Wildflower Writes

I'm not sure what the Sunday school lesson was supposed to be about (forgive me, Debie), although it was something about leaving a legacy. Our discussion came around to leadership, and whether it is a leader's responsibility if the followers don't follow.  "Yes!" said my brother-in-law emphatically, the regional manager for a cell-phone company. "If they can't get the job done, they're gone." Yet, time and time again, the Bible draws a picture of leaders who encouraged, warned, used word pictures and metaphors, put their own lives and lifestyles at risk, to lead people in God's ways. The people they were supposed to lead were often outright defiant, worshiping other gods and pursuing pagan lifestyles.  A pastoral mentor told me once, "if you want to know if you're a good leader, turn around and see who's following you." So which is it? Is a leader measured by his or her principles, or by the number of peop...

Driving toward Indianapolis’ southeast side, there were multiple warnings, via both signage and radio reports, that construction and accident clean-up were ahead of us on I-465. On top of that, the impending rush hour led my husband and me to believe there was a good chance we’d get stuck or at least slowed by an onslaught of traffic. Even with adequate warning, with no GPS, map, and little Indianapolis driving experience, we had no idea what alternate route we could take to avoid the impending doom that awaited us. Add to that two geographically and directionally challenged individuals, and we really had little choice but to forge ahead. I wished my sister were with us. She lived in Indy for awhile and seemed to remember every route she’d ever taken to get anywhere. She could have told us exactly which exit to take to lead to the correct road to take us on the shortest route possible. I wonder how many people continue traveling in the same direction in life because they don’t have the...