Ken

It's been about two weeks since I've posted something on this blog.  Rest assured, I've not been taking a long nap nor have I spent any time in jail.  No law-breaking or slacking for me.  Simply put, I've been busy. Hannah and I spent ten days in Nepal, along with other people from our church.  We were taking an exploratory trip to see what partnership opportunities might exist between Christians and Christian organizations in Nepal and our church.  I'll write more about my experiences in another post.  Needless to say, this occupied a fair amount of time. I'm writing this current post from a coffee shop in the booming metropolis of Felton, CA.  The coffee shop is called "White Raven", meaning you can find crystals and incense alongside lattes and cappuchinos.  It's also a place where you are likely to hear someone say, "That was groovy back in 1973" (like…

It's night time here in Nepal.  Our team spent the first part of today meeting various people at Tiny Hands, the organization that we are working with this week.  They shared with us more specifics regarding their mission and vision.  After lunch we had a few free hours and I settled into a coffee shop (surprise). This one grew and roasted its own beans. The coffee was fantastic ... but I digress. Tonight we split into two teams and went to two different children's homes. I went to an all boys home.  The boys ranged in age from 4-14.  After introductions, we played a few indoor games and then went upstairs to the roof, also known as the dance floor. The "dance floor" was a piece of wood spread out over concrete.  The boys obviously practice dancing quite a bit.  After a little encouragement, I busted a few moves myself.…

Does gentleness come naturally to you?  Most likely not.  Gentleness and selfishness do not work well together.  As humans, everything about us wants to focus on self -- our needs, our wants, our desires.  We protect our interests.  We look out for number one. Selfish people are rarely gentle people. If you are a Christ-follower, did you know you've been commanded to be gentle?  It's straight from Paul's letter to the Philippian church: "Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near" (Philippians 4:5). Gentleness is more than kindness, though it is hard (if not impossible) to be gentle without being kind. Gentleness is more than a tone-of-voice, though it certainly includes the manner in which you address other people. In the biblical sense, gentleness is a willingness to not demand your rights in a given situation.  A gentle person does not have to go around always insisting…

My mother never met a stranger. She met many strange people but talked to them any way (I've learned those often make for the best conversations).  As a child, I didn't appreciate it as I should have.  Of course, that is true about many things. My mom came from a broken home and spent much of her childhood bouncing between the homes of her older siblings.  I didn't appreciate that either.  Her faith background was a "Baskin Robbins 31 Flavor" mix of this and that.  As I've grown older, I've grown to appreciate that more. Though my mom died in 1995, her influence in my life is ever-present.  My gift of gab, also known as preaching, came from her.  Her values, her zest for life, her loyalty to people ... These have stayed with me.  Our family even has two cats today (thanks, mom). To be honest, not all Mother's…