Video Summary of some of the work we did while on Mission to Pine Ridge Reservation.
As I write this it occurs to me that there is plenty of evidence to say something different, or that through a different perspective might lead someone to different conclusions, but this is the story of the Lakota of Pine Ridge as they perceive it to be. I want to take a moment and emphasize this fact because the truth of the matter is that our perspectives of ourselves, not the reality, is what most often shapes our reality regardless of its compatibility with Truth. Read more…
Los Suegros (Bill and Martha)
My initial instinct in writing this piece was to call it the Mission Report. After all that’s what congregations want when their missionaries come back from a trip: a report on what happened, where the money went, how it impacted the community and all that good stuff. Now I believe that there is nothing wrong with that, but this was not a dollars and cents kind of mission. Yes we brought school supplies for the kids we’d be working with, yes we provided material goods for the retreat center where we worked for a week. But none of that was the focus of this trip. The focus of this trip was children, and it is not the kind of thing that be broken down into a report. So over this next week, I’m going to tell you a story from our trip starting today with a story about family.
Well God saw fit to bring my team and I to and from Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Almost 4,000 miles of driving after 12 days and I’m back in the DC area. It’s still too soon, too close to the actual trip for me to really be able to reflect on everything that happened, but here are the top ten things that God taught me on this trip. Read more…
In case you were wondering, ten hours in a minivan with your wife, inlaws, and a little Puerto Rican girl is not nearly as tough as it may sound. I’m tired, kind of bruised and battered, and have all kinds of stiff muscles from the long car ride that I’ll admit puts me in a position where I am disinclined to meditate on any Godly mystery or question of holiness or righteousness.
But God is good all the time. And all the time God is good. Read more…
