Dr Paul Allen

Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglican Church http://www.stjohnsashfield.org.au, Ashfield, New South Wales. Illustrates Jesus' description of himself "I am the Good Shepherd" (from the Gospel of John, chapter 10, verse 11). This version of the image shows the detail of his face. The memorial window is also captioned: "To the Glory of God and in Loving Memory of William Wright. Died 6th November, 1932. Aged 70 Yrs." (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) You Do Not Labor in Vain It is easy to share stories of executives, doctors, and engineers and forget that the most common occupations in America are retail salesperson and cashier. A series of recent conversations with Millennials reminded me that even among professionals, there is a chasm between Christian rhetoric and reality. Young Christians know the basics: God ordained work from the beginning so that it is good. Further, God commands mankind to fill and exercise dominion over the earth, but also

Image via Wikipedia Maslow was wrong. Well, he was right before he was wrong. It is true enough that we all have a hierarchy of needs .  Some things are more important than others.  Trouble is, he didn’t know what the most important things were. Foundational in his system are those things necessary for survival, things like food and water.  King David had a different, a better perspective. He said that the Lord was His Shepherd, and he shall not want ( Psalm 23:1). David, at this point, has no green grass, and no still water. To be sure God does provide these things, but before He does, David already has everything he needs, the Lord for His Shepherd.  Survival is still up in the air, but David has already finished with his worrying. He has what he needs. One of the most foundational principles in the modern marketing of the church is the notion that we need to tap into not Maslow’s needs, but “felt needs.” This language leaves open the question of what is truly needfu