• Uncategorized

    Volume of Knowledge vs. Volume of Words

    Oooooh! It’s hard to see yourself in such a quote, isn’t it? But so good too–helps me in my continual goal of speaking LESS. Courtesy of Pastor JollyBlogger: “Long experience has taught me this about the status of mankind with regard to matters requiring thought: the less people know and understand about them, the more positively they attempt to argue concerning them, while on the other hand to know and understand a multitude of things renders men cautious in passing judgment upon anything new.”    

  • Relationships & Peacemaking

    Director of Training Position Available at Peacemaker Ministries

    (Just received this announcement and asked for permission to post it for you all. How great it would be if one of you moved to beautiful Montana! 🙂 ) ———- Director of Training Position Available Peacemaker Ministries (PM) is an international ministry based in Billings, Montana that exists to assist and equip Christians and their churches to respond to conflict biblically. We are a team of thirty staff with a network of 150 Certified Christian Conciliators working together to encourage a culture of peace in churches around the world. We are currently seeking an individual to join the Peacemaker Team as our Director of Training. This individual will provide direction…

  • Sin & Repentance

    Tempted to Morbid Introspection — But INSTEAD …

    This morning when I woke up, my first thoughts were DARK: 1. I kept thinking of the mean words that an atheist wrote in a comment to our little “Books of the Bible” video: I felt badly for him (what kind of person trolls around YouTube looking for Christian videos just so he can write mean words?). Plus, just the thought of how MEAN people can be on the internet (anonymous blog comments, flamingly rude emails meant only to attack and tear down) really got me down. (Oh, and I deleted and banned the guy–so don’t look for his comment on the link above. I do the same thing when…

  • Uncategorized

    Truman and Hume (HT: Somber and Dull)

    I couldn’t resist popping over to a blog named “Somber and Dull” when TulipGirl referenced it in a post. I’m glad I did! I’ll definitely give it some time in my “provisional blog reading” favorites and see if it lands in my (not too long) list of blogs I read regularly. These two posts on President Truman and a man named Paul Hume were definitely worth the read: Vision Beyond Emotion   The Value of a Team  

  • Relationships & Peacemaking

    Extra Grace Required

    Lydia Browback posted recently on women who are “EGR” — Extra Grace Required: “One category of “widows and orphans” that’s easy to overlook is the socially poor. In one of my former circles, we referred to them as EGRs—extra grace required. I look back on that now and cringe. What made us think that we weren’t EGRs ourselves? The very fact of the cross proves that we are. But what we had in mind when we used the term are those who make others uncomfortable by their lack of the social niceties–those who can’t talk about anything other than themselves, those who complain constantly about their problems but refuse to…

  • Uncategorized

    Consistently Attracting the Irreligious?

    TulipGirl quoted Tim Keller’s “The Prodigal God” today and it has me thinking, oh, about a zillion thoughts as I sit here playing/working with Sophia: ‘Jesus’s teaching consistently attracted the irreligious while offending the Bible-believing, religious people of his day. However, in the main, our churches today do not have this effect. The kind of outsiders Jesus attracted are not attracted to contemporary churches, even our most avant-garde ones. We tend to draw conservative, buttoned-down, moralistic people. The licentious and liberated or the broken and marginal avoid church. That can only mean one thing. If the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the…

  • Uncategorized

    Quiet day at home …

    We decided NOT to go and see the opera “Carmen” this morning because we had a BIG spring snowstorm come through. Remember the front porch where I took Soph’s Easter dress picture? This was the change in only a few HOURS: Montana weather is so strange! Our tulips and daffodils are quite rugged to pull through these spring snows. Oh well. At least SOMEONE enjoyed the day: Our friend also sent us a cute picture of Soph from our church’s Variety Show. Finally! I got to see how her hot pink tights and cowgirl boots looked:   Hope your day was a blessed one! Yours, Tara B.  

  • Relationships & Peacemaking

    Andrew Selle on Friendship

    A friend of mine (and a wonderful Christian conciliator and professional counselor), Dr. Andrew Selle once shared with me a few brief thoughts on friendship, ideas that he adapted from his friend Joanie Doe (a pastor’s wife in Virginia). He actually had another page of material on the topic that he gave me, but for now I will share just a few lines with you with the hope that we all might be thinking about how we can grow even more God-honoring, gospel-proclaiming, REAL friendships today: What is a friend like? – CONSISTENT: You are there for your friend. Consistency which is borne out of commitment. – HONEST: You are honest…