Fresh Perspective

One of Catalan's mothers cards, "The Cedars of Lebanon" If you or I were prescribed a pill, we should question if it is good for us?  If the benefits will outweigh the negative effects?  If there are other things, we can do to reduce our need for the medication for a long time, such as exercise or eat healthy?                  Over the past six months I keep having an encounter with a certain type of medicine.  This medicine is “good”.  The benefits supersede any negative effect.  In fact, there are NO negative effects. I want to share this medicine with you. It is named Catalan*.                 Catalan is a 24-year-old refugee girl. She and her family fled Iraq because of Christian persecution. She works in a tiny one room shop that sells mostly vegetables. Catalan works from 7:30...

Our very own logo!   A blank piece of cardstock stretched out before me, waiting for a design to be applied in vivid colors or subtle hews. Of all the pieces of cardstock in Lebanon it was the one I wanted to sew on the most. This was no ordinary cardstock. It represented women’s lives whose hope had been crushed out of them one gun shot at a time, one less pay-check at a time, one less home and security, one less husband, one less father.  I knew even before I arrived in Lebanon, that there was something special I would sew regarding these women. The funny paradox of this entire story is that I do not sew. I do not like to sew.  I am not good at sewing. But often we are asked to move forward in our weakness so that God can manifest His strength.  And so, that first thread was picked up and I began sewing the design that was in my heart. I soon knew who the first refugee women would be of this sewn collage of threads. They quickly embraced the idea o...

  After a year-and-a-half of inactivity, I pull my Littman Classic Stethoscope from its tucked away position to listen. I am delighted to at last be using my training, love, and gifting in this foreign land. I am not practicing nursing in Lebanon, but due to the circumstances I was able to assist a few neighbors who needed a little home support. However, I am not happy about the circumstances that have brought about this opportunity. Undoubtedly, it has affected your life also. Corona Virus. The lungs I listen to are too quiet, meaning not enough air is flowing through them. That is true for Lebanon also. This nation is in a 3-week total lockdown, where passes must be obtained to drive anywhere. Supposedly, you are not allowed even to walk outside your home, but some people are. Our hospitals have peaked capacity. Friends who sat in emergency rooms with loved ones described the scenes that they witnessed as unbearable, as sick people…extremely sick people…would come and be...

  Our first morning back in America. A sun kissed dawn. PC: Darron Boyd To America and back to Lebanon Covid free, despite high numbers in both countries, is nothing shy of a miracle and we are so grateful. Our time in the States was precious and hard all in the same breath.  The first three days were a high for me, as all our guys + girls were present, in addition my parents who took the risk, and my brother and eldest son who took the flight. So, there we were, all together. A first family Christmas in 10 years, was just such a treat. I will treasure the memory of Mia taking the lead in the kitchen.  WHOO HOO a girl at last!  I will never forget Meredith’s tick-tock potatoes and Tyler’s gloves he gave to my Dad. Games were played. Stories were told. A treasure beyond words. Then everyone scattered, except Darron, I and the two youngest boys. Off we went to Darron’s Mom’s and brother’s home. For the next 15 days we hunkered d...

  I knew that their one room garage home was small. Oppressive. Dark. Full of outside persecution, unfriendliness, and distress. Inside was hardly a shelter. Yet, it was all they had for 3 awfully long years. 3 years of not enough room to even walk about. 3 years of inhumane living conditions. Could we call this a refugee?  Hardly. They called it a prison.  But aren’t refugees supposed to find refuge? Could hand outs from the UN create refuge? Or food baskets? Or food vouchers? Or random donations of clothes and various pieces of broken old furniture equal refuge? Certainly, all these things helped. However, at the end of the day safety in shelter is necessary to move beyond bare survival. Two months ago, the three ladies that lived in this “home” were brave enough to trust me to start making cards. At first, I think they just thought it was a fun craft, but when they began to understand that this could be a livelihood for them, their eagerness to sew matched...

  Ten Thanksgivings. Nine Christmases. That is a lot of holidays to spend without family. It spans a young child becoming a teen or a teen becoming a young adult. Ten Thanksgivings without grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins equals a decade of memories not made. Nine Christmas’s apart is not a frivolous moment in time, but instead it represents a depth of understanding and experience. This is what our lives of living overseas has cost. 8 of those in Indonesia, and the latter in Lebanon. Those holidays have stretched us, as they have a way of highlighting choices made, unimaginable distance, and our unavailability. Even. To. Our. Children. It is rather ironic that on this tenth Christmas holiday we are flying to the USA. One would think that with a national pandemic threatening to undo our fragile world, and clear advice to not gather that this would be the one holiday that we would dutifully stay. But no. Crazy as it feels, the need to be present in our 15- and 17-year old’s...

  When we were thinking about moving to Lebanon, the dream of working with the refugees began to take root in my heart. Honestly, I have only been able to fullfill this dream in scattered moments. Yet despite how small these encounters are they move me beyond words. My refugee friend's stories are filled with much more than running from a war and a displaced people. So much more. They include family members killed by ISIS, rape, beautiful homes taken away and I don't even begin to know the sum of the pain. Add to that the poverty, discrimination, and the lack of hope they find here. I am left to ask, how do you impower the poor among you? This is a question that has been grappled with by powerful vast organizations, world leaders, everything in-between, and by me. Perhaps by you also? It is one thing to hand out the fish.  It is another to provide the fishing gear and the know-how. Which would you rather have? Personally, I like being in control. The la...