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How To Build Your Log House and Lose it too; Finding perspective for 2022
Once upon a time, circa 1955, my Dad fell in love with log houses. While he loved log houses, he loved Jesus too. This is a story of love, loss and life but mostly about eternal perspective. Along the way I interviewed him about his encounters and experiences with log houses, and that interview is hiding somewhere in a journal. So, what is left feels like the things that have been most impressionable. In the mid 1960s my Dad purchased about 30 acres of land in a rural area an hour outside of Atlanta, Georgia. It was the beginning of a life long dream of his, to actually use his…
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Hiking Illuminates Mentoring Elements
During the year 2022, you may have a desire to be a mentor or mentee. Much can be learned in mentoring relationships as sharpening for the Lord occurs (Prov 27:17). Jesus mentored the twelve disciples. Paul had several young men he mentored as indicated in the books of Timothy and Titus. Mentoring takes on a variety of forms, but some common elements exist. As I hiked the Hundred-Mile Wilderness on the Appalachian Trail recently, I observed several parallels to elements regarding mentoring. God’s creation has a unique way of presenting truths in a way that facilitates understanding. Hopefully, your understanding of mentoring will be enhanced as you hike this blog. …
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The Hundred-Mile Wilderness Adventure
Over the years, my husband and I have had many adventures backpacking in many different terrains and altitudes. This summer we had the opportunity to backpack through the Hundred-Mile Wilderness in Maine at the northern end of the Appalachian Trail. Although we have hiked in various terrain, this adventure was the most challenging. We were grateful to be able to hike it and finish injury-free (besides some bruises, a few blisters, and swollen feet)! When you’re backpacking for a length of time, there is plenty of time to contemplate God and life. This time was no exception. Being in God’s creation brought several lessons regarding my relationship with God and…
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Benefits of Being Outdoors
Backpacking in the backcountry for 10 days in July left me with a new appreciation for the outdoors. I observed many parallels to life on my trek. In addition, watching teenage boys adapt to the backcountry left me with an awareness of the benefits of youth being outdoors. When I returned home, I found articles that articulated the benefits of being outside that I had observed. Various benefits arise from being outdoors. Claire McCarthy[1] lists the following as benefits: appreciation of nature, vitamin D from sunshine, exercise from active play, opportunity to take risk, socialization in unorganized atmosphere, and development of executive functions (skills that help us multitask, plan, troubleshoot,…
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Inculcate as You Meditate
God commands us to meditate on His Word. In the New King James Version Joshua 1:8 reads, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but ;you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” Who among us doesn’t want the children under our care to prosper and have good success? Of course, we all do. Yet God carefully lays out for us in this verse a road map to success and yet few of us make this the…
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How awesome is our Creator!
Psalm 8 is part of the lectionary readings for the first Sunday after Pentecost, which is June 7th. Of the 150 psalms, only 34 do not have titles. For the hymns that have them, these superscriptions indicate such things (in various combinations) as the author, type of psalm, musical notations, liturgical notations, and historical context. According to the title of Psalm 8, David was the human author. The phrase, “for the director of music,” suggests that this song is from an early collection of hymns used in temple worship. It’s also possible that when the psalm was used in the Hebrew liturgy, the leader of the Levitical choir spoke it…
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God’s creation of Adam and Eve
Genesis 2:18–25 Time: The dawn of human history Place: Eden Lesson Aim: To recognize that God made us for relationships. Introduction Imagine the difference between automobiles in a new car showroom and a junkyard. In some ways, life is comparable to that. God, as it were, hands us the keys to a brand-new car and then says, “Here’s how to drive it and take care of it.” That’s what we find in Genesis 2, when all of life was brand new. We discover that God created Adam and Eve to be in a mutually loving and caring relationship with each another. It’s appropriate for us to wonder…
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God’ creation, as viewed through the prism of Psalm 104
Psalm 104:5–9, 24–30 Time: Date unknown, though possibly written sometime before the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. Place: Judah Lesson Aim: To learn to appreciate God more through His creation. Introduction Sir Robert Grant was acquainted with kings. His father was a member of the British Parliament and later became chairman of the East India Company. Following in his father’s footsteps, young Grant was elected to Parliament and then also became a director of the East India Company. In 1834, he was appointed governor of Bombay, and in that position, he became greatly loved. A medical college in India was named in his honor. Late in his…
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Tips for Teaching #1
I want to share some tips that will hopefully help us better prepare our children for the difficulties of standing strong in the faith. Encourage children to ask the hard questions. If they aren’t asking, ask them! Teach them how to wrestle with the Word of God to find the answers. We tend to shy away from the questions that are hard to answer or maybe can’t really be answered. Learning that we can’t demand answers but must be humbly thankful for the revelations God gives is a hard lesson to teach and even harder to learn. I was recently talking with a woman who grew up in a Christian…
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The Origin of Evil
When did evil and sin enter the world? In the Garden of Eden? And who created evil? Some blame God for temptation and evil by default since he created everything. But let’s rewind. In a galaxy far far away, God created all the angels all at once. And they lived in the stellar places amongst the stars. (Since this is just a blog post and not a seminary paper, I’ll let you verify those gems on your own. A good Systematic Theology text should suffice.) Now because God only creates “good” and “very good,” he made each angel good, or what some would call “holy.” But Jude 1:6 says,…