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Deciding to Stay or Go
I feel like my time here may be finished? How do I know when it’s time to go? Should I stay or move on? We encounter this tough decision many times in our lives. Should we leave our job? Our church? Is it time to resign from teaching Sunday school? What about the ministry where I volunteer? Which extra activities should I let go of? Can I press through the challenges and stick it out? How do we make an intentional, not reactive, decision to stay or go? Global worker and author, Sue Eenigenburg, invited me to cowrite a workbook* with her in which we offer thirteen reflection questions to…
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This is the Way, Walk in It
After twelve years of living and serving on a tropical southeast Asian island, my husband and I decided to return to the USA and transition into a new phase of ministry. I agonized over this decision for months. It consumed every prayer and conversation for I knew whatever path I chose would affect others. How thankful I am that God was my guide all those years ago (Psalm 48:14) and that he still leads me in the way I should go (Isaiah 48:17). Life has contained other big decisions like this one as well as many smaller choices such as whether to volunteer in the church nursery or teach a…
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Christians and the “you do you” Culture
“You do You” is a pervasive saying in the culture today. It is particularly popular on social media and definitely popular in a culture where we are asked to make decisions daily that are unusual or unprecedented. Here are some examples. “I’m not planning on wearing a mask in public, but you do you.” “I chose life and I will be having my baby, but you do you.” “My child is encouraged to choose whatever gender he/she wants to be, but you do you.” What I think people are really saying is, “I have made up my mind about the right thing to do in this situation. I will not…
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Decide today who you will be tomorrow-Purposeful living brings reconciliation.
Circa 2002, I made the first of several visits to the King Center and Center for Non-Violent Social Change in Atlanta, Georgia. At the time I was a college student and I was highly impacted by Dr. Martin Luther King and his unwavering commitment to justice and peace. I made up my mind then that I wanted to be like Dr. King. I wanted to be courageous and peaceful in the face of evil and committed to loving people with the sacrificial love of Jesus. I have since developed a mantra that has followed me into Christian leadership, “decide now.” When I am speaking with a young lady about sexual…
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A Singular Resolution
I could sell tickets to the prize fight in my mind. Endless choices pummel my thoughts. I hang punch-drunk on the ropes in a stupor. A life of freedom in Christ seems concealed somewhere amid the alternatives. We fight the pugilism of satan, the world, and the smallness of our thinking. We juke around with itsy bitsy choices which merely perpetuate an itsy bitsy existence. Strategies of marketing leave us stranded in aisles and choosing between low-fat and whole-grain. Strategies of media shipwreck us with technology as we send strangers the snapshots and sayings of our so-called lives. God guides us beyond the ring, instructing us to filter the myriad…
