The Gift of Emotions

“To love God with all of your heart, you have to own all of your heart.” “How do you feel right now?” our teacher asked the question simply. “I don’t know.” I slowly replied. At that moment, so many thoughts were running through my mind that it made it difficult to express what I felt. Emotions were coming up that felt unacceptable and I wanted to push them quickly down before anyone else in the classroom got a glimpse of the messiness there. The past few months, as I’ve been in a program focused on principles for counseling ministry, God…

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Packing Your Bags: Preparing for Short-Term Missions

So, you’re getting ready to go on a short-term mission trip? Perhaps it’s your first time and you don’t quite know what to expect. Imagining what food you might eat. Practicing phrases such as “hello” and “where is the bathroom?” in an unfamiliar language. Making sure your bags are packed just perfectly. But making sure your bag is ready isn’t the only preparation that is important. “If all you do to prepare for your mission trip is pack a suitcase, you might be missing the “mission” part of your trip. Just like you wouldn’t go on a trip without first…

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Human Trafficking: What Can You Possibly Do?

Today is Anti-Human Trafficking Day here in Thailand. Depending on where you fall on the spectrum, the term “human trafficking” might boil your blood with righteous indignation, might cause you to roll your eyes at this oft-repeated buzz-word, or might lead you to wonder what this non-intuitive term is even supposed to describe. If you’re like many North Americans, you know that human trafficking is a serious, worldwide problem, but the very vastness of it leaves you questioning what you could possibly do to be a part of the solution. We would like to help you with that. For Freedom…

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Before You Sing Hosanna

Today is referred to as Palm Sunday, which commemorates the Gospel account of Jesus entering Jerusalem and being celebrated as the Jewish king. The people of Jerusalem took palm branches and spread them on the road before Jesus, and the crowds were joyfully shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” You see, the Jews had long been looking for the coming of their Saviour, the anointed Messiah, the one who would free the Israelites from Roman oppression and restore the…

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