Blog

He offers peace, because He offers Himself and through Him we have access to and relationship with not just a king, but the Creator of the Universe, we are children not just of the one who rules the nation, but the One who made the rocks. We are known, accepted, forgiven, welcomed, loved not because of what we do or don’t do, because of what we do or don’t have, because of how strong or talented or successful we are, we are loved because He made us and we trust in Jesus, what He did, what He gave.

I think about all the white Christians on the bus with Rosa Parks, watching her having to stand up and speak up for herself and others again and again and how tiring that must have been.  I think about all the times and the years that I was ignorant and blind to the plight of the minorities and particularly the Native Americans around me. 

Hear me, you don’t need to be strong all the time. You don't have to be OK all the time.  It's OK to not be OK. You don’t need to be right all the time. You won’t have to have all the answers.  If you pretend to be OK, all that and all together all the time, you make it hard for people to help you.  Let people help you, let people love you.  You see, the smartest people ask the most questions and ask for help.  It's not stupid to ask for help, it's not weak to be vulnerable, it's called growing up.

For the prophetic leader and worker serving in the world today, ministry is often driven by a big, beautiful vision of what a redemptive future could or even should look.  In the midst of the brokenness we see around us, there is a sense, a dream and a hope for the potential and the possible for your organization or your community. 

[but] what do we do, when the reality clashes with the vision? What do we do with the dissonance between the dream and the real?

The gospel reminds me daily of the spiritual poverty into which I was born and also of the staggering generosity of Christ towards me.  Such reminders instill in me both a felt connection to the poor and a desire to show them the same generosity that has been lavished on me.  When ministering to the poor with these motivations, I not only preach the gospel to them through word and deed, but I reenact the gospel to my own benefit as well.