Embracing the Greatest Challenge of My Life as Opportunity

Having taken paternity leave with the arrival of our twins, I haven’t “worked” in nearly two months. With that said, there has been no time for reading deep, reflective books on spiritually. No time to engage world issues. No time to be active and seek the healing of systemic injustices in our neighborhood. No, there has …

Owning My Dysfunction and the Freedom of Dependence

It was nearly five years ago that Janny and I moved to Golden Hill, a neighborhood in San Diego, to be part of a little faith community committed to love God and neighbor in some of the most tangible ways we had ever encountered. As you can imagine, we were curious as to what all …

Problem to Fix or Opportunity to Embrace? 3 Ways to Care for Unaccompanied Minors

A couple weeks ago, Mexican and USAmerican leaders gathered at Friendship Park – the wall between us – representing millions of Christians throughout Mexico and the United States by offering a prayer on behalf of the 60,000 unaccompanied minors detained on our border. As I stood in this sacred prayer circle that extended across our shared …

A Benediction of Hope

In a world currently enduring so much violence, pain and trauma, it would be easy for us, the People of God, to stick our head in the sand of discouragement. Instead, let’s pray this together: May we daily submit ourselves first and foremost to the rule and reign of Jesus, praying, “Your Kingdom come, your …

(de)Escalating Violence and the Human Story in Israel/Palestine

I was sitting in the airport the other day listening to yet another account of the current events unfolding in Israel and Palestine. Almost mechanically, the lips of the news anchor spilled out words like terrorists, extremist, escalating violence, detention, kidnapping, hatred, protest, etc.  It was as though they were telling a story of some …