Hardship never affects only one person. Like a rock hits calm water and sends out widening ripples, hardship affects our family, friends, those closest to us. Its ripple effect spreads tension, fear, and discouragement or strength, resilience, and deeper faith. That hard thing settles into the family, either by sudden storm or by Read More
How Does Hardship Shape Us?
How Does Hardship Shape Us? Hardship and suffering visit us all. Sometimes it arrives loudly, rattling the foundations of our world. What we confidently believed in suddenly feels fragile, unstable. More often, though, our hardest moments arrive unnoticed by the outer world. They unfold quietly in the privacy of the heart. The Read More
The Icy Anvil of God
The train chugs along the seemingly endless Trans-Siberian Railroad,* every one of the 54 berths in our wagon occupied. It reeks of sweaty feet, cheap alcohol, and Ramen noodles. The stifling heat and din of humanity keep sending me to the far end of the train for some semblance of fresh air. Everything in me Read More
Stepping Out and Up
We stand atop a hard-pack snowdrift on the shore of the deepest lake in the world. Nestled within Siberia’s mountains, Lake Baikal is a mile deep and contains 20 percent of the world’s fresh water. The sun peeks over the mountains behind us, illuminating a vast expanse of snow and ice. We silently contemplate the Read More