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Recently I told you about the ride Dave and I had from the international airport in Nairobi to the office compound where our future offices were located. (Click on A sweet small world to read that post.) The date was August 21, 1994. I shared with you that Paul, our driver, had steered the van out of wild and crazy traffic and onto a narrow, quiet lane lined with towering eucalyptus trees. Within seconds, he pulled up to a wrought iron gate with stone pillars on each side, and a blue-uniformed man stepped out of a narrow wooden guardhouse. He swung the gate open and Paul drove us into a small compound. We slid open the van doors, climbed down, and—stepped into springtime. Dappled sunshine filtered through tall old trees, and the temperature felt about seventy degrees. After unruly city traffic, noise, and exhaust, this place was a hushed haven. BTL, photo by Jim O. Anderson Paul explained that our offices would be there on the campus of Bible Translation and Literacy, or BTL, a Kenya...

I’m so excited to tell you about this fantastic opportunity! To many readers of my memoir and blog, Bible translation is a mysterious job and, frankly, it might seem pretty weird. Certainly, the task can be daunting—the lifestyle, the long years of work. But here’s an easy (and relatively painless) way to learn more about the big picture of translation—as well as the smaller nitty-gritty details, too. And you can do it right here on U.S. soil. This five-day event is called Explore Bible Translation Extreme and it takes place near Charlotte, North Carolina, October 28 through November 2. Participants will spend five days in a simulated village setting with up to 25 others. They’ll sleep in hammocks and live in typical huts ( champas ) five feet above the ground. They’ll have a fire to cook meals and gather around at night to hear veteran translators explain their work. Morning and evening sessions around the campfire will offer interactive learning opportunities. And I guarantee they’...

Young Mary humbled herself, broke open an alabaster jar, and poured costly perfume over Jesus’ head. Guests in the room, indignant, scolded her for the waste. But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She did what she could. Wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be remembered.” In her small but powerful book, She Did What She Could: Five Words of Jesus that Will Change Your Life , author Elisa Morgan sheds light on Mark 14:3-9 for us. Jesus loved Mary — and Mary knew it . Mary carried out an extravagant, expensive act of worship because she loved Jesus — and Jesus knew it . Elisa said, Mary had “absorbed in her soul how very much he truly cared.” “She acted out of her love. She knew that Jesus loved her, and she loved him back. She lived loved ,” writes Elisa . “That’s the whole point of the gospel, isn’t it?” Lloyd Ogilvie tells the story of meeting with a friend who was usually grumpy, a man with a negative attitude. But one day, his friend acted li...

Do you know someone you wouldn’t hesitate to call a man or woman after God’s own heart? A person whose heart beats in sync with God’s heart? Or, here’s a similar question: Do you know someone who has a two-way friendship with God? If so, what has that motivated him or her to do? Let’s think about what I wrote last week : Acts 13:36 is one of my favorite Bible verses. It tells us that when King David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he died. Those treasured words tell me David died a fulfilled man. He died with the satisfaction that he’d successfully carried out the plans  God had for him. He’d completed his God-given assignments. In Acts 13:22, Paul wrote that God said, “I have found David . . . a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.” (NIV) Or, as it says in The Message: “He’s a man whose heart beats to my heart, a man who will do what I tell him.” You see, David and God had a two-way friendship and, within that relationship, David sensed ...

You might think I’m strange, but one of my all-time favorite Bible verses is Acts 13:36 (NIV), “Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep [he died]; he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed.”    Why do I love that verse? Because David must have died in peace. He must have died a fulfilled man. David died with the satisfaction that he had served God’s purposes for his own generation—that is, for his lifetime, for his time on earth. When my time comes to die, oh, how I long to know I served God’s purposes for my generation! But there’s a tug and pull to that, a back and forth to that. Remember what I told you last week? I was afraid I couldn’t trust God enough to take a wild-eyed, stomach-cramping, howling leap of faith and give up a steady income and good health insurance and, instead, live on a small and unpredictable missionary income.   Mt. Kilimanjaro; Linda K. Thomas photo And yet, could it be that if I refused to trus...