Reconciliation in a Christian School
Last week I received a testimony from a woman who had been involved in a conflict with a fellow teacher at her Christian school. It was so serious that the school hired a conciliator to guide the women through a mediation process. In preparation for their first meeting, the conciliator asked the women to read […]
The Best Gift You Can Give at Christmas
I hardly noticed the old rancher sitting in the front row of the small Montana church where I was preaching a message on peacemaking, but he was about to make my day. My text that morning was taken from Matthew 5:23-24, which reads: So, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there […]
The Golden Result
We all know the Golden Rule: “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” But do you know the Golden Result? It’s a direct corollary to the Golden Rule: “Other people will usually treat you the way you treat them.” Not always, but usually. Because that’s how God made us. I’ve seen this […]
Reputation vs Character
Jeff’s reputation was being trashed by people in his own church. He was respected throughout the city for his outstanding Sunday school classes, which had drawn hundreds of people to his church. But then he got caught in the middle of a congregational battle over the senior pastor. A group of members had become increasingly […]
Don’t Overlook Every Offense
A lot of leaders are being abruptly removed from their posts these days. Pastors, seminary presidents, ministry and business CEOs. In many cases, they were fired without warning. One day things seemed to be going along just fine, and then suddenly they were told that “the deacons (or elders, trustees, or directors) met yesterday and […]
Penetrating Barriers with the Gospel
Megan had switched on a force field that put the Starship Enterprise to shame.
It had been another one of our difficult home-schooling days.
Daddy, is that you? (A Wedding Day Reconciliation)
Becky looked forward to her wedding with a mixture of excitement and sadness. Mark was the man of her dreams, and she was thrilled about becoming his wife. But there was another man she had thought about many times over the years, and his memory brought mostly pain (all names have been changed). Becky’s father, […]
Overcoming Rejection
There are three things you and I were never designed to experience: illness, death and rejection. That is why these experiences feel so foreign and hurt so much: they are utterly contrary to what we were made for. When God created the world, everything in it was “very good” (Gen. 1:31). Illness, physical death and […]
How to Resurrect a Dead Relationship
A young Christian couple came to my office just before Easter one year and asked me to mediate the legal issues of their divorce. The wife had been unfaithful, and their relationship had been shattered. They had argued, excused and blamed for a couple of weeks and finally given up hope that they could ever […]
Reconciling Two Stubborn Scientists
How would you feel if God enabled you to use simple relational skills you learned at church to solve a million dollar problem for your employer? That’s exactly what a woman named Diane did when she stepped in to resolve an employee conflict that had stumped her company’s president and human resources professionals. The joy […]