Tag: forward
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Hanging on by a strand
Seth Godin recently posted the following… There are three strands, present for most everyone: Power (sometimes seen as status, or the appearance of status) Safety (survival and peace of mind) Meaning (hope and the path forward) The changes in our media structure, public health and economy have pushed some people to overdo one or the…
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Know Yourself. Know Your Idol.
The two latest tragedies that are in front of me are the school shooting in Texas, and the abuse scandal unraveling in another Christian denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention. Both are incredibly painful. They should be. They are another example of how humanity has fallen and how determined, it seems, humanity is to stay mired…
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Future Tensely
Psalm 126; Isaiah 40:1-11; Romans 8:22-25 Have you realized that Advent is weird? I love Advent, don’t get me wrong. However, the world has done a successful job of retraining us on what Advent is all about. Partially, I think, this is because of the image of an unthreatening baby Jesus with lambs, other baby…
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Let ‘Em Fight
Psalm 145:10–18; 2 Kings 3:4–20; Colossians 3:12–17 It can be hard to be rid of wounds. Many physical ones heal with scars, though the deeper body ones may not heal well. For most of us, the emotional and spiritual wounds are the ones with deep and lasting effects. These are the ones that can hold…
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Prayer Signs
Psalm 65; Exodus 7:14–24; Acts 27:13–38 Do the right thing! Then, do the next right thing! If there is a question of what the right thing is? You’ll just know. Right? Sounds completely rational. You’ll just know. Except it doesn’t always (or even often for many) work that way. Many times awe-inspiring stories are told…
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Worship Even Here
Psalm 20; Numbers 9:15–23; Revelation 4:1–8 Trusting God is hard. Trusting that all things work for good is hard. How can COVID be good? How can a bad economy be good? How can not being able to be with our loved ones be good? A lot of this hasn’t been good. For the psalmist, that…
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Up and Away
Psalm 47; Ephesians 1:15–23; Luke 24:44–53; Acts 1:1–11 If you’re of a certain age, you’ll probably know the source of, “Up! Up! And away!” (Superman). If you’re of another age or particular family/church origin, you’ll probably know the song, “I’ll Fly Away”. Then there is the airline advertising slogan, “Wanna’ get away?” If none of…
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Places for Scripture
Psalm 93; Deuteronomy 11:18–21; Mark 16:19–20 “Place these words…on your heart” and then fast forward to “…they went out and proclaimed the message everywhere.”One of the little truths about this passage in Deuteronomy is the very simple tool given that many turned into a soulless rule or merely room decor. God directed that God’s word…
