(S)urvivors said the gunmen singled out the aid workers, separating them from some laborers who happened to be there, before shooting them execution style.

“They asked everyone ‘why are you doing this job?’”

This particular World Vision office has focused on relief and rebuilding after the earthquake that killed 73,000 in  October 2005.

As in most World Vision locations, most of the employees in Oghi, Pakistan, are local people. All who were killed and injured are Pakistanis who were working in the name of Christ on behalf of their own people.

Please pray for their grieving families and that Jesus’ name might shine.

I ventured into the blog world with a mission trip in February 2008. Over the next year, I blogged mainly when I was part of a short-term mission or ministry so that family, friends, and supporters could know some of what God was doing in that place with those people. Therefore the name of the original blog–Let the Nations Be Glad.

Eventually, I began posting more frequently and with a wider range of topics. In December 2009, I welcomed you to this new website. (And I hope you do notice that it is more than just a blog. Click on the links above to explore the site).

So, back to the original question. I hope that everything you read here has something to do with our prayer that the nations be glad in the Lord. I pray that whatever I do, whether I eat or drink or whatever I do, that it be to the glory of God, for the sake of the nations, in the name of Jesus Christ.

Whatever includes intensity, somberness, suffering, contemplation, prayer, and biblical insight. It also includes moments of lightheartedness, relaxation, and even sometimes silliness. It includes travel to the ends of the earth and taking note of my own neighborhood. It includes people of other cultures and my own family. It includes my struggles (and yours?) against the sins (like living in chaos and overeating) that hinder me from seeing God clearly and following him wholeheartedly.

So, as I promised in my post welcoming you to this new website: “You never can tell what I’ll be thinking about when you come back.”

I pray that you will find authenticity and real life seen through what’s mundane and what’s eternal. And though the website no longer bears the name “Let the Nations Be Glad,” I hope you will still be able to see here God working in the nations.

I just discovered an MP3 album download of “Classical Gems.” Free. No cost. So if you don’t like any or all of the pieces, you can just delete them with no guilt.

Today was my 100th workout at Curves. Just don’t ask me when I got started. But at least I got this far.

Next workout will be #1 towards 200.

I’m curious how many of you work out regularly. How many at Curves?