This is being written from China during the COVID-19 pandemic. While China is in the beginning stages of recovering from the virus, there have been many opportunities to see where love has been stretched during the past three months. My thoughts will be affected by my experiences. Big Idea: Love is essential, and spiritual gifts…
February 2020 Photo Contest
The theme for February was “HEART”. This was challenging and resulted in some interesting photos conveying that theme.
Home
3/29/2020 We are back home in California and beginning our 14-day self-quarantine while beginning to recover from jet lag. It was a very interesting travel day and I am very thankful that everything went about as smoothly as is possible for International travel. We got up at 4AM Beijing time, showered, had breakfast and finalized…
Little Things
When you travel to another culture as a tourist there are some little things you notice that are different in your hotel room. Its a little different when you stay long enough to move in. The little differences soon become normal. At first some of them may have been irritating, but over time you might…
1 Corinthians 12
Big Idea: One Holy Spirit and many different gifts. 1 Corinithians 12:1-6 The question Paul addresses over the next three chapters remains an issue in the church today. I believe that our unwillingness to accept and apply what Paul says here has a devastating impact on local congregations everywhere. It also has a negative impact…
Green
I came prepared for cold and today I’m sitting in the apartment in rolled up shirt sleeves. It is supposed to reach 75 degrees outside today. My son and I went to another apartment for lunch and I didn’t have any need for a flannel to walk outside. Spring has arrived and the park grows…
Birthday Party
How do you celebrate a birthday with COVID-19 restrictions in place? What does a birthday party look like for foreign kids in China? We were fortunate to find out. One of our grandsons turned twelve last Sunday. The party was on Saturday and did require some extra planning. The first thing was identifying a location. …
Movement
Friday night is pizza night here in Beijing for our family. Pizza is “buy one get one” free at Papa John’s, but only if you pick it up in the restaurant. We hadn’t been out in a while so we decided we would walk to the shopping center where the restaurant is located. The last…
Walking
Spring has arrived. It is much warmer outside and the March breezes are keeping the air quality in the healthy range. With the grandkids in school our normal pattern is to feed them lunch, watch a MacGyver episode, and then go for a walk. Most days we take the dog for a walk in the…
Breaking Free
One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand…twenty one thousand. I lose count of how many times I count through this sequence every day. The best defense against the Covid-19 is to wash your hands with soap for at least 20 seconds: when entering a residence, after using the toilet, after touching and animal,…