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Spiritual Amnesia
I've been observing in myself a tendency to forget how the Lord has helped me throughout my Christian walk when life's disappointments, spiritual battles, temptations, or difficulties come. It's like I'm using a macro lens on the current unpleasant or stressful situation and my spiritual sight becomes like the periphery--all out of focus. It is much more healthy to use the "panorama setting" in these times, to remember God's faithfulness and goodness that never wavers.
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Are You in God’s Way?
I have often struggled with the fact that the Church of our unchanging God and Savior, Jesus Christ, has become so worldly in its methods and judgement. For example, we meld worldly ideas into our mainstream churches as easily as a new fad, as if trying them on like the latest fashion trend. Remember platform shoes? If you were "in," you wore these silly creations and were accepted, viewed as conforming to the current standard of beauty. But the eyes of the world are fickle. Beauty fades with the latest "new" thing, not because it is actually new, but because we are tired of the old. We need a change.…
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In Memory of My Sister
I am going to miss Jodi. I got to know her pretty well over the years. She even adopted me as her sister. I am going to miss Jodi. I got to know her pretty well over the years. She even adopted me as her sister. She’d start her text messages with her usual, bubbly, “Heya Sis!” Her last text to me was about how she made split pea soup and wanted Randy and I to have some, and that she’d leave a container of it outside her patio door in Jack’s kitty condo. My only comment to her was, “Just don’t leave it in his litter box,” to which…
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Who is Your Enemy?
While it is always good to ask ourselves the question, "Who is my neighbor?," now is the time to ask ourselves, "Who is my enemy?" With all that is going on in the world today, I can’t help but think this quote is timely. In this country, we are a dynamic group of people with disparate viewpoints. Our weakness can be wanting to fight for those beliefs so strongly for our own particular group, that we forget who the true enemy is.
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Spiritual Journey: A Riches to Rags Story
"Blessed are those who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God." I have often seen the first verses from our featured passage on literature for poverty relief organizations. Ripped out of context and applied literally, this would mean that Jesus is saying that the physically poor, the hungry, and the depressed somehow have more merit in the eyes of God, and that rich, chubby, happy people are doomed. Hmm. Seems to me there must be something more here than meets the eye--the spiritual eye!
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Take Courage & Don’t Be Afraid
Peter walked on water. If it had been me in Peter's sandals--a fisherman on a wave-tossed sea, trying to bend my mind around the idea that my master teacher is somehow standing on the water and this really is not an apparition--I think I would have stayed in the boat with the other fellas. I've heard several sermons on this passage in the bible, all pointing out that Peter's faith was pretty amazing, even if he began to sink. After all, there are few other accounts throughout history of anyone walking on water. A cursory Google search reveals a young dude named Maurus who was a monk under St. Benedict,…
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Turning Points
The bible often tells us to repent. What does that mean? Let's did a little deeper into this Greek word and the contexts in which it is used to better understand the Lord's heart in this matter.
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Dear Christian, Never Give Up!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BZmuz88KEY “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” –Luke 15:20 The entire fifteenth chapter of Luke is a series of three parables about lost things: a sheep, a silver coin, and a younger son. It is worth noting that all these things have progressive value. The sheep would have been commonplace, the silver coin (worth a day’s wages) would have been of far more value, and anyone could relate to the irreplaceable loss of a priceless child. Now, tax collectors, various “sinners” of all sorts, the Pharisees, and…
