The library

Restoration

Part 1: Healing is in Your Places of Joy

By David Achata For as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by the human journey – how we grow, change, and ultimately heal. There’s a profound wisdom in understanding how the threads of our experiences are woven together to create the unique individuals we...

Part 2 : Want Joy? Release Control

By David Achata This is the second reflection in a 5 part series. To view the first, Healing is in Your Places of Joy, click here. The Illusion of Control The hard thing about being a controlling person (like me) is the continual resistance from everything around. Or...

Part 3: Becoming a Unified Person

by David Achata This is the third reflection in a 5 part series. To read Parts 1 or 2, click below. Part 1: Healing is in Your Places of Joy Part 2: Want Joy? Release Control “You can’t hold on to anything new if your hand is tightly grasped around something else.”...

Part 4: A Timely Reflection – The Path to Mercy

by David Achata This is the fourth in a 5 part series. To read the first three reflections first, click on the links below. Part 1: Healing is in Your Places of Joy Part 2: Want Joy? Release Control Part 3: Becoming a Unified Person We’re prone to being judgmental....

Part 5: Find Yourself by Losing Yourself (in Love)

by David Achata Over the last few reflections, I’ve been building a case for how we heal. First – We heal when we can embrace joy.Second – We experience joy when we release control.Third – We release control through acceptance of all parts/aspects of...

What is Self Care For?

By Peter White I've never been on an airplane when the oxygen masks deploy. Countless times, though, I've experienced the routine safety measures on a plane: Put the oxygen mask on yourself before attempting to put it on yourself. I sometimes wonder what I might...

3 Ways Out of Ministry Burnout

By Peter White Burnout can have a way of pouncing on you, like one of the old Calvin and Hobbes cartoons. I can still remember my first panic attack. I say “first” because it wasn’t the only one. I’m walking down the hallway back to my office after a meeting. All of a...

5 Essential Rhythms for Finding Rest for Your Soul

By Peter White In a season of life, I served as the corporate chaplain for the staff of a car dealership. One day as I was making the rounds through one of our shops, my eye was caught by a relatively new car that I saw up on the lift. A brand-new engine was being...

Sabbath For Ministry Leaders

By Peter White "Sunday is a work day." I have a distinct memory when I worked on staff at a church of the senior pastor saying this to us in a staff meeting. It was a big, downtown church. A lot of stuff happened on Sunday—multiple worship services of various styles,...

Two Kinds of Battles

by Ken Janke There are two kinds of battles we face in life: internal and external. On the surface, we see the external battles playing out around us—conflicts with others, challenging circumstances, health issues, and more. As James says, there is another battle that...

A Great Storm in the Wilderness

by Angie Steinke I remember the first time I read the poem, The Man Watching by Rainer Maria Rilke, it was back in the late 90’s featured in a beautiful book by Ken Gire titled: Windows of the Soul - Hearing God in the Everyday Moments of Your Life . It...

Dangerously Tired

by Angie Steinke Journal Entry - July 22nd, 2018 I’m sitting here at the desk in the single occupancy room at a retreat center, entering into a reflection time as we enjoy an evening of silence and solitude. We had been given a diagnostic test of sorts earlier...

Reflections on an Invitation to Retreat

by Angie Steinke Reflection from October 24, 2018 Note to the reader: This reflection was written 3 months after a piece titled: Dangerously Tired? If you want to enjoy the narrative in its chronological flow, please read Dangerously Tired? prior to this so you can...

Our Proximity Over Activity for God

by Ken Janke The older I get, the more I am aware of life’s limitations. I haven’t always been aware of my limitations. Perhaps the swirl of activity and the applause from spectators have best positioned me to work as if I’m immortal and to depend on my own strength....