Women of Intelligent Faith

Have you heard the old adage--"It is more blessed to give than to receive"? That's how I feel having had the privilege of taking a stellar peacemaking team with me to Nigeria to teach lawyers and judges Christian Conciliation for a week long course, i.e. Conflict Coaching and Peacemaking. A big shout out to Anne Bachle Fifer, Scott Owen and Kevin Thornsberry! But we couldn't have done it without our Nigerian team on the ground. Thank you Paul, Favour, Josiah and Chika! Last time I was there was in 2014 when I taught about 125 lawyers and judges a week long Peacemaking Seminar. I had just about given up on returning to teach mediation when miraculously a class-A team fell into place. If you haven't read The Peacemaker by Ken Sande yet, I highly recommend it. It is the basis for our Christian Conciliation teaching. "Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." Matt. 5:9

December 5, 2016 [Note: This account is purposefully written as a long run-on, as it symbolizes the actual run-on adventure.] Just to summarize our wild day yesterday: after John and Scott finished preaching at their separate churches, we were to meet at the Jos airport to fly out only to discover our flight to Lagos had been cancelled. There is only 1 flight a day. So our gracious driver hit the road for a 4 1/2 hour drive to the capital of Abuja so we could catch another flight in time to make our international connect ions. While he conquered the road, I was on the phone booking the flights and searching for alternatives. The journey was harrowing as we drove fast, trying to avoid pot holes, other cars, motorcycles, and flying through the armed checkpoints even when they commanded that we stop. Amazingly the men with guns didn't pursue us. We arrived at the airport exhausted from the journey, feeling like we had been on a wild roller coaster for several hours. A diffe...

Christians like to point to the martyrdom of the first apostles as evidence for the resurrection of Jesus. [1]  They base their hypothesis on the premise that people don’t die for a lie they know to be false. People might die for a lie that they believe to be true, but not one they know to be false. This is persuasive evidence for the reliability of the testimony of the early eye witness accounts of Jesus’ resurrection. In his book,  The Resurrection of Jesus , historian Michael R. Licona states this about Jesus’ disciples: After Jesus’ death, the disciples endured persecution, and a number of them experienced martyrdom. The strength of their conviction indicates that they were not just claiming Jesus had appeared to them after rising from the dead. They really believed it. They willingly endangered themselves by publically proclaiming the risen Christ. [2] What do we know about the deaths of the first disciples of Jesus? Tradition holds that the apostles di...