Why "Beyond Imagination"

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.                                                                      Ephesians 3:20-21

I wonder what it was like for Peter when he stood at the edge of the boat, his sandals crusted with Galilee salt and his tunic’s rough-soaked hem twisted about his legs, listening to the snatches of voice slammed about by the wind. Come to me on the water, the man—Jesus—was saying, as he stood balancing on top of the slapping, spitting waves. Did Peter look over the side, imagine what it would be like to slide his foot over the wall, his glistening with pitch and spray… did his mind picture the water bubbling up to meet his sandal, forming a steady platform to support his weight? Did he look at the upright Jesus and wonder what would happen the moment he truly dropped his bulk into his heel and walked to his savior. The moment his imagination would give way to reality, could he guess what would possible happen…

…or that it could be immeasurably more?


This blog began as invitation for you to imagine with me amidst the craziness of life—to meet God and see Him work in ways far greater than you could have ever conceived. Through this blog, I also invite you to go beyond imagination and glimpse for an instant the realities of my life as a linguist in Papua New Guinea, a place where many of you may never have the chance to sample a fresh papaya (juice running down your chin) or rattle along in one of the banana and coconut-filled buses.

Come, and join me in this life that is wild and dripping in ways that are beyond imagining…


There is no event so commonplace but that God is present within it, always hiddenly, always leaving you room to recognize him or not to recognize him, but all the more fascinatingly because of that, all the more compellingly and hauntingly…

Listen to your life.

See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments and life itself is grace.
--Frederick Buechner

Read the blog post that started it all here