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Prior to his death, Roman Catholic Priest Henri Nouwen articulated, I believe, the struggle for many of us who are responsible to lead and serve in God’s Church. One voice says to succeed and achieve. It is the voice Nouwen says he spent most of his life heeding. He taught at Notre Dame, Harvard, and Yale. He averaged writing more than a book a year. His speaking scheduled and ministry threatened to suffocate his spiritual life. The other voice was God’s telling him he was unconditionally loved. He had nothing to prove. This voice told him the goal of ministry was to recognize the Lord’s voice, his face, and his touch in every person he met. Only in the last ten years of his life did he truly listen to that voice.

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