Today was our first day volunteering at the camp in Tabanovce, Macedonia. This has become the required stop for Syrian, Afghani, and Iraqi refugees as they take their journey from fear, war, and persecution. Anywhere from 500-10,000 pass through here per day, paying 25 Euro each for a 4-hour train through Macedonia. Incidentally, this passage […]Continue Reading →
As students start the school year and the weather begins to shift, I find myself reflecting on a season of change I got to share in with a group of refugee students. I had the opportunity to work in tobacco prevention education with a group of students from the refugee […]Continue Reading →
Editor’s Note: This blog originally appeared as part one of a series on the author’s personal blog in September 2015.
______________________________________________________________________ So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. –Genesis 1:27, NIV As far as I can tell, I am a fourth […]Continue Reading →
As an immigration lawyer I have had the privilege of working with refugees from across the globe. They are regular people forced to endure the worst the world has to offer. Their stories are harrowing. Many— including children— have posttraumatic stress disorder and other mental and physical scars. Even those who have been resettled in […]Continue Reading →
I’m just back at Solana Beach Presbyterian Church after a very inspiring week in Hungary. The original purpose of my trip was to speak at the Bible conference that launches the school year of the Word of Life Bible Institute. A few days before I left San Diego, Word of Life staff asked if I’d […]Continue Reading →
In my early adult life, I have struggled with one common question: Where am I from, and who do I belong to? I was born in Iran, and left the country when I was eight years old to avoid religious, or maybe I should say, political persecution. At that time […]Continue Reading →
A few weeks ago, I wrote about a challenging situation in the neighborhood in which I live, the Parkside Apartments. My wife and I—and each of our neighbors, most of whom are refugees or other immigrants—received a letter notifying us that the local government intended to include our apartment complex in a redevelopment zone, […]Continue Reading →
Guest Blog by: Heidi Moll Schoedel “Why don’t you cut them down?” That was the response of my Eritrean friend when she first arrived in the United States, in the middle of a harsh winter. Everywhere she looked, she saw dead trees. They clustered around houses, lined streets and filled yards. “Why do […]Continue Reading →
All Christians agree that we are called to care for those who are poor and vulnerable: the Scriptures are replete with statements both of God’s love for the poor and of his explicit command that his people love, protect, and seek justice for those who are impoverished or oppressed. Christians do not uniformly agree, […]Continue Reading →
In the Old Testament, King David—the greatest of the kings of Israel and the only whom God called “a man after my own heart”—made an uncharacteristically bad decision that led him to commit adultery and then, in the wake of Bathsheba’s pregnancy, murder (2 Samuel 11). Despite such blatant offenses, though, David […]Continue Reading →
