We were both on bikes that day. I had just left a store and was saddling up, and he arrived. He started the conversation about cycling. I actively engaged the conversation, which probably gave him the confidence to switch to “witnessing.”
Free for a day or so at Amazon:
“Winston Churchill: The Era and The Man” by Virginia Cowles, in Kindle format. Written in the 1950’s, republished in 2018.
Arising from church chez Dark Vador this week.
Advancing the kingdom through conversion and retention is not about “missionary work” as most of us currently conceptualize it. That’s one of the main themes of my placement stories and other rants.
(Warning: His language reflects it.)
Lewis’ quote — in context — is more about friendship than coincidences. But it speaks of the divine nature of coincidences.
“In friendship…we think we have chosen our peers. In reality a few years’ difference in the dates of our births, a few more miles between certain houses, the choice of one university instead of another…the accident of a topic being raised or not raised at a first meeting–any of these chances might have kept us apart.
But, for a Christian, there are, strictly speaking no chances. A secret master of ceremonies has been at work. Christ, who said to the disciples, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,” can truly say to every group of Christian friends, “Ye have not chosen one another but I have chosen you for one another.” The friendship is not a reward for our discriminating and good taste in finding one another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each of us the beauties of others.”
— C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves. from: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/183419-in-friendship-we-think-we-have-chosen-our-peers-in-reality
(more…)
Welcome back to the TBM Podcast!
Episode 11 is a deep dive in to origins and mission of the Junior Ganymede blog (www.jrganymede.com), along with our favorite posts. Make sure to check out the links! (more…)
My wife, Elizabeth Pack Mansfield, died last fall eleven months after receiving a diagnosis that the pain in her spine was due to metastasized kidney cancer. A few weeks before her death she wrote letters to me and each of the children, but months before that she began a second letter for our only daughter, now 10, to receive when she is older:
January 25, 2018 1:42 am-August 23, 2:02pm
Dear Miriam,
The Holy Ghost has let me know that I need to write a letter to you about being a mother. I hope to be alive while you are a mother—but especially if I am not, I need to share some truths and thoughts with you.
My own decision to become a mother went something like this– (more…)