Walking in Jesus’ Shoes
Renowned psychotherapist and physician Alfred Adler stressed the need to understand individuals within their social context. Calling for compassion and empathy in relating to others, he described empathy as “seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another, and feeling with the heart of another.”
hospitality to strangers
In 2011, marine biologists around the globe were fixated on a pod of sperm whales in the North Atlantic Ocean; they had adopted a bottlenose dolphin calf. Jens Krause, a German behavioral ecologist, told one news source that sperm whales have “never been known to mingle this closely with another species.” Apparently the young dolphin had a spinal defect and couldn’t swim fast enough to keep up with other dolphins. But surprisingly, the sperm whales gathered the struggling dolphin into their fold.
helping the stranded
After Nelson Mandela’s death at the end of 2013, many stories surfaced of his genuine concern for others. In 1950s Apartheid South Africa, Mandela once saw a white woman standing beside her broken car in Johannesburg. Approaching her, he offered help and was able to fix the car.
not broken
As someone who has logged a lot of time in the coastal waters of Florida, I’ve always enjoyed seeing bottlenose dolphins up close in the wild. That’s one reason I was particularly drawn to the movie Dolphin Tale.
suffering with God
Pain. We take pills to ease it, hold prayer meetings to heal it, develop strategies to avoid it, and think up philosophies to explain it. We rarely, however, consider suffering as part of God’s plan for our lives.
reject apathy
Job description: Rebuild national security. Deal with economic injustice. Snuff out internal strife. Initiate religious reforms. Remuneration: Threats, threats, and more threats.
Would you give up a comfortable job at the “White House” to take this job? Nehemiah did. He left his job as cupbearer and confidant to the king of Persia in order to help the demoralized people in…
among us
For 2 months in Uganda, I was without a car and had to travel by foot or by using public transportation. I squeezed into crowded matatus (minivan taxis) and weaved through traffic on the backs of boda bodas (motorcycle taxis). Many times, when no ride was available, I walked in the pouring rain.
Moving about in that fashion was humbling,…
