Don Follis

The dance of peace takes lots of practice

I can’t dance. Well, not very well. I did dance with my daughter at her July 6 wedding. It was sweet and all but we mostly just stood in the same spot and swayed.I was thinking about a different kind of dance the other day. The dance when we are able to carefully confront othersContinueContinue reading “The dance of peace takes lots of practice”

You are enough! … Wow

I’ve seen lots of TED talks but this is the BEST one I’ve seen. If you have 20 minutes to hear Brene Brown (Research Professor, University of Houseton, College of Social Work) … talk about what it means to “be enough … “, this is it! … I’d say it this way, “God made you. ContinueContinue reading “You are enough! … Wow”

Will this ever stop?

News outlets in recent days are reporting the number of increased killings in Baghdad this month, including the following quotation from this story today from the New York Times: One of the wounded, Ali Numan, 33, said: “We got wars from Saddam, we got tanks and rockets from the Americans, and now with Maliki weContinueContinue reading “Will this ever stop?”

You CAN learn to be more aware of others…

I miss things around me all the time. Most of us do, says peacemaker specialist Ken Sande. Sande asks what if you saw … A troubled look on a spouse’s face. (Did she just find a lump in her breast?)A child who drops hints but walks away unheard. (Is he feeling pressure to become sexuallyContinueContinue reading “You CAN learn to be more aware of others…”

In the end, trust is way more important than popularity

Here’s my column in today’s Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette showing why I believe trust, in the end, in way more important than popularity…

We we must let go of our need to understand … a key element in understanding God & Community

Here’s Father Richard Rohr in Simplicity — the freedom of letting go … as he reflects on the mystery of God and Christian community: In my opinion there are three primary things that we have to let go of. First is the compulsion to be successful. Second is the compulsion to be right — even,ContinueContinue reading “We we must let go of our need to understand … a key element in understanding God & Community”

The tension I feel when holding God’s Word in one hand & the daily newspaper in the other

For me, there are few times in life that I don’t feel tension, especially when I read the word and pray in the morning. Really… Did that get your attention? :)When I read the Bible and pray, I listen; I ask God what he and I are doing today; I listen some more; I write myContinueContinue reading “The tension I feel when holding God’s Word in one hand & the daily newspaper in the other”

If you really do forgive someone

If you forgive someone — That is, if you really let them go, then …1. You can’t always be dwelling on the incident.2. You can’t bring up the incident again and again, using it against the person you said you forgave.3. You can’t be talking to others about the incident — behind the person’s backContinueContinue reading “If you really do forgive someone”