now boarding

...flew from long beach to logan today....great to be back in boston...we had to take separate airlines....jet blue hands down over american...quick consumer tip from claire: don't buy an inflatable travel pillow (those horseshoe ones) from long beach...spend your $5 on an overpriced muffin instead...

...the flight gave me a good chance to go over my scrip memory texts....as many of you know, this spiritual discipline takes grace and grit....God's grace to increase our appetite for His word and our grit to keep reviewing and reviewing and reviewing....lots of patience and persistence is required too....but as many of you can testify, no spiritual discipline can so transform and renew your mind, so deepen your prayer life, and so equip you for ministry and witness than having God's word written on your heart....

....after touching down in logan, i stumbled across this...

...do you like sacred spaces?...i do...whether i'm in a mosque in istanbul or a vietnamese buddhist temple in nyc, i am fascinated by nonchristian expressions of faith...and i also appreciate pieces of religious art....so who woulda thought that in busy logan i would find a quiet place for reflection, prayer, and bible reading....there were some familiar and arresting works, such as....

...but as an interfaith chapel, there were some unfamiliar works (anyone seen this before?)....

....having studied islam, hinduism, and buddhism in seminary, i realize the longevity and complexity -- not to mention sincerity -- of the venerable religious traditions of the world....it is hard to think about the billions of people around the world who adhere to these traditions...i wasn't expecting it, but God broke my heart at this thought...i prayed...i wept....words fall so short, don't they?...dear God, in and by the name and pwr of your son Jesus Christ, please please please direct our muslim, hindu, and buddhist friends to a saving knowledge of and faith in you...unify, empower, equip, and mobilize your church toward that end...

...claire's flight came in 3 hrs after me....while i enjoyed those hrs in the word and in the chapel, i was thrilled to see her again....@ 6:30pm, we were picked up by our dear friend, kirsten (thanks so much for fighting boston traffic and those potholes!)....claire and kirsten taught for two yrs at the same elementary school (kelly school in chelsea, ma)....along with husband matthew, they are two of our dearest friends and we just love them so much and continue to learn so much from them (such as the power of genuine christian hospitality; romans 12:13)....and praise God, we were even able to see matthew's parents one last time before going to japan, as they were in town for their flight early next morning for kenya, where they are board members of a mission doing some fantastic work in kenya and sub-saharan africa...