When you go abroad to serve, you're thinking about the language, the losses, and the excitement. When you return home you're thinking about your friends and family, the losses, and the relief. Most aren't thinking about the process of transition-and yet if you do, it can make the difference between a smooth entry and re-entry, or a decidedly bumpy landing. Veteran of serving abroad Amy Young is the perfect companion to guide you through the much-neglected process of transitions. Practical in nature, Looming Transitions places a strong emphasis on Keeping your soul fertile as you stay grounded in Christ Looking for the lighter moments Learning about yourself Helping others Making lists Leaning into grief as you prepare for your transition"
Transitions of energy regimes are phenomena that have profoundly affected economies and civilisations over the last 600 years. The shifts from wood to coal, from coal to oil and the potential change to another resource that might be pending now have influenced the ways in which we work, produce, and live. Though they are fundamentally influenced and steered by economic forces these changes have seen little analysis from the viewpoint of economic theory. This book seeks to contribute to filling this gap. To this avail, it firstly provides insight into the historical and present transitions that have taken place. It then gives an overview of the existing economic approaches to energy regime transitions and develops a new interpretation based on evolutionary economics. For this, an approach based on complexity theory and complex adaptive systems is created and applied and the mechanisms behind regime changes are interpreted according to this framework. The analysis is supported by further research into certain aspects of transitions: Historical and present research on resource depletion is compared, the working of path dependence in the constitution and decline of the oil regime is analysed, and the role of entrepreneurship in a regime change from the oil regime towards a potential renewable energy regime is investigated. The book closes with an appraisal of energy regime transitions as a future field of research for evolutionary economics.
Are you dreaming of working abroad? Imagining serving God in another land? Or are you already on the field, unsure about what to do next or how to manage the stresses of cross-cultural life? Or perhaps you've been on the field a while now, and you're weary, maybe so weary that you wonder how much longer you can keep going. If any of these situations describes you, there is hope inside this book. You'll find steps you can take to prepare for the field, as well as ways to find strength and renewal if you're already there. From the beginning to the end of the cross-cultural journey, Serving Well has something for you.
Don't Leave Too Soon, Don't Stay Too Long Staying isn't always good and leaving isn't always bad. Both require grit and grace. Cross-cultural ministry presents us with many difficulties like transitions, loneliness, messy relationships, and the desire to escape. The lies we believe tempt us to leave our work too soon. But nothing tests our resolve to stay like seeing others go.Grit to Stay Grace to Go normalizes the challenges of ministry through honest and humorous stories from the authors' own lives as well as testimonies from many other workers. The point is to help cross-cultural workers not just to stay, but to stay well, by countering lies with truth. This workbook provides thoughtful reflection questions, practical action steps, and suggested prayers. It encourages stayers to process their grief, guilt, and relief when saying goodbye to goers. In this way, they can move forward with forgiveness and humility and truly bless the departing ones. Those considering leaving will find poignant questions and spiritual practices to help them make an intentional, not reactive, decision.Are you considering leaving the field? Or do you know someone who is? Work through this book by yourself or with others. You will gain wisdom to help workers develop grit and grace to stay or go.
Navigating the Unexpected Far from Home Life’s constant changes and relocations can be exciting and fun, but they can also be overwhelming, leaving one grappling with fear, regret, and moments of despair. What happens when the familiar comforts are stripped away, and you’re left to confront the raw realities of your calling? In My Bags are Packed Again, Sue Eenigenburg shares heartfelt reflections that delve into her experiences as a cross-cultural worker and mother. Through personal anecdotes, humor, and scriptural insight, she reveals how grace, gratitude, and trust in God can transform even the most challenging times into testimonies of divine provision and strength. Each story in this book ends with questions and a space to reflect and pray. Discover how to find stability and laughter amid chaos, draw strength from vulnerability, and see God’s unwavering hand in every chapter of your journey.
