Scribbles in the Sun

I have had my fair share of odd moments living here in Venezuela.  It's inevitable when you live in a culture that's not your own.  Today I went shopping for groceries (which in itself is a weekly adventure full of lineups and fingerprints but that is a story for another time) and in the one supermarket I went to, I was able to find a few items that are scarce.  So I filled my basket, lined up to pay, and when it was finally my turn, my debit card wouldn't work.  I had him run it through again, and again, the transaction failed.  I knew I had money in the account, and I had just used the card half an hour earlier, but he didn't want to run it through a third time because often cards get blocked if you try running it through too many times and then it's just a big hassle to get it working again.  The total of my groceries was about 3000 Bolivares, and I took a quick look in my wallet and realized I didn't have enough cash to cover it either.  I started ...

If you have a presence on any sort of social media, you will probably be familiar with the debate over the last few years as to the point of selfies. I would say that yes, there has been an unhealthy obsession growing over presenting yourself a certain way, or even just plain presenting yourself too much!  But when I saw this photo, which was taken today, I was reminded that sometimes selfies are important.  I'm a terrible photographer; not that I take bad photos...it's just that I FORGET to take photos.  When I was in kids ministry, and we were having a big event like VBS, I would ask someone to be the photographer because I knew that I would just forget to record or capture the event.  It's been months since I used my camera.  And now, with my cell phone I can take quick snapshots of life and ministry in Venezuela but of course I'm rarely in them for one of two reasons: a) if I'm alone, I feel ridiculous taking a photo of myself (short arms, FYI) and I u...

Well, I decided to sit down and dust off the ol' blog. So here I am. I make a point of not making new year's resolutions... however, I'll admit that for 2016 I have dedicated a whole page in my planner to "blog ideas". It's currently blank but who knows what brilliant ideas might come to me this year? I'm happy to have kicked 2015 out the door and I'm welcoming 2016 with open arms. Ok, my arms are protecting my vital organs, so lets say open palms. Not that 2015 was a total bust; I managed to survive 2 overseas moves in a year, spent a great year in Canada, I'm back living in one of the most beautiful parts of the world, I was able to do a bit of travelling....among other things. In fact, while I was bemoaning this past year (to myself, of course) I had stop and force myself to gain a bit of perspective. I have food on the table, I'm healthy, I get to be a part of an excellent ministry, I have friends and family and look!...I've made...