Jim's Peacemaking

Building Reconciliation and Closeness in Relationships April 8, 2011 God has made us to be intimate and close with our friends and partners. Often In the midst of conflicts we are really seeking closeness. Unaware of this, often one person withdraws and the other gets angry at the withdrawing. Then, the more the other gets angry, the more the other withdraws. The more we do this, the more it separates us rather than unites us. However, if we step back and become aware that the problem is not the conflict, but that each is protesting the possible loss of closeness, we can much better work on the root of the problem. Sue Johnson tells how one can do that in her book “Hold Me Tight” Another example is the way we hesitate at talking to certain people about hard things. I find it helpful to realize it is perhaps because we fear loosing our relationship with them. Johnson points out, the more we do this, little by little, we will find it builds closeness rather than separation and th...

“Back from the war 4 hours ago.” December 30, 2010 “Would you like to help end the wars with one click?” I ask. “What? I just got back from the war 4 hours ago.” Thus responded a man in fatigues on the street by our house. “What do you think of the war?” I ask. “I think it is stupid, they should be spending that money for the homeless here. It is a big mistake. What a waste. I am a Doctor. Great, I will take one those papers and write my representatives.” If you would like to write you representative see this link: http://www.jimspeacemaking.org/2010/09/help-make-peace-with-one-click.html Such was one of my many exchanges on one of my daily exercise walks to Lake Michigan from our apartment here in Chicago. Here I am on the pier by the lake. I did 27 presentations in a month-long speaking trip in Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania; here are some glimpses into them. Dr. Yanez, a Spanish Professor at Manchester College where I gave 8 talks. He planned to give me 15 minutes of his cl...

Lottery tax on poor Thirty-one million dollars are spent on lottery tickets each year in the city of York, PA. Most of the low income people of York County live in the city. And so it seems quite clear that this turns out to be a tax on the poor that is used to pay for balancing the state budget and for many social services like education. I would guess that the same is the case for casinos. The poor see this as a way to gamble to get themselves out of the hole of poverty they are in. And thus they often become addicted to gambling as do others. This often ends in many broken families and divorces. I imagine this is the case in most states. There is even a new casino opening soon here Joliet, Illinois. Until now I have been completely unaware of this injustice. I would guess many of you have also been unaware of this connection. However another aspect of this is that Indian tribes have been depending on casinos to live on. I would think, though, tha...

Help End the Wars with One Click! Simply go to www.fcnl.org , enter zipcode at the “Find out” button, click on “one click” above the pictures, click “send message” at the bottom. Just takes a minute. Write them weekly. 2011 U.S. military spending is $2.1 million dollars a minute. Of every dollar in taxes, 57% is for military, 1% is for diplomacy and development, 6% is for health care, 4% is for education, and 11% is for poverty. This is based on President Obama’s 2011 federal budget. Reference; OneMinuteForPeace.org Tell your government representatives to stop wasting our tax dollars for war and destruction which does not create peace and security. Instead it creates enemies, terrorists, recession, joblessness, broken families, and suicides. Tell them to spend it on constructive things like schools, health care, and employee people to built roads and bridges etc. D...

Revenge or Forgiveness Dear Friends Revenge or Forgiveness May 19,2010 “If a man came walking down the street outside my business here and was about to beat me up or kill me, and I had a gun, I'd shoot him. As a human, that's natural and I couldn't do anything else. What would you do?” a good friend challenged me. I don't know what I'd do for sure. But I hope I'd respond in a nonviolent way. I would hope I would just start to pray to Jesus. For me, it is important to keep up my regular quiet time of praying and reading the Bible. Let me read from Zachariah 8:12-13 from The Message: "You've gotten a reputation as a bad-news people, you people of Judah and Israel , but I'm coming to save you. From now on, you're the good-news people. Don't be afraid. Keep a firm grip on what I'm doing." Notice...

Dear Friends, Are you antimilitary? 7/22/10 “Are you antimilitary?” Ask a cornerstone attendee. David answered, Well if the military does things that are what Jesus taught like help others, I am surely not against that, But if they do things that are opposed to Jesus’ teaching, I want to call them to account just like any one else. Are you anti-American? David reply, “I am an American, how could I be anti-American, how could I be against myself. “These questions led into a very good half hour conversation. One of many good talks we had in our five days at Cornerstone Festival. There 275 people signed up for our email addresses. We have over 2000 on our email list. Here we are at our booth on left is Rod Orr, my long time companion and helper at Cornerstone, David Fleig who had the above conversation and yours truly. As always it was a very energizing time as we sense the Lord raising up ever more interest in peacemaking as people are getting weary of war. Here ...

6-11-10 "They killed my son three months ago." Dear Friends, "They killed my son three months ago." Thus remarked an older sister in the Mennonite Brethren (MB) church here in Choco. Another shared, "They have been disappearing motorcycle taxi drivers a lot over the years, one just disappeared two weeks ago, And as usual the police never do any real investigation to find who did it." It is hard to know how to respond to such heavy words. I just said, "Thank you for sharing, I understand the situation better than I ever have before." "The police (supposedly the law here) enter what are well known as paramilitary's homes all the time, so we have to be very careful what we talk about and with whom. We never know who is associated with which group--guerrilla or paramilitary--both which are outside the law. We are so grateful for the MB church, for we are safe here to share. As a matter of fact, when Protestants have been kidnapp...