Church Life
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“I’ve Got the Paperwork to Prove It”
It is a commercial for one of those companies that promises to negotiate with the IRS for people. The “target audience” seems to be individuals and families who owe a great amount of money in back taxes. As is often the case with services like this, the commercials feature testimonials from people who have successfully used the services of the company. One of those testimonials features a “satisfied customer” who had his debt to the IRS reduced significantly. He looks at the camera and confidently says, “I’ve got the paperwork to prove it.” Recently, Donna and I were in Cookeville, TN for a couple of reasons. We were there to…
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Lessons Learned from Moving
Jim and I helped our daughter and her children move a couple of weeks ago to a new (to them) house (see last Thursday’s Legacy post). We had several days of hard work, but nothing from which we couldn’t recuperate. She had hired movers to take care of the heavy furniture so we thought there wouldn’t be much for us to do. Before a move, as you sit and look at your belongings in the house, you really don’t think it will be that hard – especially if strong men with a big truck are coming to lift the big stuff! And then you begin opening the clothes closets, the…
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The Waiting Room
I’ve been a preacher or an elder for over forty years. While I am now serving only as an elder, for a number of those years I served in both capacities. Along with those “official” roles, I am also a husband, father, father-in-law, and grandfather. I have also been a son and son-in-law. As I think about all of the “hats” I’ve worn, I realize that I also have other family connections and that I am also a neighbor and, hopefully, a friend. What all of that means, among other things, is that I have spent quite a bit of time in waiting rooms in hospitals. I’ve been with people…
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Blank Slate
This new year offers a blank slate for all. 2022. What will you do with the new opportunities it provides? My children and I have also embarked on another blank slate: a new home. We are still in the same town but have downsized significantly and with that, comes the opportunity of another blank slate … or many. All of this thinking about blank slates left me pondering something. I had to choose what to call them. If you noticed, I chose to say “opportunities.” I considered “challenges.” You see, some see a blank slate as scary or intimidating. In some ways, I guess we all do. However, when I…
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Don’t Call It “Gossip” When It Isn’t
Gossip is evil. It is insidious. It subverts relationships. It tears groups of people–sadly, even sometimes congregations–apart. So, this post is not saying that gossip is no big deal! However, the word “gossip” is sometimes used to describe things as a way to accuse people of something that is horribly wrong when what is going on may not be gossip. In other words, we need to be supremely careful about accusing someone of this sin. What are some ways the word “gossip” is thrown around, when what is going on may not be that sin? Here are a few things that are sometimes called gossip that may or may not…
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Has the New Worn Off Yet?
By the time you read these words, we should be a couple of days or so into 2022. The first day of a new year arrived with celebration and fanfare.as it does every year. If it hasn’t happened already, it probably won’t be very long before all of us begin to realize that there is really not a whole lot that is new about a new year. We are also less than two weeks removed from a day that at least the younger ones were so excited about. They got to open boxes, bags, and envelopes that contained some things that were brand new. By now, trash collectors may have…
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Old Year’s Resolutions
Like many of you, I am spending a little time in these final days of the year thinking of goals and resolutions for the upcoming year. Sometimes I write them down and sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I have several and sometimes I just have one or two. No matter the number, though, each one is always thought out. However, this year is not done yet. While the number of days left in 2021 is dwindling, they are not totally spent. That leads me to wonder: could I be spending so much time planning next year’s goals that I miss some opportunities to accomplish things in these final days of the…
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A Suggestion for a New Year’s Resolution (That Is Appropriate at Any Time)
As I type these words, we are only a few days from “ringing in” another new year. In my earlier years, I couldn’t understand why anybody would go to bed before midnight on New Year’s Eve. I have since found out that a new year can begin just fine without me being awake to welcome it. I’ve also learned that making resolutions all too often proves to be futile exercise. I’m sure that most of us mean well, but it seems that our resolve also falters after a few weeks or months. Since many of us are already thinking about a meaningful resolution, I’d like to suggest one. If we…
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Peace, Perfect Peace
I don’t know about you, but I am almost stretched to my limit. There has been shopping, wrapping, baking, making, attending, laundering, cleaning, listing, packing, dispensing, writing, studying…and the list just goes on and on! When I finally sat down last night (exhausted), I wondered where the peace was that I hear and read about during this season? For some reason, a song came to mind. We don’t sing it often but maybe we should. The words of the first verse just kept going through my mind and I calmed down as I thought about their message and meaning. I decided to look it up in our song book and…
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Some Last-Minute Gift Ideas
How many times have you spent a great deal of time and given much thought to a gift for a child only to watch that child play with the box more than what was in the box? Have you ever bought or received something as a gift and then have found it later in a drawer or hidden away somewhere unused (or used very little)? Have you reached the age and/or stage in life where you tell your family to not buy you any gifts because you either realize that you have everything you really need and/or that you can get what you might want for yourself? Gift giving can…
