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Hanging on to Hope
An unexpected divorce. An aging parent’s diagnosis. An unnerving wait in an emergency room. An untimely death of a friend. Events like these can shake even the most stoic among us. We detest conflict. We dislike difficult diagnoses. We despise death. And we should detest, dislike, and despise disruptive life events because they remind us that life is not the way it should be. Yet Jesus, on the eve of his crucifixion, told his disciples that though they would have trouble and tribulation in this world, they were to “Take heart! Have courage!” (John 16:33). How could Jesus tell his disciples (or even himself, for that matter) to “take heart!”,…
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Is My Baby in Heaven?
Have you grieved the loss of a baby or small child? If so, you may have many unspoken or unresolved questions. Or you may have received answers from various sources that are neither biblical nor satisfactory, leaving you with a deeper hurt. Take heart. You can place your confidence in God's grace and goodness. When you get to heaven, your baby will be there.
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Living the Resurrection Life
How does one get past the tendency to just celebrate the date and instead, learn how to live a life of resurrection celebration?
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Why I’m Sad About the Queen’s Passing
“Rest in Peace, Queen Elizabeth” popped up on my social media feed on September 8, 2022. I immediately felt sad. For Her Late Majesty’s family, for friends in the United Kingdom, for those who actually knew her. But also, weirdly, for me. Here’s why I, an American, am sad over the death of a foreign head of state whom I never met nor knew personally: It stirs up childhood nostalgia Like many Americans I am an anglophile, an admirer of all things British. I feel I come by it naturally since I grew up in the commonwealth nation of Papua New Guinea. As a multi-national missions community, we took turns recognizing…
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Sinful Heart Object Lessons- Lesson One: The Image of God
Bring out the clean mirror and talk about how when God looked into the heart of Adam and Eve, He could see Himself. This ability to shine forth God’s image was very special.
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Set Aside Your Mourning Clothes––A Prayer Exercise
The last two years have been a time of prolonged loss, anxiety, and uncertainty for many of us. And whether or not we remember when we put on our mourning clothes, many of us struggle with when we should take them off. How do we know?
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Then They Remembered Jesus’s Words
Jesus died around three in the afternoon (Luke 23:44–46). The faithful and courageous women disciples who had accompanied Jesus from Galilee—including his mother, Mary—stayed with him until he exhaled his last breath. Then they followed those who carried his body to the tomb to see where it was laid. After that they returned home to prepare aromatic spices and perfumes for anointing and preserving the body (Luke 23:55–56). How exhausted and devastated the women must have felt. We believed he was the Messiah! He was going to start a new kingdom. But we watched him die. He raised others from the dead so why did he let himself be crucified?…
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When Life Gets Hard, Take a Step
I think most of us would agree. The past two years haven’t been our best ones. Death and disease flood our newsfeeds. Disaster and destruction shock us far too frequently. Chaos and questions keep us unsettled. Just when we think life is returning to a normal pace, another unwelcomed surprise forces us to change course, adjust, delay. For someone who thrives on consistently, I often wonder where the routine has gone. But as I reflect over the past year, I see one main theme emerge in my life—take a step. For the first part of 2021 a black cloud seemed to hover over my existence. Fear kept me wondering what…
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Concerning Contentment
I turned sixty-five today. It is a milestone, at least in the American culture. I now qualify for Medicare. I also qualify for senior discounts. I could draw my social security checks, and no one would be surprised, but I think I will wait for a few years. Not everyone is guaranteed to live until they are old but those who do, find that getting old is not an easy road to walk. Not everyone’s health fails right away but most will tell you they have more aches and pains. They often have less energy and may find themselves dozing more often. For many they sit more and run seldom.…
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Grieving With Hope
We grieve many things in this life. Death being chief among them. In a constantly changing world we must learn to grieve well As teachers and parents, we need to prepare young children for the losses of this life: friendships, broken toys, houses that we move from, teachers that change yearly but especially the loss that comes through death.
