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    What’s Your Superpower?

    If you were approached by a genie wanting to grant you one wish for any superhero power, what would you ask for? It’s a strange question, but seriously, take a moment and think about it. What superpower would you want and why? My first thought: ask for something I could use in the battle between good and evil––like the ability to open people’s minds to understand truth versus lies. But this superpower risks grave repercussions like when someone asks, “Do you mind staying an extra hour?” or “How do these jeans look on me?” No, I don’t think opening people’s minds to full truth is a superpower for which I…

  • Redemption-Released…No Longer in Bondage
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    REDEMPTION: Released…No Longer in Bondage

    Bondage. No one likes being in bondage. Whether it is to a person, a contract, a debt, or something controlling your life, bondage stinks. It stifles. It discourages. It makes you a slave of whatever is holding you “in chains.” Every person who is in bondage longs to be released from those chains. Released. Did you know that every human being born on this planet is born into bondage? I don’t care how much money or status you have. You were born into bondage. Bondage to what? Colossians 1:13 calls it “the kingdom of darkness.” Romans 6:15-18 describes it as being a “slave to sin.” The slave master “sin” calls…

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    Free Indeed!

    Recently I had the privilege of speaking in a women’s prison. I shared my story which I call, “How to Handle the Things You Hate But Can’t Change.” (How’s that for a topic of interest for incarcerated people?) But then I was able to speak briefly about what we have in common, a situational loss of freedom. I have lost the ability—the freedom—to walk, and they have temporarily lost the ability—the freedom—to walk out of lockup. Still, even while imprisoned by our situations, Jesus offers true freedom that has nothing to do with our circumstances. He promised to His disciples, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set…

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    The Nearness of God

    With clothes dripping, shoes soggy, and wet hair plastered to my face, I moved forward. I had mud spattered all over my legs and the storm was rolling in with a furry. Still far from my apartment, I did what anyone in my situation would do: smile. You see, although I had slipped in a deep puddle, tracked through a muddy ravine, and gotten thoroughly drenched by the summer rain, I was wonderstruck. My nine-week old lab mix, Juliette, and I were having a glorious time exploring the great outdoors. And if you’ve ever owned a lab, you know that they’re happiest in water. So when we saw those pools…

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    “Free Speech for Me, But Not for Thee” Zone

    Wow, today was a big news day for free speech. College campuses are up in arms as students demand they be guaranteed “safe zones” where they can be protected from hearing ideas that they don’t like but openly criticize anyone with ideas that don’t match their own. Let’s see, last time I looked, if you are only fed one set of ideas day and night, isn’t that brainwashing? Isn’t that what cults do to capture the minds of their initiates? When did we stop teaching our children to embrace the process of evaluating and thinking through ideas to their logical conclusion? I don’t necessarily like listening to someone with ideas…

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    Unfolding: A Pressure-Free Model for Leading Your Team

    Meet Michelle Oney. She's a friend, collegue, and leader with a vision to help individuals and teams discover how God has gifted them and where he is calling them to serve. Her words will challenge and encourage you.    You and I carry an unexpected burden. And I wasn’t ready for it either.     A few years ago, I moved into a new sector, feeling called toward ministry. Along with the transition came the weight of managing people with a “calling.” For 20 years I worked in university advancement and considered how I could “mold” and “shape” a team into the best team they could be based upon the…

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    Offering the Gospel to This Generation

    Are high school students interested in the Gospel? They may not think they are, but underneath the outward façade when compelled to consider, the answer is YES!  After spending a week, as an adult guests, in the highly charged atmosphere of a Young Life camp in the mountains of Colorado – we saw firsthand the hard fought ground leaders had plowed for a year before bringing their group of kids to camp yield a positive response to the claims of Christ. Arriving on 7 different busses 450 high school students from 4 different states were saturated for a week in an atmosphere of fun, acceptance, laughter, being lead, music, lively…

  • What's wrong with occasional s'mores and brownies?
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    What’s Wrong with Occasional S’mores and Brownies?

    Last week, I read where the US Forest Service wants us to make our s’mores with fruit and marshmallow crème rather than chocolate and roasted marshmallows when we go camping. Half the fun of making s’mores is roasting the marshmallows over a campfire! And, isn’t chocolate a vegetable? This week, I read where the children in Vermont could no longer have brownies served to them at school – not even one every once in awhile, just for fun! Are we so obsessed with 24/7 healthy foods that no one can have a treat even once in awhile without feeling guilt and shame over doing so! I am all for eating…

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    A Trip to Normandy to Enrich Your Fourth

    My friend Carla Galanos recently returned from the beaches of Normandy with deep gratitude to God and our brave soldiers for making our Fourth of July celebration still possible. I've asked her to share highlights of the experience hoping her words will enrich your holiday too. Enjoy! It’s here! July 4–our favorite summer holiday. Fireworks, flags, parades, red, white and blue everything, barbeque and glow sticks–all the trappings to celebrate our country’s birthday. This year we are remembering that it all began with a Declaration, an unwavering commitment to freedom and liberty. In May of this year, my husband I took a “bucket list” trip to the Normandy beaches where,…

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    Do you expect captives of the enemy to act like they are free?

    Would the non-Christians you know label you as "judgmental"? How do we walk in the tension between maintaining our principles and standards while wooing people to Jesus? How did Jesus do that? These are critical questions that we must wrestle with if we want to be Christ-followers in our post-Christian world.          In a series of interviews with sixteen to twenty-nine-year-old outsiders, 87 percent of them labeled Christians as judgmental (UnChristian, What A New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity And Why It Matters, Baker Books). They described most Christians as people who looked down their noses at anyone different from them. They said that most Christians they knew reflected a…