Jim's Peacemaking

Dear Friends, “Give yourself to the gifts God gives you.” (1 Corinthians 14:1 from the Message Bible.) Seems there are million good things a person can dedicate themselves to. But we can only do a few of them. This verse has helped me to set priorities. As we focus in on our gifts, we can do a better job of using them and avoid paralysis from feeling guilty and ashamed for not doing what others are doing. It is in a way learning to be who we are. For example, I have a friend who is a dentist. He used his gift of fixing teeth in places in the world where there is no dentist. People with the gift of making money, might use their gift to share money with others, to teach others how to use money, or to run a business. I use my gift of sharing slide presentations and stories about peacemaking to make people aware of what God is doing through people for peace and justice in the world. What are the gifts God has given you? How are you using your gifts for others? This ...

A Surprising Answer to a Prayer. Dear Friends, I have been trying to contact Lauren Winner about a leading I felt about her book Real Sex for months. So yesterday morning, frustrated I prayed, “if you want me to do this Lord, may Lauren respond today or I quit.” I had been emailing and calling her unsuccessfully. A few hours later I received the below email in response to my email. Dear Lauren, My name is Jim Fitz and for 6 years I have volunteered in Colombia with Christian Peacemaker Teams. We seek to reduce violence in the world. I have found your book Real Sex very helpful for me to see the violence in my sexuality and in our culture and society relationships. Your book has great potential to make people aware of the violence in sexuality we all struggle with daily, but are unaware of, and thus reduce sexual violence in our society. So, I promote your book as a part of other books that have formed me to becoming a peacemaker (see attached book list). O...