The one-minute explainer video is based on a survey trip I took through ranch country near Marabá, Brazil.

Join us as we embark on a journey of understanding, compassion, and bridge-building. Be encouraged and motivated to support and guide others toward the path of restored relationships. Whether it’s a friend, family member, or colleague, we can all be peacemakers and help create stronger, more resilient connections.

Strive to Be a Servant Leader

Pray daily to be a servant leader, focused on helping others achieve their best. This may involve serving them directly or humbly initiating difficult conversations to address underlying issues.

Recognize the Need for Willingness

It’s important to understand that others must desire help more than I want to offer it. Without their willingness, progress is unlikely. You may be present with them when they are ready by patiently being the right person in all situations.

Encourage Self-Reflection

When someone feels like a victim, encourage them to consider their role and identify aspects they can change about themselves. This self-awareness can be a powerful step toward healing.

Promote a Non-Anxious Presence

If someone desires a relationship but the other party is unresponsive, suggest they focus on being a friendly, non-anxious presence. This way, if the other person ever feels safe enough to reconnect, the environment is welcoming and not reactive.

Distinguish Between Justice and Reconciliation

I often ask individuals if they seek justice or reconciliation. If they lean towards reconciliation, I guide them through a thoughtful process. Quick forgiveness can sometimes lead to repeated harm while working through a process from a forgiving stance can pave the way for a healthier future. I encourage them to consider questions like:

• “What would it take for the other person to make things as right as possible?”
• “Is that reasonable?”

What is In It for Me?

The Challenge of Being a Servant-Leader Peacemaker

• Embrace the Courage to Engage: You will feel the thrill of engaging in difficult conversations—it’s like “poking the bear.” This takes courage, as you can’t predict how others might react when their pain is exposed.
• Feel Alive with Purpose: You will experience a sense of aliveness and purpose, knowing you’re collaborating with the Holy Spirit to nurture relationships and heal divisions.
• An Indescribable Experience:  This journey can be challenging to put into words. It’s like trying to explain the joy of fishing, playing an instrument, or being a grandparent. You can try, but the experience often surpasses any description.

David

In Psalm 26, David says, “Bring it on God. I feel ready. My feet are on solid ground. With Your help, I am fully alive.”

“…Examine me, LORD, and put me to the test; refine my mind and my heart… My foot stands on level ground… (Psalm 26).

Can you picture it?

“If you do well, will your face not be cheerful? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it” (Ge 4:7).

• Take the Challenge
• Try it out and let me know how it feels.
   

Your Thoughts?

“But you are not to be like that [dominating or manipulating others]. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves” (Luke 22:26-27).

“Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness” (James 3:18).

I was the only openly confessing Christian when I worked at Mule Creek Camp in the Yukon—that remote stretch of road connected Haines, Alaska, with the Alaska Highway. Americans could drive onto a ferry in Seattle and relax for four days, bypassing most of Canada for a subsidized rate. Then, they passed over our highway and up to mainland Alaska. We plowed snow down a long, spectacular descent to the Alaska border, drank coffee, swapped yarns with the border guards, and then plowed our way home again. In the other direction from our camp, I drove 65 miles North on Sundays to meet with other believers. This was my first regular church experience as an adult believer because in Eagle Plains, where I lived for the previous three years, it was 400 km to Inuvik, and the route included crossing two large rivers with either ice bridges or ferries, depending on the season. During my Eagle Plains years, I occasionally worked all day Saturday, then drove all night in my pickup, arriving in Inuvik at 3 or 4 a.m. I would sleep in the restaurant parking lot until they opened, have breakfast, go to church, and drive home in time for work Monday morning.

In the Fall of 1986, I bought a Tandy 88 computer from Radio Shack, complete with a green monitor and a noisy dot matrix printer. It all cost around $3,000, which was a lot back then. I proudly set it up in my bunkhouse room. I had some computer magazines that explained how computers worked—on my first day off, I started typing in a multi-page code that would result in a primitive video ping-pong game. After a short time, I got up for supper. To my surprise, it was 10 p.m. It was like a time warp, so fun! I ordered my first copy of Microsoft Word from that magazine. It came on thirty-five floppies. I picked it up at the post office in Alaska on my day off. I went from failing typing at a private school in Grade 9, the only school course I ever failed, to having the ability to correct mistakes before I printed my final copy. I could hardly believe the awesomeness of it all.

We spoke at four well-attended missionary meetings in preparation to return to Brazil next week. These first two were at my sister’s house in Abbotsford.

We had lunch with Fran Huebert! Fran is 90 years old and a delight to talk to. Her husband, Dave, was one of my mentors. On the Easter long weekend in 1987, Pastor Dave traveled 2,000 miles North from Chilliwack to the Yukon as the guest speaker. He brought the usher of his church along. The usher, Harold Hansen, eventually became my father-in-law. He is Deanna’s dad. In 1993, Pastor Dave and the leadership team of Glad Tidings Church, now City Life Church, sent us to Brazil as missionaries. Deanna’s family are among the significant participants in the early years of the church-planting movement in Xingu.

