Mein Weg zum Licht

I wasn't sure whether to stop and stare or run away. Magnificent and terrifying at the same time. This photo from the Dolomites perfectly captures the emotions I felt when I was grappling with what was inside me as the poem was written...

“Why did you leave your country?” My mother often heard this question from me. “For you and your brother,” she would always reply, and then she would tell the dramatic story of how she emigrated with us from her homeland of Vietnam. It was the winter of 1993.

I wondered how Nathanael could know that: "You are the Son of God, the King of Israel." Not because I don't believe the content of the statement - hopefully we've settled that once and for all since Egypt. No, I doubted that Nathanael actually said that.

It was a hard time, but without this part of the story there would be no story. In my imperfection God's perfect goodness and greatness should be revealed. He does everything out of love: hard graces.

The path to the desert is quick and gradual. I would first have to tell you how I ended up in the desert in the first place. A place with no life, no water, no prospect of growth. Drought and emptiness. Yes, how did I end up there? The year is 2023. Freshly converted two years ago, baptized one year ago. I thought I had the hang of it.

Reconciled yesterday, in the Holy Land today, Thursday, February 9, 2023 – It was the third day after the first session with You, Jesus, on Golgotha at the cross. The sun shone occasionally through the clouds, which had released their rain abundantly over the past few days...

For Mom. Beloved, I know you are sad. Things will turn out for the best after they have turned bad. You have not lost me to Him. But I have found you in Him. You have not lost them irretrievably. They are yours in Him; you can stop grieving.

Do you see the scar on my chest? When I was four years old, my heart had a hole. And I don't mean that metaphorically—a real hole. They opened my chest and closed the hole. My heart was repaired, physically...