Moments ago I was in a closed meeting with God, overwhelmed with his graciousness, overcome by his promises, and basically head over heels with his goodness and blessings over the Nest. But there was another item in my prayer agenda, the current needs of the Nest. Real physical urgent needs. “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭16‬:‭9‬ ‭ So I was busy doing that “planning stuff”, and I asked Him for specific requests w

I’m unclear as to where the whole idea of lemons to lemonade came from, but it was on full display this past weekend at our Nest summer youth camp. For those of you unfamiliar with it, the idea is that when life hands you nothing but lemons, then make the best of things, aka” Lemonade! Well, the Nest has had a storm of in the form of torrential, non-stop rains for about three weeks straight. Needless to say there is A LOT of mud. And so, the fun theme of the youth camp was MU

Dear Friends of The Nest, We are excited to introduce you to the newest addition to The Nest—our Saanen dairy goat farm. You may be asking, Why goats? If you know us well, then you know that at the heart of The Nest is a simple philosophy: pray hard, work hard, and never waste an opportunity to build something that brings glory to God. Our goats are not simply another agricultural venture. They are becoming part of God’s provision for this ministry in many different ways. For

The sky is falling, the SKY is FALLING! As I write this, the deafening roar like a freight train surrounds and penetrates every fiber of my being. Forget raining “ cats & dogs” right now it’s raining “ cows & horses “! We are in one of the two main seasons of the year. There’s rainy and then there’s rainier. It’s a scary feeling in me that heavy rainfall evokes. Rising rivers, landslides, the primal search for shelter, it’s all so elemental. At the same time it’s a fact of li

Love people. Pure, simple, and fairly straightforward, right? And not with the fickle, self-serving kind of love that dominates the culture, but with Agape love, the love above all loves. The one whose source emanates from God, and which, without makes loving others corruptible and so very difficult. I would say that for me 99% of my “ loving others” is not a holy nor virtuous act. People are messy, I’m messy. But God is so gracious; He can work with my 1% and faithfully walk

Dear Friends, As I write these words, I am filled with gratitude and awe as I reflect on the journey that has brought us to this moment. I am excited to share that on Monday, June 22nd, we will be signing the legal documents to formally establish El Nido Hogar Association. This represents a significant milestone in the vision God placed on our hearts—to create a safe, loving home for vulnerable teenage girls in Costa Rica. While this is a moment of celebration, we know it is

A short time ago I asked one of our Nest staff to compile a list of all the troublesome creatures she could think of which live in the jungle around here, and how they could harm us. I’ve been trying to stock our new infirmary to be able to render first aid specifically to our environment. She came back to me about a week later with some facts and pictures of quite a few different kinds of spiders, ants, scorpions, and snakes. She had the list divided into two. Very matter a

The young man sat on his motorcycle, looking at me with the strangest of eyes. It was a mixture of surprise, confusion, and indignation. I wasn’t sure if he had heard or understood me, so I repeated what I said but this time with even more enthusiasm. Which was met with even more skepticism. Now I was perplexed. Sure, my Spanish wasn’t great, but it couldn’t be that bad, after all, I had just complimented him on his motorcycle. In my mind, I had said “ I like your bike “ what

The most amazing, wonderful, angels singing kind of moment happened in the river just a couple days ago. Our girl Nayu-belle asked for and received a water baptism. Standing on the river stone shoreline , we witnessed an important moment in her journey of healing, discovery and peace with herself and God. Sure, it’s been many long hours, fervent prayers and lots of love, but the manner in which God has blessed this girl, ultimately can only bring praise to Him and the gratitu

For the last 30 seconds brown murky water has been seeping in through the seam of the door of our Nest pickup truck. It’s now ankle deep and showing no sign of stopping. About 5 minutes ago, after a slap in the face realization that my gamble with how deep the banks of the river were had gone horribly wrong, the truck is now stalled out on the side and now part of a ferocious river, water up to the top of the tires. Large trees are racing each other downstream like an F1 Gran

December 31st, 2025, 11:59 pm. Where am I ? The crackle, pop pop boom of fireworks exploding over the dark jungle horizon are shaking a thousand little chicken bones as they run to and fro inside of their barn. And that’s exactly where I am. Karina and I saw in the new year alone, watching over the Nest. We had celebrated an hour earlier with the New York ball drop, and then turned in for night. An hour later when midnight came around, the few but loud fireworks from a nearby

A peaceful morning full of promise filters through the trees and mingles with a dewy sun over the Nest. Those of you who’ve been here can more easily recall the quietness that envelops this place. The meditative manner of chickens clucking and scratching the earth. The pleasantly confusing flight of blue butterflies. And things here have been pretty much unchanged. Our infirmary is nearly complete and I’m moving in the last of the supplies, equipment, and furniture. We also h

Usually I find the space to write these blogs in the very early mornings, as the jungle comes to life. Tonight however, the sun has faded many hours ago, and the envelope of darkness seems to frighten even the beam and reach of my flashlight. I wish I had the bravery and courage of our Nest dogs, who go barking and chasing things that go bump in the night with reckless ambition. But I think it’s appropriate for this blog to be born out of fear and darkness. After years of spi

Next month will mark the fourth year since Karina and I first arrived full-time here in Costa Rica. To be sure, it’s been a near constant...

Late afternoon at the end of my work day last week, I was packing up my motorcycle for the trip back home. It had been a long hot day,...

My daily commute to the Nest involves climbing ( or driving the dirt bike) into a 20 foot, outboard powered canoe, and crossing the...

A couple months back I had a dream. In it I was viewing the Nest from a drone’s perspective about 200 feet above the ground …

“The main thing, is to keep the main thing the Main thing.”

Recalling the echoes of Jesus, his life and purpose from birth to death and then life again, it was all for the sake of love. Even before...

Who doesn’t love these little tiny baby animals? I mean, they’re so darn cute, and wobbly and such. Yesterday our black belly hue “...