Enjoy these wonderful words from John Chryssavgis on “leastness,” and G. K. Chesterton on the youthful vitality of God Himself: ?The kingdom is already granted to little children, not, I think because of the subjective qualities that we tend to appreciate in them, such as their cuteness, their smallness, or their playfulness. The kingdom is […]
The Courage to Care
Elton Trueblood continues to be an author of influence in my life. The words below are more than fifty years old, yet are timely to me today: ?A prominent philosopher of England has suggested the wisdom of using ?caring? as our best modem translation for the almost untranslatable Greek word, of which the thirteenth chapter […]
Classic Spiritual Counsel for Anxiety
I love reading classic letters of spiritual direction. The quotation below is a piece of classic counsel for ?nerves? (which, I think, would probably correspond to what we would call ?anxiety? today). ?Personally I believe that the cure for nerves is an attempt at contemplation. I hope this does not sound absurd. But it seems […]
Entitlement and Grace
I was recently reading the parable of the landowner and the vineyard (Mt 20:1-16). This is the story in which a landowner hires workers in the early morning, then more at midday, then again more at midafternoon, and finally a group near the end of the day. The punch line is that he pays […]
Patience: An Unhurried Virtue
Hurry is a primary problem among Christian leaders and continues to grow.?The fruit of the Spirit most related to unhurry is patience. Here are a few thoughts about patience in life and ministry. When I think about how I?ve sometimes ?done? church, I ask myself which would be better: ten one-year ministry cycles, each with […]
Spiritual Direction: Nurturing Our Uniqueness
I was reviewing some of my recent reading and came across this great word from Eugene Peterson about the gift of spiritual direction, especially when we?ve been down the road with Christ for a while. As we grow into maturity in Christ our distinctiveness is accentuated, not blunted. General directions, useful as they are, don?t […]
Healthy Leadership Formation Takes Time
One of my favorite arenas of reading is any book that wrestles with the integration of spiritual formation and leadership development (or some version of those two arenas). A while back, I read David Bosch?s A Spirituality of the Road. Listen to this from him: Because the ambassador?s role is so crucial he has to […]
