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An Ordinary Woman’s Response to Global Crisis
Horror. Sadness. Anxiety. Anger. Guilt. With these emotions, I watched religious fanatics take over the ravaged land of Afghanistan leaving women, girls, Christians, and the marginalized desperately scrambling for their lives. This crisis is just the most recent example of pain, injustice, and all that is wrong in our world. The latest that eclipses many others: an earthquake in the already devastated nation of Haiti; Chinese Christians in re-education camps; Indonesian citizens dying outside hospitals for lack of beds, oxygen, and vaccines; flames destroying entire towns in California; Lebanon in economic, social, and political downfall. And all this exacerbated by a continuing global pandemic. What does an ordinary western woman…
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Loving and Giving
“For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
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A Few Little Things You Can Do: Simplify and Donate
Do you ever read the headlines and feel helpless? Maybe now is a good time to remember we are each responsible only for our own little sphere of influence…. How’s your corner looking? Literally? Look around. It’s that time of year—when people organize, simplify, and pare down. One of my friends is leading a group through a no-spend month in which people use their funds only for necessities. Others are getting a jump on spring cleaning. Releasing our grasp on stuff is good for us (Matt 6:19–20). And doing so can benefit even more people than me, myself, and I. We can benefit the planet if we dispose of electronics…
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Responding to the South Carolina Flood
The rains from Hurricane Joaquin wreaked catastrophic damage on South Carolina and its residents earlier this week. 771 trillion cubic inches of water have fallen within its borders. That translates to 12 trillion liters, or 21 trillion 20-ounce bottles such as the ones people drink from every day. That’s an epic amount of water to fall in about three days over just 32,000 square miles. The description “of biblical proportions” has been used by media to help viewers and readers get a sense of the scope of this disaster. But even as the floodwaters recede, the heartbreak continues and the danger increases. Homes destroyed, people killed, and dams on the…
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Are You a Spiritual Hoarder? Three Ways We Withhold Ourselves—and Our Stuff—from Others
Hoarder: “A word that describes anyone that feels the need to find, collect, keep, [or] pack any and everything because they do not know how to throw things away” (Urban Dictionary). Several years ago there was an entire TV series about hoarders. There are entire companies devoted to helping hoarders clean up. And there are even medical disorders related to hoarding. Innate within each of us—to varying degrees—is a desire to hold on to something. Hoarding is more than just stowing away our stuff in some dark closet. Sometimes it means we keep our deepest selves locked tightly within us. Here are three ways we withhold ourselves from others and…