I guess I must be being very transparent on this blog about my exhaustion level (and/or the people who are actually talking with me and seeing me in real life are just OBSERVING my exhaustion level), because yesterday I received two encouraging notes from friends I just wanted to share portions with you. You know. Just in case any of YOU are also facing tasks that are WAY beyond your abilities today too. Ken Sande used to say, “The day you feel ready to step into that mediation room is the day that you should stop being a mediator.” Of course, we prep. Boy do we prep. And we pray!…

Just in case you happen to be in the Cayman Islands next weekend, Pastor Anyabwile has an event announcement: Peacemaking in the Cayman Islands You know. If you happen to be in the neighborhood. (Wouldn’t that be cool? ;)!) Totally slammed down by jetlag and about to head to the airport for Iowa …  Grateful beyond description for your prayers! Love, t  

So … my ONE suitcase with all of my teaching MATERIAL and CLOTHING; the “one thing” I “need” to serve in Iowa this weekend has gone missing. (I shocked even myself this morning when I actually used the words, “But I can’t survive without this suitcase!” Umm. Can you say James 4 monster want idol? Uh. Yeah. Not good.) So I’m repenting and praying and trying to laugh at everything being sort of a giant test case for whether I ACTUALLY believe any of the stuff I’m about to say: that God is with me and I don’t have to WORRY, right? The Immanuel Promise and not “trying to be…

The first ten+ hour flight felt interminable. Passport control and TSA the like were long, but the delays in Atlanta and MSP about put me ’round the brink. We didn’t even take off from Minnesota before our scheduled ARRIVAL time in Billings. I thought for sure the crew was going to time out, but thankfully they didn’t. Home but fried. Grateful! But scared too. Tomorrow promised to be the hardest day I’ve faced in a long, long time. And that was before they lost my luggage … Thanks in advance for any prayers you care to send my way!   I appreciate you so much— Your happy, but tired friend,…

Happily ensconced in Zurich with Brother Tom, having successfully navigated  the trains from Germany. Hooray! Will share more later…  

I’m sitting at track #4, really hoping it’s the RIGHT track #4 to take me to my connection to Zurich … And already missing the ladies of Trinity Reformed Church:   Praising God from Whom all blessings flow— Yours, Tara B.  

Great e-devotional by RZIM: Unseen But Real Aanother great Brian Croft post: Should a Pastor Preach or Clean Toilets?   And a story that you’ve probably seen by now but it was new to me and totally made me cry: Four Month Old (Miraculously!) Survives the Earthquake in Japan  

I was re-reading some of my notes from Paul Tripp’s, Broken Down House —Living Productively in a World Gone Bad, and thought they might bless you too: (Example of a little boy walking through loud, boisterous crowd of drunk men …) The little boy is at peace; at rest; hand tightly in father’s. “He knew his limits and he knew where security could be found. Surrounded by half-drunk guys several times his size, he was at rest.” Have you placed your hand in the huge and capable hands of your Heavenly Father? Have you realized that your life is played out in the middle of a rowdy and overstimulated crowd?…