I was so blessed to get to spend time with some friends at the airport this morning (and even get to upgrade one of them! it’s fun to be able to do that) … I’m in my second of four airports for the day and I have just a second to share with you all what my friend said to me this morning. He and I were talking about some of our recent teaching events, conciliation cases, and church intervention cases, and he remarked how HARD it is to encourage genuinely reconciled, gospel-proclaiming relationships in a certain geographical area because: “They live in a culture of NICE.” Isn’t that a…

Years ago I interviewed a spiritually mature man in my community to seek his wisdom on the topic of leadership. He is an extremely well-read man, and I wasn’t surprised to find him giving me example after example from various books he was currently reading. One leader stuck out in my mind–he kept mentioning a certain military leader whose “grace under fire” was detailed in the book Band of Brothers. Well … I JUST finished reading Band of Brothers and I have to say … if you have any interest in learning better how to relate with people, get along, serve, do your part, lead well, and follow well ……

Wow! I am a blessed woman to get to hear from so many wise people. (Men and women alike!) Thanks for the emails and for the encouragement/wisdom/gentle confrontations too. I really do appreciate you all. A recent email got me thinking along the lines of, “So, OK. You keep calling the women to remember the gospel and love well–but what about the MEN? What would you say to these leaders if you were given a chance?” Oooooh … what a good question! (As an aside, I’ve actually thought about this topic for a future book too–but I would want to co-author it with a pastor so that both “sides” (perspectives)…

(Well … this topic is obviously hitting a nerve with a lot of people. So here is a little addendum to my previous posts on the conflicts between women and their church leaders …) I always say this when I speak at any women’s event, so I’d better be sure to say it explicitly here too: When I am talking about “suffering well” and “loving our enemies” I am NOT talking about women lying down on the ground like doormats–especially not regarding PHYSICAL ABUSE. If you are being physically abused, GET HELP! There are overlapping spheres of authority in these situations–including civil/criminal authorities–that may be the very way that God…

OK. It’s happened again. I post a blog entry and there are no public comments. But before you know it, personal emails start to trickle in one on top of another. (I mentioned this pattern to Fred last night before I even wrote yesterday’s entry simply because I MARVEL at how many comments are left on some websites/blogs … and I know we have thousands of hits on PeaceGals and here on my blog, but not many comments. I mentioned to Fred how, perhaps, these topics are just too personal, too intimate, leaving people too vulnerable to actually dialogue about “publicly.” I wonder …) ANYWAY … Trying to honor the…