Dear Brothers,

Am I fussing like an old lady over my lion cubs who want to stretch themselves, who saw no fear of plunging twenty feet over a snow cornice down a steeply pitched slope, littered with rock out-croppings and small cliffs, I asked myself last weekend while skiing with three of my boys, as we wended our way atop the rim of a bowl trying to find a manageable descent. Helmeted, even if they somehow accidentally slipped over the edge, my eleven, thirteen and seventeen year olds were unlikely to suffer serious injury. What is the line between reckless risk and testing oneself against a terrifying challenge?

I wonder if the Lord was posing this question to me in the context of how I live my life in general. We have been pondering what it means for Jesus to be Lord of our Lives at our Men’s Night talks these last several months. Unlike the 17^th century Jesuit martyrs who brooked serious danger for the sake of bringing Christ to the Canadian Indians — and paid with their lives — the Lord doesn’t ask most of us to risk our lives. But, whatever “selling everything and following Him” may mean for any one of us, for all it precludes a comfortable life and requires putting ourselves in service to our King. And, at times, it means taking the way fraught with risk, traversing the rim despite the precipitous drops on either side.

We are at war. We contend not against mere flesh and blood, but against principalities and rulers, spiritual entities arrayed against man freely joining fellowship with his magnificent Creator, which seek to darken our minds against such a joyful and eternal life. There is a fowler, there is a deadly pestilence, which we are to meet with the gospel, with trust and confidence. How does this play out in our work lives? How there do we contend against the forces of evil? Rest confident in the Lord’s provision for us in our jobs? Consecrate our work to the Lord and make it our vocation? What risks do we take in the workplace for the sake of the gospel?

Nick Synko will take up these questions in his talk,

Nick, who is a gifted career transition and executive coach and columnist for FAITH magazine, is also doing a Career Transition Workshop on Saturday, February 25th, 8:30 am – 4:00 pm at St. Andrews (Saline) for $79; register by calling Cathy at 734-332-8800 x 228.

In God, in whom we trust,

Peter Ziolkowski