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Missionaries and productivity

Missionaries and productivity

“[Software engineers] are the last people whom one can expect to fall in line with a good strategy developed by someone else. As for the good programmers who are in fact supremely capable, there is no reason to expect consensus to form among them. Each programmer thinks his or her idea about what to build and how to build it… Read more →

Some dynamics of the story – Lazarus: John 11.17-32, part 2

In these general observations and questions on Lazarus I am aiming at trying to understand the dynamics of the story, who the people were and what is being said about Jesus. This is part two. Part one is here. The ‘key’ to my comments can be seen in this footnote ((H: History, I: Interpretation, il: illustration, O: Observation, OI: Observation… Read more →

Plurality and truth

Plurality and truth

In our professional lives we have moved over 20 times, on two continents and four countries. To think of all of the perspectives and prejudices we have seen is almost too much to think about. The variation is enormous. Jesus, talking to some leaders, said this: “He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you… Read more →

Never a painful separation

I can remember one time when my brothers and I were just kids and we had made my dad really mad and so he put us out of the house. Now we were just kids and he only put us in the back yard but we were miserable. It was truly awful but we deserved it and it did help… Read more →

Link previews

I just installed a nice little tool on our blog called Snap Shots that enhances links with visual previews of the destination site, interactive excerpts of Wikipedia articles, MySpace profiles, IMDb profiles and Amazon products, display inline videos, RSS, MP3s, photos, stock charts and more. Sometimes Snap Shots bring you the information you need, without your having to leave the… Read more →

Good advice wrong time

Good advice wrong time

Jesus was a hunted man so he “left the state” to keep away from the local authorities. The complication was a festival He should go to but it was back where he was a “wanted man.” Not that there were “wanted” posters up with drawings of Jesus on them but the authorities were looking for Him. He was in danger… Read more →

Happy Joy John 6.44

Happy Joy John 6.44

I am quite taken with this, that God the Father draws us to Himself through Christ. That He pursues us, that He, with bonds of love, makes our arrival at the side of Jesus not just possible nor probable but inevitable. Through out the book of John he says that God has given certain ones to Jesus and Jesus, for… Read more →

Controversy on Europe’s Spiritual condition

Marc is really worth quoting here: In this week’s edition of Joel News International I focused on the question: how many people in Europe follow Jesus? Three different studies, using different definitions of ‘committed Christian’ and varying methodologies, came up with multiple indications: 1.1% (GEM), 3.5% (OW) and 4.2% (emRG). My colleague Andreas Wolf from Germany says he has most… Read more →