Month: July 2014

  • PMS Part 2

    With this latest trip, it felt like we were really living out the Gospel (Mark 6:7-13). We were ministering to the homeless, the elderly, orphans, widows/widowesses, prostitutes, , and children . . . lots of children. We trusted in God for food and lodging. We prayed for healing. We prayed for removal of evil spirits.…

  • PMS Part 1

    PMS Part 1

    Post Mission Syndrome. Post Outreach Syndrome? Semantics. Most career missionaries wouldn’t call a 10-day trip to a foreign country missions. So, “outreach” is probably a better term. Either way, PMS and POS are pretty negative acronyms used to refer to the feelings one has after serving others outside of one’s own home turf. They say…

  • “No Allusions in the Classroom”

    “No Allusions in the Classroom”

    Okay. So this one’s only a year old, but it refers to an article (see below) that was written almost thirty years ago. I don’t remember how I came across this article, but it intrigued me and I wondered if we would have similar (or worse) findings today. How many in our schools would lack…

  • Expectation Versus Reality

    Expectation Versus Reality

    Here’s another I started two years ago after reading 21st Century Pastor by David C. Fisher for seminary. Did anyone else have long discussions in high school English about “appearance versus reality?” After undergraduate/graduate education, you come up against “expectation versus reality.” As young professionals, we believe (with our newly acquired knowledge) we can take on the world.…

  • Perspective on Suffering

    Perspective on Suffering

    Here’s another one I started two years ago after reading Living Life (“Do the Wicked Really Suffer?”). In Job 21, the protagonist is responding to his “friend” Zophar who is certain that Job is suffering because of unconfessed sin in his life. Job, though, argues that God does not operate in such a fashion. Such wisdom. As a contrasting…