Some Time Later, the Brook Dried Up

I’m feeling very sad today. It’s evening, and I’ve just finished teaching my last workshop as an independent consultant. I’ve taken a job working with a ministry in another country, and the unfamiliarity of my new surroundings is making this transition even more difficult for me.
To make it worse, in a about an [...]

Guard Your Gates!

The book of Nehemiah in the Bible serves as a great metaphor for living the spiritual life. In the book, the Temple represents our heart (where God meets with us); the city of Jerusalem represents our mind; the walls of the city represent our spiritual walls and the health of our relationship with Christ, [...]

Superhero

All great superheroes are, at least in part, images of Christ.  Their stories are the retelling of the greatest story ever told.   When they save those in danger, it is a picture of Jesus’ atoning work on the cross.  Their sacrifice is a mirror of His sacrifice.  Their struggle with their calling or their destiny [...]

You’ve Got What You Need

Back to the story of Nehemiah from the Bible.  It’s interesting that Nehemiah built a wall without a quarry.  Where did he get all that rock?  By some estimates, the wall was over 1.5 miles long, 20 feet tall and 9 feet thick*.   That’s a huge amount of rock!  Walls using this much material would [...]

Pack Rat

I’m on the road for the next few weeks, and a very scary thing is about to happen at my house.  Within 24 hours, my mother-in-law will get off a plane to begin a visit at our home.  (No, that’s not the scary thing.  She’s a wonderderful, wonderful woman.  Hello, Roianna.)  No, the scary part [...]

F.E.A.R.

When was the last time you did something really scary? The kind of scary that knots your stomach and weakens your knees. The kind of scary that makes you feel like everything is out of control.
Fear is an interesting emotion. It protects us from doing the really stupid stuff that would win [...]

Man Down!

Not to put too fine a point on it, but the world’s a mess.  I’ve been lots of places and seen lots of terrible things.  Poverty, sickness, drugs, prostitution, broken families, broken lives…  They’re everywhere.  Affluent countries do a better job of hiding them, but there is not a place on this planet that’s free [...]

Wall-Building

Building walls is often seen today as a bad thing.  (Do good fences really make good neighbors?)  In organizations, we talk about building silos, and interpersonally, we talk about putting walls up when we are feeling defensive.  But those are not the kind of walls I’m referring to.  (“to which I am referring” for English [...]