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Break A Leg: Practicing God’s Presence in Pain
On my very first birthday, I fell off the front porch of our home and broke my leg. Because I lived in a remote village in Papua New Guinea with my missionary parents, I was flown to the closest town with a western doctor. Upon admittance to the hospital, my leg was put in traction and my mother told to go home. The nurses loved me. Who wouldn’t adore a one-year-old baby cooing and doing acrobatics on the traction ropes? My dear mother, having five other children to care for, could only come to visit me after three weeks. Medical practice in the early 1960s also did not allow parents…
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Thin Places: An Ancient Phrase with Biblical Roots and Contemporary Fruit
Over the past several years, I have been intrigued by the phrase thin places. I spent some time trying to understand this phrase and concluded it is an ancient phrase with biblical roots and contemporary fruit. Thin places are where heaven comes close to earth. The phrase has been around for centuries made popular by Celts who associated the phrase with a location and by Celtic Christians who associated the phrase with the infusion of the Divine presence.[1] Today people who consider themselves spiritual view certain monuments, ruins, and landscapes as locations for special encounters where heaven seems to touch earth…thin places. The thin places concept stirs up many biblical…
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The Joy of God’s Presence
Listen to this blog as a similar podcast: “When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the Temple…When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the Lord above the Temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord (2 Chronicles 7:1-3).” God’s presence came to dwell in this earthly Temple—declaring it to be His own. Very visible. Very memorable. I’ve always loved this passage as well as the similar event in Exodus when God comes to dwell in…
