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Devotional Memoir

Prodigal, part 2

It’s early 2013. Delhi, India. And I’m standing at the bathroom sink. Crying out to the Father. Again.

I can see the marble counter. The dingy mirror. Remember the blur of anguish. Helplessness. 

“What are we to do, Lord? How do we help our son?”

The Lord has already made two things clear to me in that season (as detailed in Prodigal, Part 1). 

1. Wait. Wait on the Lord. 
2. Devote yourself to prayer. 

Now I’m standing on the tile floor, in evening shadows. Pleading.

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Devotional

Paths and prophets

Ancient paths. The image fixed in my mind is a smooth clay trail in the bamboo forest. A path of my childhood. Worn by years of feet traveling from one ridge to the next. Winding through the valley. Around boulders and past simple thatch homes.

Bamboo grove. Oil painting from Bandung, Indonesia.

It’s an old path. A good path. That takes me where I need to go.

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Crossing Cultures Devotional Memoir

Brokenness

“Is your arm hurting?” she asks. Yes. The broken bone near my shoulder is healing. Slowly. 

It’s 2015 and Manga is prepping me for physical therapy at a hospital in Malaysia. “Be happy!” she says. “Think positive thoughts. Then you will not be hurting.”

I smile. She’s friendly. Gregarious. Her speech and ways and dress make me feel at home. 

South Asian home. 

The kind and compassionate team in the PT department.