Tagged: peacemaker

…seek peace and pursue it. Psalm 34:14b, 1 Peter 3:11b, NIV   Then Noah sent out a dove to see if the waters had receded from the surface of the ground. Genesis 8:8, NET There is more than one kind of flood bringing destruction to the earth today. The waters of conflict, unrest, and war rise over the landscape. Where are the Noahs of today? Who is willing to open the window and send out their peace until it finds a place to lodge in the heart of another? The dove could not find a resting place for its feet because water still covered the surface of the entire earth, and so it returned to Noah in the ark. He stretched out his hand, took… Read More

The Lord shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace. Exodus 14:14 The holiday story is told of a little boy, face sticky with peppermint, cheeks punctuated with two clean streaks of tears caused by his big brother. The big boy wanted the little boy’s candy and made a grab for it. But the little boy held fast to his sweet, refusing to let go.  Big brother then had an idea. Punching the air with two fists, not much bigger than his opponents’, he offered to duke it out. The winner gets the candy. But little brother, smaller though he was, had bigger determination. Nope. I’m holding on to mine. Go find your own. Mom intervened, little brother got to keep his candy, and… Read More

Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters! Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger (James 1:19, NET). “You never know what someone else is going through” sounds like a mother’s well-worn admonition to her children. I know I say it often to mine, and the words ring true if we stop a moment to think about it. In our fast-paced, busy culture, we race past one another, forming immediate judgments without pausing to truly understand one another. Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. Things aren’t always as they seem. Don’t judge a book by its cover. The English language is brimming with idioms which caution against hasty judgment. Yet, again and again, we trample… Read More