I had coffee with Urbana director Jim Tebbe the other day, and had a great time as usual.

Jim is one of the best storytellers around, and may at any time switch into verse—possibly a reflection of his origins as an American MK in the nascent country of Pakistan. I’ve often thought Jim ought to have been born a few centuries ago, into a horse-trading family in Uzbekistan: you’ll always get more than you bargained for, but you might get there in a roundabout fashion, because the journey is the best part of the destination.

One of Jim’s specialties is embedding great insights into outrageous stories, like “the time I was trying to escape Afghanistan by bus” or “the time my kids started prank calling random Cypriots” or “the time we stole the Purdue marching band drumstick”.

But I digress.

Speaking of the need for a Biblically sound theology to underlie all Christian work, he said:

Having a missiology won’t guarantee you won’t make terrible mistakes, but not having one will guarantee you will.

I guess a lot of us—especially the action-minded ones—are so eager to go save the world from certain destruction, that we fail to consider our actions, and we end up hurting a lot of people.

Not an excuse for inaction, of course, but a plea for thoughtfulness.