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Pause Before You Play
"Pause before you play." It’s the new tag line on the Bristol Palin campaign against teen pregnancy. Watch the video here (there’s an extra interview type of thing after the ad if you want to keep watching):
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Beliefs To Die For
We all have things that we believe in: who God is; how to raise our children; how to save the earth; what translation of the Bible to read. Some of these we hold closer to our heart than others. Some beliefs even become the fabric of who we are. There are beliefs we would even die for. Would you die for your beliefs? Think about that answer. Which ones would you die for? Would your kill for your beliefs? Think you know the answer to that one? Look deeper. Don’t be so sure.
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Pearls Before Us
We often ignore the beauty that surrounds us. A Washington Post article, “Pearls Before Breakfast,” throws this fact in our face. The Post placed a world-renowned violinist, Joshua Bell, in a Washington, DC subway during morning rush masquerading as a street musician. Although he was going to be playing the same music in the same manner that others pay quite a bit of money to hear, would anyone actually listen to him that morning? Would you?
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Wearing My Faith Or Living It?
Katherine Patterson (prolific writer of books like Bridge to Terabithia and The Great Gilly Hopkins) often speaks about being a Christian and a writer. I think her words have a lot to do with all of us, whether we write, work in an office, teach kids, or do whatever it is God has laid before us. Below is her answer to how Christianity informs her writing and comments on religious content in children’s literature in the last fifteen years.
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Unemployment Rates Rise
Whatever the unemployment rate is, when it’s you that is unemployed, it’s at 100%. My husband has been unemployed for the past five months, and it can be an all-consuming thing. Because it’s not for lack of trying that he’s unemployed, it’s just for lack of jobs as far as I can tell, and the process of looking for one is wearing.
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The Sound of Peace
Peace comes from empathy, empathy from understanding, and understanding from listening to another. Think about it; if you really listen to someone and see that person’s heart, it’s simply harder to hate. At least that’s my take on it, and it’s also the vision behind a podcast called “Stories of Our City.”
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Real Thankful
Ah, the last day of the year. The day to reflect. All God has done for us. The blessings received. The troubles survived. But does anyone else ever struggle with this a bit? Sitting? Reflecting? Being still? My mom calls herself a realist. She’s not a “glass half full” type of gal. She’s not a “glass half empty” type of gal. She’s a “look at all those glasses that are going to need to be washed” type of gal. Can I get an amen?
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What Are You Waiting For?
I think of the word Advent as “waiting.” It’s the anticipation, the hoping, the looking for the Christ child. I imagine what it was like before He came—talk about waiting. And even now, there is a waiting for me in this season, like a child I’m waiting for the big day to finally arrive. I looked up the word Advent and saw that I was wrong. It actually means “coming” in Latin. Now there’s a difference between waiting and coming obviously; one that I’ve missed in the Advent season.
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He’s Got My Whole World In His Hands
The bus wound through the jungled streets of Jamaica taking us from the airport to our hotel where the wedding would be held. It was mid-November 2006, and everyone on the bus was in Jamaica for that event. The flight had been long, the night was dark and shadowy, and everything just so unfamiliar. “Daddy, you’ll keep me safe, right?” the three-year-old niece of the groom asked, as she crawled into her father’s lap. “Yes, honey.” She paused. “Why, Daddy?” “Because that’s what daddys are supposed to do."
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God Has Called Me To Do Nothing Good (and Other Lies of the Heart)
It’s really amazing when you think about it. God calls us all to do different things. He takes our gifts, our passions, our loves, our weaknesses, our totality as His creation and then he calls us to do His work. The beauty of seeing the variety of ways that God’s Body is at work is stunning. I have a friend who records stories of people’s lives. I have a friend who is a teacher. Another who is a pastor. One who sells make-up. One who is a doctor. One who bakes bread.