Category: Journal

Coconut Tree, a photo by kahunapulej on Flickr. The flight attendant looked at me, wondering why my eyes were watering. I asked for a soft drink, and continued reading Sleeping Coconuts. Macho or not, I think a few tears is a normal reaction to being freshly reminded of such intense disaster affecting close friends. Our …

Kodiak departing Uvol, a photo by kahunapulej on Flickr. I just read again about a dear friend of mine, Steve, returning to service as a missionary pilot in Papua New Guinea. This is an awesome miracle, really. It may not seem to be spactacular, or quick as we would like it, but it is nonetheless …

Bible translation on DRM, a drawing by kahunapulej by Michael Johnson, 24 July 2012 Electronic media of various kinds offer the potential of making God’s Word available to more people in more ways and in more languages than ever before. Just turning a paper book into some random electronic format is a nice start, but …

Phone booths are not dead, yet., a photo by kahunapulej on Flickr. More to the point, when did you last actually use a telephone booth (or any public pay telephone)? Have you ever seen a pay phone in a rain forest? Over 80% of the world’s population now has a mobile phone. There are over …

Phone booths are not dead, yet., a photo by kahunapulej on Flickr. More to the point, when did you last actually use a telephone booth (or any public pay telephone)? Have you ever seen a pay phone in a rain forest? Over 80% of the world’s population now has a mobile phone. There are over …

Blue flowers in the morning, a photo by kahunapulej on Flickr. After many months of acknowledging that our own missionary web site was in serious need of revision, both in the content and in the structure, I celebrated the President’s Day weekend by actually doing it. I tried to present the important stuff in bite-sized …

Very early Friday morning, 21 January 2011, I had a dream in which I saw a very large house in which we were working and living. It was in the mountains, and a creek ran between the house and a tall volcanic mountain. From time to time, hot lava rocks fell from the top of …

I got a call from someone claiming to be from Microsoft, today, wanting to warn me that my computer was downloading viruses from the Internet continuously. They lied. Microsoft doesn’t do that! Criminals who want to steal your money, damage your reputation, and take over your computer do that. Beware! If you get such a …

Once again, I’m tasked with writing a missionary prayer letter. Unlike this blog, its size is limited. I guess that I could write. “We need money for our mission work. Please send some every month.” Or I could give the amount. That is difficult, because if I give the amount, then it just begs for …

I am passionate about getting God’s Word to people where they are, in a language they can understand. I believe in the heart-transforming power of God’s Word so much that I actually left behind work as a well-paid software engineer and went full time into Christian missions. Instead of a regular, predictable paycheck, we have …

Last Monday, in a meeting at the University of the Nations, I was struck by the term “viral” electronic Scripture distribution. Of course, as a man who done battle with computer viruses and been tasked with protecting many computers from malware, the term “viral” has many negative connotations. I’ve been trying to think of a …