In the Spring of 1987, it was a sunny Sunday morning. The windy mountain road was extremely slippery, with the ice melting on the frozen base. I wanted to spend my day off working on my new computer. As I settled in with a cup of coffee, I clearly remember God saying, “Do you want to be part of My program or your program?” I knew He was referring to my going to church. I drove the 100 km to participate in the Sunday service with seven other believers.

Mule Creek Camp – 1987

Christmas at Mule Creek Camp, 1986.

The word that describes my memories of that season: Comeraderie.

I’m still in touch with Ron Wilson, my foreman, during that season.

A Mystery

One of the machine operators was a woman. She and one of the guys were sleeping together. They were a couple and had been for about five years. Throughout long winter evenings, we had time to discuss everything. I asked them why they didn’t get married. “No, we don’t want to get married. When our friends get married, it signals the end of their relationship. Soon, they are divorced.  We’d rather continue our relationship.” The conversation was ongoing, with me promoting commitment and marriage. When I visited acquaintances from there some time later, I learned my friends did get married. And were soon divorced.

Now, 40 years later, I continue to wonder about the complexity of people and combinations of people. And I still believe in commitment and marriage.

I operated graders, snow plows, and snow blowers, depending on what was needed to keep the mountain road open.

The road from the summit to the Alaska border wound includes a long stretch of moonscape and a 15-mile descent through giant evergreen trees. It’s like you enter another world. When I could lean into the fresh snow with the plow truck and work my way up through the 13 gears, balancing the truck power against the snow load, I remember that great feeling of power and the joy of being alive. I cannot describe it, because there is no experience like it. But it feels good.

In Spring, we unofficially planned a great snowmobile race. We groomed the highway for weeks so there would be no bare pavement. On race day, the Alaskans and Yukons lined up. Our road crew attended the route with radios. Traffic was stopped. We closed the highway. The snowmobiles were categorized by size and paired up. Two were released every minute until they were all on the route, 60 miles. An ambulance and “sweeper truck” went last to load up the machines that blew their motors on the wide-open road. At the far end, drivers were carefully recorded with their times and lined up again. When the sweeper truck arrived, stating the road was clear, they all flew back to the Alaska border. To say it was an exhilarating day is a vast understatement.

Note that the ambulance from Alaska, the snowplow from Mule Creek, and the sweeper truck are all signs of a fun day living on the edge. The closer you get to the edge, the more fun life is, as long as you don’t go over the edge.

In 1987, the pastor of a small church in Haines Junction owned this log cabin. He let me use it for a spiritual formation retreat. I took a week off work. I drove a hundred miles North of Haines Junction. I parked my pickup beside the Alaska Highway, hiked up a steep mountain, and walked around a lake to the cabin on the other side. It was remote. I read the whole New Testament that week by a wood fire. Writing about it makes me want to get in my car and head North to see if it is still there so I can do that again. But… I’m also glad to be returning to Brazil because God has things to show us and stuff for us to do. The secret is appreciating each day for all they are worth because seasons change.

Mt Baker, as seen from our townhouse in Abbotsford, is an active volcano in Washington State.

While going through my photos of the Yukon years, I remembered the time I picked up a hitchhiker along the Alaska Highway in 1985. It was -30 out. We stopped at Lliard Hotsprings. We were the only ones there. We walked over the long boardwalks to the naturally hot water. The hard part was getting undressed and dressed again. The water was perfect. We had to keep immersing our heads, though, as our hair would freeze in about 30 seconds. Sometimes, we would get out of the water, dive into the -30 snow, and back into the hot water. It’s worth the trip if you have some free days in winter.

Lucy was having a rough go of it, so Paul put his arm around her as I comforted them and showed them cool stuff like the view of the freeway from our backyard.

Which one of the three do you identify with today?

May God give you the best week ever!

Rick and Deanna.

I used to dislike conflict strongly. I preferred to avoid it at almost all costs or do what I could to make it disappear. To my surprise, I am now attracted to conflict and dysfunction because those are places where God wants to use us to dispel darkness. Peace at any price is not always helpful. Sometimes, we must have awkward conversations as we cultivate servant leaders, an engaging challenge even for God, as indicated in the stories of the Bible. But God is not giving up and wants to train people to be trustworthy servant leaders through whom He can push back the darkness, and when this works as designed, it is so much fun. It is so satisfying.

Unlock your true spiritual potential by embracing and conquering the challenges in your life. Each test you face is a gateway to greater authority and enlightenment—let this explainer video guide you to the next level.