Comments on: Disappointment Avoidance

By: ARCHANG3L M

ARCHANG3L M — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 21:04:45 +0000

Well written and succint. For people, especially us westerners with capitalism so inbedded in our minds, success means having money, health and possesions. This trinity is success in terms of human knowledge, and people are choked by the worries of this world. These thorns need to be rooted out from the soil thereby allowing the seed to fully grow. But who said that it is easy to purify minerals such as Gold (ie Us)? This process is what hurts us but also makes us stronger. That’s why Paul said to rejoice when entering into diverse trials.

By: C. Holland

C. Holland — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 19:45:40 +0000

@S: Thank you for your kind words.

By: SPipkin

SPipkin — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 18:46:23 +0000

Your posts are excellent, honest reflections that are relevant not only to missionaries, but to all followers of Jesus who experience the joys and sacrifice of obedience to Him. I have printed some of them to look back on in my journal.

By: The plausible promise, the definition of success, and avoiding disappointment.

The plausible promise, the definition of success, and avoiding disappointment. — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:34:25 +0000

[...] Holland wrote Aug. 3 about “Disappointment Avoidance.” I’ve been working pretty hard on some other projects and haven’t gotten this far down in my [...]

By: The plausible promise, the definition of success, and the avoidance of disappointment

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:29:49 +0000

[...] Holland wrote Aug. 3 about “Disappointment Avoidance.” I’ve been working pretty hard on some other projects and haven’t gotten this far down in my [...]

By: C. Holland

C. Holland — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:19:17 +0000

@Kevin: Thanks for the encouragement. It’s much appreciated more than you may know.

@Grady: “paid dearly for it…mostly from other believers” I hear you on that one. It’s one of the reasons I write the blog. Being a missionary is a hard road that so many enter without understanding what you’ve just said. It’s not about being negative or a discourager, I just want to see people enter the field fully aware and (hopefully) better equipped to stick around and make a positive difference for God. And yes, it does hurt.

“never make headlines, I’ll never be asked to write a book about it” Making headlines and writing books are also what we’re taught about ministry in the US church, and I agree that one person coming to the faith is a success.

By: Grady Bauer

Grady Bauer — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 09:24:29 +0000

“Seriously, if the Christian life was solely about not being disappointed, I believe I would have walked away from all of this a very, very long time ago.”

You totally captured my feelings in this sentence. This term has been hard for us and on us. We’ve followed God and paid dearly for it…mostly from other believers….mostly on our own team. This is biblical reality and goes against everything we’re taught in our consumerism, me-centered US church. I’m grateful he’s breaking us out of this mentality…but it sure does hurt.

In our three years here I’ve been able to share the entire gospel a few times, but I’ve seen a dear friend come to faith. He in turn has led others….this is my success. It’ll never make headlines, I’ll never be asked to write a book about it…but it’s success and definitely worth it all.

By: Kevin Mullins

Kevin Mullins — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 04:10:40 +0000

Sometimes I think this blog is writing about my former ministry location because some of the things here remind me so much of some of the things that my wife and I dealt with. From a numbers perspective our first work was a disappointment. However, numbers aren’t everything and quite possibly we were sent there to save the handful of people that came to faith in Jesus. Who knows? You’re right however C., avoiding disappointment isn’t the goal. It’s loving obedience to the Father who loves us and sent us to a particular work for a purpose. I hope the fall outreach events are a smashing success and many come to faith in Jesus, or you simply grow a deeper love for Jesus through them. Whichever happens will have been worth it.