At the beginning of this year I decided that I wanted to take my running to a new level. I’m still what most would call novice, but I decided that I wanted to run some local 10K races, that I wanted to run a half marathon, and that ultimately I wanted to run a full… Read more
How many times a day do you look at yourself in the mirror? Catch a glimpse in the rear view mirror? Check that your tie is straight? Stand sideways to see if you look thinner? For five months, we lived in an apartment that did not have a mirror. Other basic living needs always seemed… Read more
This summer the Back2Back staff is reading Crazy Love, by Francis Chan. Chan urges readers to resist the temptation to be satisfied with the status quo and instead respond to God’s invitation into a passionate love relationship. He challenges readers with a call to forsake complacency and apathy and follow God wholeheartedly. Here is an… Read more
There’s a field on the other side of the street in Rio I. For the most part, it’s been vacant. The only sign of life has been the layer of weeds sprouting up. After the rainy season the ground covering becomes so thick that sexual predators have been known to hide there to prey on… Read more
My first week interning with Back2Back India has opened my eyes. There is no way I could have been fully prepared for my initial visit to this hostel (children’s home) in rural India. I was a little nervous when we pulled up, but was instantly comforted by familiar verses painted on the walls in English… Read more
School is out for summer! As summer vacation begins, some of the orphans we serve leave their children’s home to temporarily stay with any living relative who may be willing to take them in for a few weeks during the break. I hardly know how to wrap my mind around this reality. It’s difficult to… Read more
Being in Nigeria for almost four weeks I have often wondered if we are making a difference here. Will we ever fully know the answer to that question? Before coming here our desire was to come to help out where needed and to serve the people here – whatever that looks like. Now that we… Read more
What a great opportunity we had as a ministry to address the enthusiastic crowd of students gathered at the Vineyard Community Church in Cincinnati for the Summer of Service Conference. Over 900 teenagers from 14 states came for a week of showing God’s tangible love to the city through outreach and service projects like helping build homes with Habitat… Read more
There has been a faithful Back2Back supporter, who I’ll call Jill, who has regularly donated money for a little girl named Sarahi. Sarahi lives in the Rio, which is one of the squatter’s villages that Back2Back serves. Sarahi is eight years old and just finishing 2nd grade. Jill has helped to fund Sarahi’s education and… Read more
Before coming to serve in India, I had lots of questions. Many centered around monsoon season. When would it rain? How much rain? Does it rain all day? Everyday? No one was really able to answer those questions. “We’ll just see,” said my Indian friend. I like warm sunny days. We had plenty of those…. Read more