After all, God is infinite! His Holy Spirit in moving through the world and working in ways that we cannot imagine. He is simultaneously engaged with 7 billion people, and doesn’t even break a [ More ... ]
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I got a major surprise last month: on July 23 I experienced a series of mini-strokes (that is the doctor’s word for them!). At one point I could not put a sentence together, but I am well on the way to complete recovery. I will be teaching a reduced class load at school this fall, and by God’s grace hope to be fully recovered by Christmas. Now I want to tell you what I learned. First: God gives peace. From the moment I realized what was happening, I had no fear. I was at peace, telling God that if this is what he wanted for me, he and I could handle it. Second: [ More ... ] Photo by arebella I recently read an article on pastoral failures by Dale Wolery and Dale Ryan. One line stuck with me: “Silence is not the solution to gossip.” The authors were talking about the tendency in pastoral and congregational crises to try to prevent the manufacture of rumors by attempting to impose a rule of silence concerning the problem. In my experience such silences grows gossip like dark, wet wood grows mushrooms! I am convinced from personal experience, church history, and Scripture that close, deliberate relationships with formative friends are essential to spiritual growth and health–there is simply no other way to become like Jesus! I am also a realist [ More ... ] Okay, which would you buy: Ten Easy Steps to Spiritual and Emotional Maturity or Walking Together for the Rest of your [ More ... ] There is also good reason to believe that this explosion of electronic communication is fueled by a desperate need to be [ More ... ] I often think about the students in my classes and office. In what ways are they molded by their interaction with me? [ More ... ]  I discovered an extremely interesting dynamic in Ephesians 4 as I prepared for Lenten services a couple of months ago. This may be the key to understanding how the New Testament writers reflect on the role of relationships in spiritual growth. Image by katja kodba Consider this paragraph (Ephesians 4:14-16 NIV): 14Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that [ More ... ]  A friend e-mailed me a sophisticated electronic picture this week. As I moved the cursor from face to face in the painting, a sidebar opened explaining who that individual was and why he or she was in the scene. The theme was patriotic, and I won’t take time to describe the varied characters, not all of whom were “patriots.” The center of the picture was a regal Jesus holding in his hand a copy of the Constitution of the United States. What constitutes a Christian heritage is bitterly disputed today, but I believe that we are heirs of a thousand years of choices by mostly ordinary people [ More ... ]  The past president of Toyko Christian University explained to me the fundamental difference between the Japanese and Americans (and this applies to all eastern civilizations and all Westerners). The Japanese believe that individual identity lies in the group to which one belongs. Any individual will have as many identities as groups. He (or she—and so throughout) is a member of a family, an employee of a corporation, and a member of a bowling team (and likely others). He identifies with the values and practices of the group in which he is engaged at a given moment. He assumes for a time the values, conduct, and relationships that characterize that group. [ More ... ]  I ran across some fascinating research by George Barna in partnership with Living on the Edge the other day. Check it out. The answers given by believers and pastors across America clearly show that American Evangelicals do not know what spiritual maturity is, nor how to achieve it. 81% of respondents endorsed the idea that spiritual health means “trying hard to follow the rules described in the Bible.” Further down the page the study reported that “Half of churchgoers simply said they were not sure, unable to venture a guess regarding their church’s definition” of spiritual maturity. If answers were ventured, most identified, at best, maturity as a relationship with [ More ... ] |
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