On my first night in the dormitory at Kent Academy, the auntie on duty pointed toward the tall bunk bed against the right-hand wall of Room 15. “You’re in the top bunk,” she said. In my unfamiliar bedroom at the end of the first-grade hall, my stomach tightened, and my six-year-old voice squeaked like a mouse. “Do I have to sleep way up there? But how do I get up so high?” I’ve never slept so high off the ground….
Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore, he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! Isaiah 30:18 (NIV) The tall, harried woman loomed in our doorway, hands on her hips. “Debbie! What on earth are you doing?” Stretched out on my bed in the dormitory for missionaries’ children in Nigeria, my body stiffened. I knew I was in trouble. Earlier in the…
Photo courtesy of Simroots Archives The setting sun cast a long shadow behind me as I walked across the playground toward the dining hall. There’s my big brother Larry! Running over, I threw my arms around his waist. “Did you find your room?” he asked in his grown-up, seven-year-old voice. “The auntie showed me the way. Are you unpacked?” I replied. “Yes. But I’m sad. D’you like it here?” Larry asked. The sorrow in his voice touched my soul. “I…
The Lord is close to the brokenheartedand saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18 (NIV) At 10 o’clock on Saturday morning, the noisy siren blasted throughout the campus of the boarding school. It was morning break for the staff of missionaries and Nigerians working in the kitchen and around the grounds. “Candy Line! It’s time for the Candy Line!” Children called to each other from all four corners of the school playground repeating the happy announcement. All week, I…
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want; he makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. Psalm 23:1,2 (RSV) The girls’ dormitory was a beehive of activity on my first Saturday morning at Kent Academy, a boarding school for missionary’s children in Nigeria, West Africa. Fifteen little girls formed a line that stretched out the door of the large bathroom in the first-grade hall. It was time for our…