One of the traditions for our visiting teams is to lead the daily morning devotions with the CHO staff. This week devotions include the participants in the pastor training classes. The classroom is filled with our Christian brothers and sisters, singing songs of praise and worship in the Khmer language. We recognize some familiar hymns […]
First Day of Ministry
Tuesday, our first day of ministry, the medical team traveled to a remote area near the Thailand border that was used by the army as a medical camp, and area that has never been visited by any government agency, NGO or church. This is what I saw: Hundreds of villagers eager to receive medical attention. […]
Our City
A few days ago, I made a mistake I’ve lately tried hard to avoid: I turned on the news. My senses were immediately inundated with the sights and sounds of our broken world: civil wars, terrorism, violence, racial divisions, epidemics, natural disasters, poverty, hunger, injustice. In that moment, as my heart hurt, I have to […]
The Thailand Journey Continues
We arrived in Thailand on Friday, and we were still on our way to Laytongku on Sunday. It’s one of the interesting things about partnering with ministries in remote locations. Sometimes the journey feels just as long as our time in the destination. This is very true of our partnership with the village of Laytongku […]
Cambodia Team Departs
The team is ready and now we fly off to Incheon, South Korea for our first leg, a 12 hour flight. Cambodia is 15 hours ahead of us in Gig Harbor. After another 6 hour flight we will be in Siem Reap, and if all goes well it will be 10:20 pm Saturday. This will […]
Inauguration and Intercession
I am quite certain that even the biggest political junkies among us reached a point last year when they said, “Enough, already! Let’s vote!” It was as tough and rancorous a campaign as I can remember in my lifetime. Well, the vote has been taken. And whether you agree with the politics of the outgoing president or of […]
Remember Your Baptism
Several years ago I was on business near my birthplace, Martinez, California (also the birthplace of Joe Dimaggio… so I’ve got that going for me!) I decided to find the little Congregational church my family attended while I was a baby. When I did, I went inside and asked the secretary if I could look at […]
Missing Christmas Already
One of the unfortunate things about the holiday season is how quickly it goes by. I did not grow up in the Presbyterian tradition, so the practice of Advent has been a relatively new and welcome one for me that’s made the Christmas season more rich and, better yet, prolonged. Yet, here we are a week later […]
A New Kind of Christmas for the Toones
This will be a different kind of Christmas for my family. For the first time—ever—we will not be celebrating Christmas in our family home. Cyndi and I sold it last spring and,a long with a lifetime of memories, we also left behind the venue that shaped every Christmas my kids ever knew. We won’t have a Christmas tree […]
An Heroic Rescue
It wasn’t a great movie, honestly, but it was an inspiring story. The other night, Cyndi and I watched “The Finest Hours.” It was the account of an unbelievably heroic rescue story. On February 18, 1952, during a severe “nor’easter” off the coast of New England, an oil tanker, Pendleton, broke in half. The bow sank, killing all […]