Nadia is a young teen who lives in Southeast Asia. Through her story you might find you know a few Nadia’s living in your world too.
Faith, Family, Books, Travel
Category: Culture
The distance from Texas to where I live in Southeast Asia is ten thousand miles. Like many other cross-cultural workers, we sold everything, quit our jobs, withdrew our kids from school, and waved goodbye to our family. “We won’t be coming home for Christmas this year, Mom and Dad. We’ll be in our new home.” TEN. THOUSAND. MILES. AWAY. It’s…
It’s Valentine’s Day weekend! This makes me think of all the countries where Kris and I have been on dates. We love to travel and feel blessed to have seen 19 countries together. As you might imagine, some countries are more romantic than others. But even in romantically-challenged countries, we gave it a valiant effort! Here’s one of my favorite…
I drive to the hospital…again. And as I do, I ponder the question: Have I crossed a line? “Enough, Jana. Enough drama with this family.” But something compels me. Is it You, Lord? Am I doing this for the right reasons? Or do I get some sort of twisted joy from continuing my relationship with this problem-riddled family? I don’t…
I sit in a hospital room in Asia. The elderly Indonesian man has just been transferred there from ICU. I try to move a chair next to the bed so his wife can sit next to him. It is hard for him to move his foot over to make space for her. But he does it anyway and tells me…
I sit on large stones overlooking the sea. I came to the beach to pray, but I’m not the only one praying, and God is not the only one being worshiped here. A South Asian Hindu couple beat me here and they are in the middle of a ritual, so I sit on the rocks and wait before walking along…
House, children, family, food, the latest gossip. These are the things that matter most to a particular group of ladies whom I call my neighbor friends. Yes, they will engage in conversation about abstract things like religion, sin, and heaven. But this doesn’t really get them on a deep level. That’s surface and irrelevant (to them). For sure these topics…
These days I enjoy the Christmas Carols piped through the speakers at the grocery store and in the malls. Here in Malaysia, there is “no problem” with acknowledging Christmas and no one seems to replace that word with “Holiday” or “Season”. It’s refreshing. On the flip side, the grocery stores and malls are “equal opportunity” places, so we also listen…
This excerpt is taken from my devotional book Cottage in the Kampung: “That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed.” Mark 1:32 I have watched so many Bible movies (and as a child seen so many flannel-graph stories) that the scenes in my mind, as I read Bible stories, are often a sterile picture…
I am thankful for freedom and thankful that my passport country allows so much of it for me. Yes, there are a lot of things to complain about, be concerned about, speak out about, and even regret when it comes to the United States of America. But on the other hand, having lived in six other countries in addition to…