What did I learn from my training at Peace Bridges? Everybody wants peace. Everyone needs to acknowledge weaknesses…there are always failures on everyone’s part because no one is perfect. Christians have to be an example, it’s a basic principle for us. It’s totally natural to “give bad to bad”- if someone hurts me, I won’t feel bad if they suffer as well. ... in my teaching as a pastor I would speak in general terms but never quite scratching the place that itched. Now I think I am better at getting to the heart of the matter. That and somehow I’m also more gentle.
I think I have a lot of influence on the volunteers at church who manage activities for women, youth, and the preschool. I set the standard but no longer by being a mean boss whom they should fear- all that amounted to was “in one ear and out the other”. At first, when I started to change my attitude, it drove them crazy that the boss would acknowledge his mistakes but I kept doing it and finally they saw the value in it.
I can see that I have more respect than before and not just for Christians. I am aware when I’m tempted to generalize and judge people – for years I did that and it’s difficult to break old habits but now there is something in my brain that tells me to stop when I’m doing it. We have to love our neighbors and not just the ones we want to love but all of them. We are not just here to live our lives into get to heaven. We have an obligation to encourage each other to be good.
Somehow I'm Also More Gentle
-Male Church Pastor, C3
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