As I write this I’m sitting in a Starbucks coffee shop. It’s very windy outside and the wind messed up my hair as I walked in. I had no control; it blew wherever it wanted. Other customers look windblown and nobody can do anything about it. The wind blows wherever it wishes.

Dr. Mark Alan Williams and friends answer questions about the Christian faith: questions about the God, Jesus, the Bible, eternity, belief, religion the reasonableness of faith and others.

Do you sometimes wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Some days I wake with dread, fear and depression. I remember one day in 1998 when I was overcome with anxiety and regret. It was toward the beginning of the Great Recession and I  realized that an investment property I had decreased to about half its purchased value. I broke out in a sweat and had a hard time thinking about anything else. For days and even months after that I struggled with feelings of regret, fear and disillusionment. Sad, huh?

Dr. Mark Alan Williams and friends answer questions about the Christian faith: questions about the God, Jesus, the Bible, eternity, belief, religion the reasonableness of faith and others.

Some time ago I was teaching about why we must plant new churches when a pastor began to challenge my teaching. He wasn’t happy that I was saying that churches should plant churches. He seemed convinced that giving birth to other churches would harm or destroy his church. It was an uncomfortable exchange right in the middle of the meeting.

Our culture in the USA honors bold, confident, even brash leaders. But God doesn’t always work through leaders like that. He often uses the reluctant, quiet, humble people. I for one am glad of that, since I haven’t always fit the cultural ideal for a leader. Perhaps you can relate.

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