The NU Blog Page

Out in the hill country near Lake Victoria, there is a vibrant bustling city called Kisumu. It is Kenya’s third largest city.

We all enjoy the stereotypical cowboy movie where the Lone Ranger (or Paladin) charges into the desperados’ hideout, guns blazing, and settles the injustices he has found there. Unfortunately, that approach seldom works well in real life; it usually leaves a few bodies bleeding in the road. Real life is not a cowboy movie! Some…

Earlier this week I watched the movie, Wonder Woman.  That was a bit out of character for me, but the last line of the flick made it worthwhile.  The fictional story is that of an “Amazon” woman, a daughter of Zeus, coming into our world and attempting to stop the carnage of World War I.…

Trauma permanently changes us to the very core. “This is the big, scary truth about trauma: There is no such thing as “getting over it.” The five stages of grief model marks universal stages in learning to accept loss, but the reality is in fact much bigger; a major life disruption leaves a new normal in its wake.  There is no…

We in the West have now been blessed with relative peace and prosperity ever since the end of World War II. For the past week, I have been pondering the question, “Will it always be this way?” From a macro perspective, my family has lived under difficulties for most of the past several generations. During the late…

Suffering! It is an experience that is common to each of us. It is not comfortable. No one wants it. It hurts. And there are no exceptions. Suffering does not depend on our state in life, our age, or our tribe. It is a collective experience of humanity. And we work to avoid it at…

You have probably heard and perhaps memorized this familiar verse from Philippians 4:13.  “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  The other night I heard a talk that, with some humor,  included the phrase, “I can do all things with…” and then after a pause continued, “…with my iPhone!”  There is a…

Have you ever thought about how we all take turns? This morning I began my birthday by having breakfast at a local hospital and then visiting a long time friend (we will call him John). John is experiencing the effects of advanced prostate cancer.  John had been moved last evening to the hospital where they…

Where do you belong?  Those words appeared on my Facebook page earlier this week.  They have haunted me ever since I first saw them.  Where do I belong?  So I ask you the same question,  “Where do you belong”? There are so many aspects to this.  Do I belong in this community?  Do I belong…

Stephen Covey is famous for his best selling book, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.”  Even though it was written over 20 years ago, it is fully applicable today.  I have been thinking this week about the first of his seven habits, that of “First things first.”  He suggests that we identify what is…