Thirteen former presidents and prime ministers discuss how they helped their countries end authoritarian rule and achieve democracy. National leaders who played key roles in transitions to democratic governance reveal how these were accomplished in Brazil, Chile, Ghana, Indonesia, Mexico, the Philippines, Poland, South Africa, and Spain. Commissioned by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), these interviews shed fascinating light on how repressive regimes were ended and democracy took hold. In probing conversations with Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Patricio Aylwin, Ricardo Lagos, John Kufuor, Jerry Rawlings, B. J. Habibie, Ernesto Zedillo, Fidel V. Ramos, Aleksander Kwasniewski, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, F. W. de Klerk, Thabo Mbeki, and Felipe González, editors Sergio Bitar and Abraham F. Lowenthal focused on each leader’s principal challenges and goals as well as their strategies to end authoritarian rule and construct democratic governance. Context-setting introductions by country experts highlight each nation’s unique experience as well as recurrent challenges all transitions faced. A chapter by Georgina Waylen analyzes the role of women leaders, often underestimated. A foreword by Tunisia’s former president, Mohamed Moncef Marzouki, underlines the book’s relevance in North Africa, West Asia, and beyond. The editors’ conclusion distills lessons about how democratic transitions have been and can be carried out in a changing world, emphasizing the importance of political leadership. This unique book should be valuable for political leaders, civil society activists, journalists, scholars, and all who want to support democratic transitions.
Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (HFCVs) could alleviate the nation's dependence on oil and reduce U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide, the major greenhouse gas. Industry-and government-sponsored research programs have made very impressive technical progress over the past several years, and several companies are currently introducing pre-commercial vehicles and hydrogen fueling stations in limited markets. However, to achieve wide hydrogen vehicle penetration, further technological advances are required for commercial viability, and vehicle manufacturer and hydrogen supplier activities must be coordinated. In particular, costs must be reduced, new automotive manufacturing technologies commercialized, and adequate supplies of hydrogen produced and made available to motorists. These efforts will require considerable resources, especially federal and private sector funding. This book estimates the resources that will be needed to bring HFCVs to the point of competitive self-sustainability in the marketplace. It also estimates the impact on oil consumption and carbon dioxide emissions as HFCVs become a large fraction of the light-duty vehicle fleet.
Formidable challenges confront Australia and its human settlements: the mega-metro regions, major and provincial cities, coastal, rural and remote towns. The key drivers of change and major urban vulnerabilities have been identified and principal among them are resource-constraints, such as oil, water, food, skilled labour and materials, and carbon-constraints, linked to climate change and a need to transition to renewable energy, both of which will strongly shape urban development this century. Transitions identifies 21st century challenges to the resilience of Australia’s cities and regions that flow from a range of global and local influences, and offers a portfolio of solutions to these critical problems and vulnerabilities. The solutions will require fundamental transitions in many instances: to our urban infrastructures, to our institutions and how they plan for the future, and perhaps most of all to ourselves in terms of our lifestyles and consumption patterns. With contributions from 92 researchers - all leaders in their respective fields - this book offers the expertise to chart pathways for a sustainability transition.
Friends for a Season? There's something wrong with your friendship, but you can't figure out why. Is everything in your head? Unfortunately, toxic friendships happen to everyone, but we seldom identify the underlying issues while we battle confusion or the friendship breaks up. Maybe you're left bewildered in the friendship's wake, paralyzed to move forward. After wading through several difficult friendships, Mary DeMuth reveals the seven different types of toxic relationships and empowers you to identify the messiest relationships causing you the greatest anguish. Face the reality of your broken relationship, and unearth exactly what went wrong. Discover why you may attract toxic people. Heal from broken relational patterns so you can choose safer friends. Evaluate when it's time to press into a friendship or let it go. You'll gain a new relationship with Jesus as you trust him to be your confidant, healer, and life-giving friend.
Just come on over. Many people today feel lonely, isolated, and disconnected from God and others. We crave authentic community, but we have no idea where to start. We'd be glad to cultivate friendships; but honestly, who's got the time? In Invited, writer Leslie Verner says real hospitality is not having a Pinterest-perfect table or well-appointed living room. True hospitality is not clean, comfortable, or controlled. It is an invitation to enter a sacred space together with friends and strangers. Through vivid accounts from her life and travels in Uganda, China, and Tajikistan, and stories of visiting congregations in the United States, Verner shares stories of life around the table and how hospitality is at the heart of Christian community. What if we in the West learned about hospitality from people around the globe? What if our homes became laboratories of belonging? Invited will empower you to open your home, get to know your neighbors, and prioritize people over tasks. Holy hospitality requires more of Jesus and less of us. It leads not only to loving the stranger but to becoming the stranger. Welcome to a new kind of hospitality.
