It's been three years since I was preparing for my first solo journey abroad-- my trip to Iona, Scotland. I wondered then how my week-long retreat at The Abbey, an ancient pilgrimage site, would impact me later. Our theme for the week, "The Pilgrimage of Life" had been part of what drew me. Throughout those … Continue reading Iona: Three Years Later
Alistair McIntosh
Gather Yourself: Lessons in Scotland
"After all the dreaming, planning, and praying, I'm now at the threshold of Iona," I wrote in my journal a year ago as I looked across the white-capped-waters of the sound toward the stone buildings of the Abbey. I'd made it to the village of Fionnphort in the Inner Hebrides, where I'd booked a room … Continue reading Gather Yourself: Lessons in Scotland
Better than a Pen Pal
One of my favorite classes in elementary school was geography, especially in Miss Harrington’s fourth grade. I loved how we learned about the lives of people in faraway places. Back in that day, we would say they lived ‘overseas’ and that seemed like an insurmountable distance. The only people in my family that had traveled … Continue reading Better than a Pen Pal