The sermon at my church last week focused on the passage in Luke 4 where, after earning the praise of the people of Nazareth for his “the gracious words that came from his lips,” Jesus quickly says some further things that turn the crowd against him, so dramatically so that […]Continue Reading →
A month ago my husband Billy took a job in San Diego. He got on a plane a couple days later and said a temporary good-bye to Ella and me and BBQ#2. It’s a long story, which I won’t go into, but suffice it to say my husband has been […]Continue Reading →
Jesus: I’m increasingly stunned how He came in the midst of the messiness and margins of humanity surrounded by the whispers of scandal. He was without welcome in His father’s home town, welcomed by the low-class shepherds and Gentile kings, the target of a male-child genocide. He was an “illegitimate child,” raised […]Continue Reading →
Tomorrow, the House of Representatives will hold its first hearing on immigration policy of the new Congress, signaling that leaders in the House may be as eager to address the topic as those in the Senate or the White House. For the last several years, Congress has done almost […]Continue Reading →
My husband and I recently joined the Couchsurfing website and hosted our first official couchsurfers last month. Three college students whom we had never met before showed up at our door to spend the evening with us and crash on our couches. I’ll be honest – I did have some apprehensions […]Continue Reading →
I think we can all agree that despite it being only Wednesday, this week has already been extremely pivotal for immigration reform. On Monday we saw a bipartisan group of senators (or the “Gang of 8” as some would call them) unveil their plan for […]Continue Reading →
I was taught as a student at Wheaton College to go through life with the Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other. I now read the news online more regularly than in print form, but I’ve continued that habit. I try to begin each day first by reading a […]Continue Reading →
I didn’t know I was an ‘illegal’ immigrant. My family and I immigrated to the United States in 2001, and within a matter of days I was smack dab in the middle of American culture. Even as a ten year old I bought into the American dream: honor roll bumper stickers, school […]Continue Reading →
Last week, we officially launched the “I Was a Stranger” Challenge, which simply asks evangelical Christians who profess that Scripture is their ultimate authority to read the Bible—particularly forty of the many passages that relate to God’s heart for immigrants—as they form their opinions about immigrants and immigration policy. Apparently, this […]Continue Reading →
They called me “100% gringo.” If I had been white enough to blush, my anger and frustration would have instantly been revealed. However, my skin wasn’t white. They didn’t see my anger, frustration and shame. Back in the United States, calling a Latino a gringo was either a bad joke or an […]Continue Reading →