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End Game
My husband and I are huge fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). We love the intergalactic battles raging across time and space, and the artfully crafted storylines that pull you in. One Marvel film, in particular, had us on the edge of our seats cheering on the culmination of decades of strife-The End Game. In this film, good and evil drew a line in the sand, as all of creation hinged on the precipice of eternal change. It’s no wonder audiences all over the world stood to their feet as the final scene played out in all of its glory. Even if you are over the superhero genre, there…
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Ezekiel 3:16-19- Are you a Modern Day Watchman?
I am convinced that we have lost the urgency of spreading the good news of Jesus Christ. As Christians, we are sitting on the greatest news of all time, yet too often we remain silent. It’s tempting to think that maybe evangelizing is just not your thing. This was my thought process. Until a slick-talking salesman at the Texas State Fair showed me that I would shout anything from the rooftops if I had enough buy-in. I stumbled upon the row of booths lined with product giveaways. After a rehearsed speech they tried to sell me the amazing, “balance band.” Through some mix of magic, science, and marketing it was…
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The Power of a Penny
Jesus often used simple earthly objects to explain a spiritual concept. His listeners were asked to focus on something physical so that He could teach them something spiritual. Understanding that God is outside of time, space, and matter is difficult for His creation to comprehend. Finite sinful creatures just cannot comprehend the infinite and holy God. Jesus understood His creation and our need for hooks in our brain on which we could hang new concepts. He often taught with parables and object lessons. God, in both the Old and New Testament used parables and object lessons to help us understand our own sinfulness, His holiness, our helplessness, and His grace,…
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We Were All Foreigners
Lady Liberty looked on as the immigration officer stamped my great-grandfather’s passport at Ellis Island. He had sailed across the Atlantic Ocean from the Netherlands to New York. He ultimately settled in central Iowa. Other ancestors had immigrated before him and their reasons varied. Many simply wanted a better place to raise families. Others fled Europe to escape the atrocities of the Great World War. The Dutch immigrants built homes, planted crops, started bakeries, and established churches. Frugal, yet tidy, their gardens bloomed with tulips from their European homeland. But their lives were not without struggle or prejudice. Not everyone welcomed them. During the First World War (when the Allied…
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Many Beautiful Things Movie: A world-class artist chooses between celebrity “success” and a hidden life of missions service
“This film is a miniature masterpiece.”–Os Guinness…“The whole world should see this movie.”–Michelle Dockery…One of the most lovely and personally inspiring films ever–Lael A new movie, Many Beautiful Things, introduces us to a true-life young beauty of means in Victorian England. An extraordinarily gifted artist, she is mentored and celebrated by John Ruskin, the leading art critic of the era, an Oxford professor and founder of its drawing school. He hailed her as one of the most potentially celebrated artists of her time. Ruskin’s challenge: “to give herself up to art.” If she would dedicate herself to this great gift she would take her place among the cultural elite…
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The Tapeworm Gallery: Wounds from a Friend
Bible.org's Women's Leadership Team welcomes Salma Gundi as a regular Engage blogger with part 2 of a series begun when Sandra Glahn published part 1 of Salma's essay as a guest blogger here: The Tapeworm Gallery: Dense Fog Advisory. OK, I stepped out of line. Never meant to offend you. The Boss-Dragon spat fire upon me for picking on Bible-Belters. (The breath on that creature—reminds me of weeks-old curry in a baby's diaper.) I get you. You came from a good Christian home. Your daddy even served as deacon. Women at church respect you. You inhabit the epicenter of goodness. And that's all that matters. I get desperate. You don't exactly give me…
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Live the Jesus Lifestyle – Make Disciples
Leadership is Broken Because Leaders Are Unbroken The most disobeyed directive Jesus ever gave is the last directive Jesus ever gave: make disciples. Nothing could be plainer than Jesus’ final marching orders: make disciples! That’s what He said, that’s what He meant. Yet all over the world we find pastors, churches, deacons, elders and church members who are radically disobedient. Some are ignorant, others are willful, but many are disobedient nonetheless. Pastors give in to tradition and the demands of their people and choose to disobey Jesus’ final command. Many seem to think that ministry is about making them successful or keeping their job secure, which they confuse—often unconsciously and…
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What No One Tells You (But Should) about Short-Term Mission Trips
Researchers estimate that more than a million people per year take short-term mission trips (STMs). Some say that in the 13- to 17-year-old bracket, that number is closer to two million. When I took my first STM, a seasoned missionary told my friend cynically, “She will probably get a lot more out of the trip than any of the nationals she’s going to help.” I like to think the people I met on that trip—some of whom I still have regular contact with—would say he was wrong. Still, it would have helped to have some guidance for avoiding pitfalls. Today—many STMs later— my husband is a missionary, and we have…
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My Sisters Have Names
Several women gather in a small African hut on Tuesday mornings to praise Jesus. Most are from the same tribe; a couple of them are missionaries. There are no decorated tables or spiral bound study books. Only a few can read. They walk long distances to get there each week. And, they have names. I love that I know their names – these sisters of mine in Christ – because the newsletters from our missionary friends tell me their names, their stories, and provide pictures of them. They are not just nameless converts. I know their names, what their life is like, and can pray for them as they meet…
