the Christmas story at Sunday school, walki... »
The right price
I grew up in Communist Romania, where there was a state ban on religion, so “finding Christmas” wasn’t easy. “Don’t use the word ‘Christmas’ at school or with people you... »
Simple joys
I was thinking about my mom on her birthday, and realized that there was something very special about my childhood—the times we spent together. More specifically, I was t... »
Do for one
Sometimes I feel paralyzed by all the suffering in the world. There’s simply no way I could make a dent in all the hunger, sickness, poverty, depression, oppression, lone... »
Where Jesus lives
“Who lives in a stable?” “Jesus lives in the stable!” At first I laughed at that answer my four-year-old sister gave during my impromptu lesson on animals and their habit... »
A positive praise post
I was inspired the other day when I read some personal accounts on a friend’s blog on the subject of praising God for His goodness in spite of daily problems and annoyanc... »
The gratitude journal
I can´t remember how to spell that word! How do I express this idea correctly? I can’t seem to get my thoughts onto the paper! I was seeing how rusty my writing was. I ha... »
Ephemeral beauty
A friend of mine mentioned how he often feels melancholy after experiencing something beautiful. I wasn’t sure what he was talking about. It wasn’t until I started to rec... »
Do I have to?
Occasionally I teach a Bible class at Sunday school for three- to five-year-olds. The group is very small, sometimes only four or five children. One of the girls, a frequ... »
The eyes of gratitude
As a child, I had a lazy eye and blurred vision, which made it necessary for me to wear glasses from the time I was seven years old. In order to keep my myopia from worse... »