Devotions for a Busy Business Person, no. 286 – Justice and Shalom Shalom is never abstract. It never floats free from the real decisions we make. In Scripture, shalom is always braided with justice (mishpat) and righteousness (tsedaqah). You cannot have one without the other. Amos refuses to let us imagine peace without fairness, wholeness without integrity, worship without right relationships.  “Let justice roll on like a...

Devotions for a Busy Business Person, no. 285 – Shalom While cycling with Andrew today, we talked about shalom. He said it was more than peace, and paraphrased what Myron Penner had taught him. “Shalom is when everything is flourishing as God intended to be.” Myron Penner This statement resonates with me. The whole focus of Regen.Global is flourishing – a flourishing, physically and spiritually, rooted in Christ. “For God...

Devotions for a Busy Business Person, no. 284 – A kind of praying Let’s continue the theme of self-care started in Business Devotions 283 – Oxygen Mask. “Sit with a story over the winter and learn it. Be gentle with yourself for at least an hour a day. Check up on a friend. Do something humanised and human-sized in the monstrous-sized calamities we hear about daily. That’s my advice. All of that can be a kind of praying....

Devotions for a Busy Business Person, no. 283 – Put on your own oxygen mask first  My colleague  Mike Baer recently wrote about putting team before self.  This advice needs more nuance. “Put self last and team first” is important (Philippians 2:3–4) yet it can also be dangerous if taken out of context. Building team through servant leadership is essential, but if it comes at the cost of the leader’s...

Devotions for a Busy Business Person, no. 282 – Filters In a most enjoyable call with my friend and client, Darrell, he cautioned that I know what ‘filters’ I am viewing world events through. That made me pause. “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. Colossians 2:8 Scripture is...

Devotions for a Busy Business Person, no. 281 – Renunciation I have been reading Ron Rolheiser, a favourite teacher of mine. His thoughts apply to the sanctified (saintly) calling in your business or vocation.   Ron quotes Søren Kierkegaard,  “To be a saint is to will the one thing.” He then draws on Thomas Aquinas who said, “every choice is a renunciation.” Ron continues, “We have to make choices, accept the painful...

Devotions for a Busy Business Person, no. 280 – Sabbath I am sitting on a farm in Tajikistan, cross-legged on a korpacha (mat) on the floor. The owners who I came to serve are having their mid-afternoon rest, a wise habit in a hot country, especially on the sabbath day. They have insisted I rest, too. I protest, weakly, that I am on a work trip. But if the people I came to serve are resting, I must, too. Even the minah birds and...

Devotions for a Busy Business Person, no. 279 – Nobody said it would be easy View this in your browser Daniel’s words shine like a lighthouse in a storm of devastating prophecy. (B)ut the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits. Daniel 11:32b How does one stay strong in all the world’s buffeting? How stands your bastion of Love? “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong....

Devotions for a Busy Business Person, no. 278 – The radical light that you are I stand at the edge of a sepulchre where nearly 250,000 people are buried. I was at the Kigali Genocide Memorial. My colleague asks the guide, “Are you Hutu or Tutsi?” She replies, “We do not use those terms anymore. We are Rwandan.” In that moment, she shone light into a dark place; she practiced ‘Kwibuka’, the act of remembering and building the...

Devotions for a Busy Business Person, no. 277 – Changing paradigms Two moments on my travels have shown me how important it is to be adaptable, attentive and adept at trying new things. “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.” — Isaiah 43:18 In Rwanda, I met specialists in conservation agriculture from across Africa. They shared innovations born from their own hard-won experience in the fields. I realised many of the most...