when death blinked first – Thursday thoughts

Live this way and you die fighting. Doubt that truth? One word .. Judas.

Idomeni: when fear trumps love

Idomeni: when fear trumps love

From a razor-wire fence that slashes the face of Europe, Idomeni is who we are becoming when fear builds walls and trumps love.

Finding Jesus

Finding Jesus

We are looking for Jesus this weekend. Searching for him, scanning the crowds for his face, straining to hear his voice. We believe that he is there in Idomeni, Greece. We believe that he is in the camps in Macedonia, and Serbia. Do you? On Thursday, part of the NCM Refugee Response Team will pile a few [...]

The Sole People

September 2015 - When the rains came down. You do not forget rain like that -  90 minutes of water coming hard. The main thought on my mind was 'How did these families make it through the night?’ At that point in the global migration, we naively believed that the tide of refugees from the Middle [...]

courage for the journey – dangerous refugees

courage for the journey – dangerous refugees

She completes the arch with a small, tragic burst of 'boom' that is an exhale.

Now Rise Up Church

Now Rise Up Church

Late night Belgrade (Serbia) and the temperature is below freezing. A family of 4 from Kabul, Afghanistan arrives at the central bus station. This is just one of many exhausting links that move the young family closer to their destination of Germany.  But, each time they arrive in a new country, the rules, the language, the [...]

I am THE refugee: Courage for the Journey

What happens when we meet a woman wrapped in a hijab and her name means Peace?

I am THE refugee: ragtag stories

Peel back our ribs again and stand inside of our chest.                                                                               Skeleton bones stand at the [...]

Border stories … from Serbia

Border stories … from Serbia

A weekend in Belgrade, Serbia as we ministered to refugees there. Fascinating, heart-wrenching stories from Afghanistan, from Iraq, and from Syria.

Three Great Reasons To Reject Refugees (and Starbucks)

Three Great Reasons To Reject Refugees (and Starbucks)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/121448272@N02/shares/9CFR5N Just as the  Starbucks fiasco about those blasted red mugs began to cool, Paris exploded. The Middle Eastern Refugee Crisis came barreling back. This post began as a satirical piece about the red mugs and the refugee crisis and radical Jesus, but with the division in our world right now, I did some editing.  The last thing [...]