On Friday we chose a place to live. It’s a telavang – a tall, narrow apartment (or townhouse), three stories high with a  rooftop suitable for an urban garden. It’s a concrete box with high cei...

We’re leaving for Cambodia tomorrow. I haven’t written much about the move on this blog, but I suspect the transition will bring new life to my posts here.We’re going to get our hands dirty. Thi...

…development is the gradual emergence of a problem-solving systemDevelopment isn’t the same as targeting aid to solve problems. The truth is, when international aid hinders or delays locally initi...

Seth Godin keeps writing things that challenge me to live to the fullest, not settle for life in a small story.  He writes:…a never-ending cycle of optimization can become a crutch, a place to hide...

Today I’m going through old boxes that have been in storage for years. Most contain books, but at least five are things I’ve saved: pictures, letters, journals, trophies, medals, ribbons (from whe...

Last night my wife and I drove to Santa Fe and attended the public viewing of Review Santa Fe, a portfolio review featuring 100 up and coming photographers. It’s an international event, and I felt f...

I just read a chilling article in the New York Times about our prospects in the fight against HIV/AIDS.  They’re not good.During the past 10 years we turned a corner. Cheap medications became widel...

For the past few years I’ve been mentored from afar by Wayne Jacobsen. He’s known by some for his work in getting The Shack published. If you flip to the back of that book you’ll probably find a...

Peter Rollins at Baylor University from Peter Rollins on Vimeo.Peter Peter Rollins has been traveling around the USA sharing with gatherings in bars about life as a follower of Jesus. He’s a teacher...

I’ve written at length about Andong Village and Abraham Hang’s work there. Today I was glad to find his story online told well and at length. You can read it here.A tidbit from the past I didn’t...

If you or I agreed with everything Peter Rollins says, then probably we hadn’t been listening long or closely enough. Yet he’s a man who often says things that resonate, they may actually shatter ...

This is the gecko that was living in my room last time I time I was in Cambodia. He normally stays behind the dresser where you can see him during the daytime if you look. At night, when the lights ar...

I skim quite a few blogs using Google Reader, but I can count on one hand those that I read carefully. Seth Godin’s blog is on my shortlist (and I know I’m not alone). He consistently has insights...

Are you acting in compassion on behalf of the poor? Imagine if the roles were reversed? What is so ridiculous about what you see in this video? What could this teach us about authentic acts of compass...

I’ve been living abroad for years, and now I naturally simplify my spoken English to accomodate whoever may be listening. I filter out complex grammatical structures and choose simple words. Sometim...

I’m sitting here on the verge of feeling overwhelmed. We’re moving out of this apartment in a few days, and we’re only taking with us what we can bring on the plane to Cambodia. Everything else ...

We’re moving to Cambodia!Most people who personally know me have gotten the information, but I realized I’ve never posted the news here. You may have guessed; I think readers here won’t be surpr...

I liked the mother and her son from the moment I saw them, and I love this series of photos. I took them in Andong Village, a slum that I often visit about 25km outside Phnom Penh. The people who live...

This is just a photographic sketch I made one afternoon in Phnom Penh. I take photos like these as a way to observe and learn; and I enjoyed talking to the people as I photographed them. It was in Feb...

First the bad: “…a family in Texas pretends to be Christian so that their children won’t be excluded from play dates.” (h/t Kottke)We found by experience that if we were truthful about not bei...