Some Prose from Henri Nouwen

I came across this quote from Henri Nouwen on the Dream Awakener's blog. It impressed me so much I had to share it.



How does the Spirit of God manifest itself through us? Often we think that to witness means to speak up in defense of God. This idea can make us very self-conscious. We wonder where and how we can make God the topic of our conversations and how to convince our families, friends, neighbors, and colleagues of God's presence in their lives. But this explicit missionary endeavour often comes from an insecure heart and, therefore, easily creates divisions.
The way God's Spirit manifests itself most convincingly is through its fruits: "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control" (Galatians 5:22). These fruits speak for themselves. It is therefore always better to raise the question "How can I grow in the Spirit?" than the question "How can I make others believe in the Spirit?" - Henri Nouwen

Back in the saddle again

This past Sunday I preached for the first time in quite a while and will again this coming Sunday, as our preacher is away. One of his daughters is getting married in Tennessee. I do teach a Bible class regularly, but preaching is different. The last few times I have talked on Sunday morning, it hasn't been in a sermon fomat, but more of a conversation. I think I am more of a teacher than a preacher, and there are those who even question that claim (my myself included sometimes). I also did it without any graphics as all our computer people were gone, really old style :>). I thought it went okay, and I got some positive feedback.