The Beat Goes On In the breast of every man and woman beats the heart of a hero. That beating may be muted. It may be tentative and unfocused. It may be congested by sin and scars and accumulated failures. It may falter with a sense of unworthiness and self-doubt. But the beat is there [...]
Archive for the ‘Featured Articles’ Category
Chance Encounters
Sunday, November 13th, 2011 | No CommentsWe met running through the Atlanta airport, trying to catch a connecting flight to Jacksonville. We labored side-by-side for a few moments and then she dropped behind gasping. I yelled over my shoulder that I’d have them hold the plane for her. Sadly, the gate was already closed when I finally got there. We watched [...]
An Unlikely Hero
Thursday, November 10th, 2011 | No CommentsRecently, I went shopping for some clothes to wear on an upcoming trip to Thailand. I am speaking at the Asian Mission Forum in Chiang Mai and needed something appropriate and cool (the temperature “cool” rather than the fashion “cool”). The woman presiding over the Men’s department was in her mid-60’s, grey-headed and life-lined. She [...]
Hope
Wednesday, August 31st, 2011 | No CommentsFinally, AGAPE relationships are founded in “Hope.” There is an innate optimism at the heart of the Christian faith, rooted not in our high view of man or in a naïve confidence in human progress but in a deep trust that God has his purposes and is working “for the good of those who love [...]
New Zealand IV
Wednesday, August 31st, 2011 | No CommentsThe 2011 Men’s Challenge is officially over. 25,000 miles traveled. One day officially lost. Nine presentations in four days. Seventy men met, encouraged, and challenged. I even watched a rugby game (now that’s above and beyond the call of duty!–New Zealand lost to Australia. Devastating.) It’s a lot of time, effort, and money to make [...]
New Zealand 2011 III
Tuesday, August 30th, 2011 | No CommentsThe Tree Falls Move One: In the fall of 1993, James Lane was driving his Volkswagen on the backroads of the Oregon coast. It was a sunny day, warm and aglow—a last taste of summer before the long grey winter set in. He was 41, born in the year-of-our-Lord 1952. That same year, a seed [...]
New Zealand 2011 II
Sunday, August 28th, 2011 | No CommentsYesterday, Steve Raines (principle of the South Pacific Bible College and an old friend) showed me some of the highlights of Rotorua. For those of you who don’t know much about New Zealand, Rototura features hot pools, boiling mud baths, and geysers. Ancient Maori settlements nestle close by smoking vents and bubbling crevices. The whole [...]
New Zealand 2011
Saturday, August 27th, 2011 | No CommentsEight months ago, Geoffrey Fairest invited me to the annual “Men’s Challenge”–a nation-wide men’s retreat held in Rotorua, New Zealand (that’s on the North Island for you geography nuts!). Last Tuesday, August 23, I departed for the “land of the long white cloud.” It’s a long arduous trip to New Zealand. Not as long or [...]
Compassion
Wednesday, August 24th, 2011 | No CommentsAGAPE relationships are “Compassionate” relationships. Compassion: to feel with and for another; empathy; to be aware of and want to alleviate the sufferings of another; to identify closely with another’s condition; a concern for others’ needs without regard to merit. The willingness to “put yourself in another’s shoes,” to “see from their perspective,” and to [...]
Peace
Wednesday, August 17th, 2011 | No CommentsA third aspect of AGAPE relationships involves “Peace.” One of the principle marks of fallen relationships is a lack of peace. Alienation, separation, hatred, conflict, anger, lies, malice, and disrespect are characteristic of relationships where AGAPE does not reign. On the other hand, relationships that have been transformed by AGAPE are characterized by peace, harmony, [...]
