Dear friends,

In place of my usual essay, I’m excited to share a 5-minute video celebrating the work of the Neighbor-Love Movement. Click here to watch.

Special thanks to my monthly Stop & Think subscribers who help make this work possible! If you would like to become a partner in this work, please click here.

Yours with gratitude,

Andrew

 .. Read More

Dear friends,

I’m a massive fan of BitterSweetMonthly. This storytelling platform (and more) was founded by my relentless, brilliant friend Kate Schmidgall to “reject cynicism, defy apathy, and celebrate good.” Those three movements are such a challenging, beautiful way of being human. And it’s how Kate lives and what BitterSweet nurtures through its moving stories and beautiful images.

I was deeply honored when Kate asked me to write for BitterSweet, and my first story was recently published. It’s entitled “I Feel Like a Dancer,” and it’s about a truly extraordinary organization called StandProud in the Congo. StandProud is helping disabled youth walk, often for the first time in their lives.

I hope you enjoy the story, subscribe to BitterSweet, and consider supporting StandProud. Writing this story rocked and recentered me. Next time you put your shoes on and stand up, give thanks for this precious gift and remember our beloved neighbors in Congo and around the world who are working to restore the dignity, joy, and power of our disabled neighbors... Read More

Dear friends,

As we remember the 20th anniversary of 9/11, I want to share a story about Jihad. This is not a story about global terrorism, religious extremism, and death. It’s a story about a devout Muslim, neighbor-love, and hope.

A few years after 9/11, I was living in a neighborhood in Addis Ababa known as Little Mogadishu. The neighborhood got its name from the numerous Somali refugees who had fled there from the violence ravaging Somalia. My neighbors carried stories of terror and trauma similar to survivors of 9/11.

At the heart of Little Mogadishu is a bustling open-air market. Throughout this labyrinth, you can find vegetables, electronics, fashion clothes, international money transfers, khat, and pretty much everything in between. So one day I ducked inside a tiny shop to buy a pair of shoes.

As so often, I was carrying my laptop with me. My entire professional life was inside that computer, and I foolishly took it with me everywhere I went... Read More

Dear friends,

What’s your story?

Many ancient cultures told stories about our world that begin with violence. The gods were envious and angry. So they fought each other, killed each other, and we were made from the bloody aftermath as their servants.

The world that emerged was a mirror of this original conflict: kings, soldiers, and slaves competing and cowering in a struggle for status and survival. Priests enshrined the winner gods in temples and images throughout the land to remind people of where they came from and how the world works.

These stories were the bestsellers in their time. Strikingly, archaeologists have discovered versions of them in places as far afield as ancient Mesopotamia, Greece, and South America.

Why were these stories so popular?

Perhaps their popularity makes sense in light of the headline news stories we tell today. In these stories, the great events, the events that supposedly change our world and grip our attention, are often driven by competition and conflict, violence and victory... Read More

Dear friends,

For the last month, Lily and I have enjoyed the special gift of hosting Lily’s sister Eleni and her beloved children Naomi (12), Nolawi (11), and Naodi (4) from Ethiopia in Illinois. We have shared a wonderful adventure of playing, learning, and serving together in a time of much-needed renewal.

This week, five of our families gathered at my parents’ house for a farewell celebration. After all of the yummy desserts were eaten, conversations were finished, and games were played, I opened my phone and looked at the picture I had taken. There was nothing surprising in the image — not even the mischievous bunny ears and mirthful faces 🙂

But what I saw deeply moved me. It struck me as a living icon of what is possible in our world through God’s love: a family bound together across so many of the differences that contemporary culture says should divide us:

We were born and raised as citizens in different nations — Ethiopia, Mexico, and the United States... Read More