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Betraying God is like sleeping on a volcano
Remember when someone you loved broke your heart–maybe in elementary school, high school, college, or as an adult? All of us have felt the agony of betrayal. Did you know God can relate? Every time one of His own rebels, God experiences heartbreak and righteous jealousy. Not the paranoia, distrust, unhealthy smothering and possessiveness we observe in sick human relationships, but an insistence that we reserve our highest devotion exclusively for Him. How do I know? Because God reveals it in a love story in His Love Letter to you–the Bible. Imagine yourself sitting at God's feet while He tells you a true story about one of His…
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#MeToo #ChurchToo–Injustice for all
#MeToo has now spread to 196 countries, making it a global phenomenon. Over 200 powerful American men stand accused of sexual misconduct or turning a blind eye, and most, in shame, have exited careers built over decades. The accused include celebrities, politicians, CEO's, college presidents and professors, coaches, doctors, broadcasters, and sadly, yes, even ministers–admired men like Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, Larry Nassar, Morgan Freeman, Bill O'Reilly, Bill Hybels, Andy Savage, Paige Patterson, and on and on and on. More allegations erupt every day, with accusations sometimes numbering in the dozens. How do you think God wants Christians to respond to #MeToo #ChurchToo? What does he want us to learn?…
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Two Roads Diverged… Which Will You Choose?
Another guest post by my friend and former student Joy Dahl. Thanks, Joy. Have you ever been watching someone in a mall or store, you glance away for a split second, and when you turn back that person is gone? It’s as if they vanished into thin air. Your eyes scan the area searching, searching… Anyone with young children experiences this regularly. Absence triggers panic as we frantically look for our lost ones. Peace doesn’t return until everyone is accounted for. Kids or no kids, a similar panic engulfs each of us when our circumstances swirl. A lost job. A contentious marriage or dating relationship. Bills that can’t be…
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The Intersection of Faith and Work
It's my delight to introduce you to Joy Dahl, my former DTS student and guest blogger. We all work. Our workplaces may look different––office building, restaurant, school, home, gym, church, mall––but our work shares one commonality: intrinsic value to God’s Kingdom. Before you brush aside the idea of your daily work having eternal value, consider this: We all interact with people through work who have never heard the Good News or seen it lived out. Unfortunately, few workplace believers view themselves as God’s ambassadors called to the workplace. And many believers incorrectly believe that work is a result of the Genesis 3 curse. Consequently, work remains something between drudgery and…
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Does God allow rape?
In this blog I'm featuring one of my gifted students and interns, Joy Pedrow. God has taken a tragedy in her life and enabled her to redeem it to minister to other women. Please pass this resource on to women that you know might benefit. Thanks, Sue As a victim of rape, I thought the rape was my fault. I did not fully understand that I was experiencing the result of sin until years later. No matter the reason for the rape, it still wounded me deeply. Because of my hurt and pain, I often wondered why God would allow His children to suffer. During the months following…
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When Christmas plans wound or disappoint
Every fall you plan where you will spend your holidays, and chances are, in the process, you inadvertently wound or disappoint someone–or they end up wounding you. Situations like: if you are married and have two sets of in-laws, it's easy for one set to feel slighted. Maybe your husband wants to spend the "special" days with his folks, and you want to spend them with yours? Or this year, you'd both just like to keep it simple and spend Christmas at home with your own children? Or maybe you are single and you've made plans with that dear friend you haven't seen for awhile, but your roommate feels slighted…
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While you wait on Trump, build a house and plant a garden
Our nation is experiencing a new place, and we are waiting for the "new normal" to sort itself out. Trump won, and whether you were for him or against him, if you are a citizen of the United States of America, he will soon be your president. If you are a Christ-follower, God's Love Letter tells you what to do: "Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established" (Romans 13:1). Paul was writing to Christians about their attitude and actions toward one of the most brutal and unjust governments in history–Rome. So we know what to do, but what…
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What makes you a disciple?
Meet Carolyn Harris, one of my stellar DTS interns. She's a physician who left her practice to train to bring the healing ministry of Jesus to others. Enjoy her new discovery: I’m a nerd. I love numbers, Sudoku puzzles, and getting lost in reading for hours at a time. So when an “A-ha!” moment confronts me like the splash of a cool fountain on a hot summer day, I am refreshed. Imagine my joy when I was plugging along learning how to read biblical Greek and came upon the word for disciple. It’s the same root word for mathematics. Intrigued, I considered what the two had in common. I…
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Stand God-reliant and People-Free
In my early years, I was in bondage to what people thought of me. But I've worked through why and God has freed me. It stemmed from my inability to please the most important people in my life growing up. In the home where I grew up if you performed well you were loved, if not, love was withdrawn. And just like a powerful virus, I caught that dysfunction from well meaning but sick people. And it grew into flawed thinking: if people think I'm valuable, then I must be. God knew that if I was going to thrive in life, I needed freedom from that bondage and so he's…
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To vote or not to vote–that is the question…
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, pursue wisdom when certainty evades, yet, undaunted, participate in decisions that shape the future of our children and our homeland–or, in more contemporary language, stop bellyaching, get on your knees before a sovereign God, and do your duty as a citizen of the land where God chose to place you. The original version of these famous words are the opening phrase of Shakespeare's Prince Hamlet's soliloquy bemoaning the pain and unfairness of life but acknowledging that the alternative might be worse. Hamlet's hesitation to immediately…
