Posts

Showing posts from March, 2021

CREATIVE MEDICINE

  Jamaica Honduras Chile Panama Haiti Kenya Greece Amsterdam Cuba   The list sounds like the itinerary of a world traveler/tourist. Actually, it is a list of the places where medical doctor Tamim Khaliqi has ministered in creative medical missions. Dr Khaliqi serves as a physician at the Guthrie Cortland Medical Center in Cortland, New York. The trips he takes abroad have been with Medical Missions Outreach headed up by Brad and Kelleigh Edmonston.   During a recent visit to Honduras to help open a surgery center, Tamim had an oxygen tube explode on the anesthesia machine. “I had to figure out very quickly how to keep breathing for the patient, how to provide oxygen, and how to keep the patient asleep in order to finish the case. Thank goodness for a great team!” Those are the type of situations often faced, and one of the things he loves about missions trips.   On his trips to Greece, Amsterdam, and Cuba with The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Tam

CREATIVE GRADUATION GIFTS

  CREATIVE GRADUATION GIFTS When I graduated from high school everyone in the church my father pastored knew I was planning to attend a Bible college. Since Bible college students needed to dress up for class, I received seventeen white shirts for graduation. They were practical and I put them to good use, but they were not necessarily creative. When you start receiving those graduation invitations in the mail this spring, consider responding with gifts which are spiritually creative. College students need to be challenged to walk with God during their journey through higher education. A great incentive in that direction would be one of the books in the WALK ON WATER series. “Dare to Walk on Water: Treasuring God” focuses on fifty-two attributes of God, encouraging the student to mirror those attributes in Christian living. “Dare to Walk on Water: Transformed by God” offers fifty-two practical ways to apply scripture for personal spiritual transformation. “Dare to Walk on W

CREATIVE RESPONSES

  The wiles of the devil would love to produce congregational cracks in church unity because of the pandemic. Some congregations have developed pro-mask and anti-mask factions, zoom only and meet in person factions, open schools and distance learning factions. The satanic tactic is not new, only the occasion has changed. What can believers do to avoid succumbing to his tricks and indulging in God-forbidden factionalism? We can follow the advice of the Apostle Paul when faced with cliquish small groups in Corinth. He outlines his response in I Corinthians 4:12-13. When faced with cursing, he blessed. He responded to those who criticized him by speaking well of them. We can do the same by speaking well of those who disagree with us about how to handle the pandemic. When faced with persecution, he endured. He refused to seek vengeance or retaliate against those who opposed him. We can do the same by not trying to reprove others who vote in opposition to what we desire. When face