Church Life
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Sleeping Through a Trip to Nowhere
A lot of people are stressed. That is true not just in America, but in many cultures around the world. As our level of productivity and technology increase, we often find that we also have to deal with more stressors. For many, that also leads to a lack of sleep (or, at least, a lack of good sleep). A tour company in Hong Kong recently launched a new tour that is meant to provide a solution for that issue. Depending on your type of seat, you can be the equivalent of anywhere from $13-$51 dollars to ride a bus for five hours…to nowhere. After what is described as a “food…
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I’m Confused Again
I remember as a young boy being confused by one television show that I watched fairly regularly. I loved the show that began with “faster than a speeding bullet – more powerful than a locomotive – able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.” It was that last part that confused me. You see, I grew up just outside of the small town of Metropolis, Illinois. The tallest building there was maybe four or five stories tall. I couldn’t figure out where all those tall buildings were in the Metropolis I saw on my parents’ black and white television. I hope you know that I was being more than a little facetious as I…
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Lessons from a Damaged Wall
One aspect of re-plumbing a house that may be overlooked is that other parts of the house will also be impacted. Of particular interest in this case is the damage done to sheetrock. When pipes are inside walls, like going up to a bathtub, the wall must be cut to insert the new pipes. And, unfortunately, plumbers don’t do sheetrock repair. Now, some people would just hire a handyman to come fix the sheetrock. But as you all know, I usually err on the side of most difficult, so I decided to fix it myself. My previous success with patching a hole at the end of a hallway (2 boys…
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Pumpkin Purity
It was the size of a fingernail, but it cost a man thousands of dollars. A Wisconsin farmer had “the one.” He grew a pumpkin that was set to earn him well over $20,000 due to it immense size. At $9 per pound in a largest pumpkin contest, the man was going to take home a lot of money, because his pumpkin weighed in at an astonishing 2520 pounds! However, he took home nothing, because the pumpkin was disqualified. Why? Because on this pumpkin that weighed in at well over a ton, there was a crack the size of a fingernail. That crack was enough to disqualify the man from…
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More Than a Meeting on a Road
I attended a funeral recently during which I heard the man speaking say something that I don’t remember ever hearing before. What he said may or may not have been original with him, but it was for me. I’d read the passage of scripture about which he made the comment numerous times. I’ve referred to it and commented on it in sermons, classes, etc. I knew the truth of what this man said. I’d just never heard it expressed in the way that he expressed it. The statement was made about the events recorded in Luke 7:11-17. As you may remember, the Lord and His disciples were approaching a city by the name of…
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The Simplest, and Most Overlooked, Step in Bible Study
How do we study the Bible? If we are honest, that is a great question. Often, we tell people in Bible classes and sermons that we all need to “study more,” which is true, but we often do not give them tools as to how to do so. This post is not meant to be a full exploration of Bible study. It is, however, meant to give one step that people far too often overlook and it is one that takes no money and, actually, very little time. As the title suggests, it is also the simplest step in Bible study. What is it? Look at the context. It is…
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The Wow Factor
I was recently going through some old material and found some information that I’d like to update and share with you. It has to do with a married couple who became members of the congregation where I was preaching at the time. I am still serving as one of the elders. Some of the specifics are somewhat dated, but, in my opinion there is a principle that is timeless The material I read reminded me of how thrilled I was at the time that this couple had decided to become a part of our church family. It also reminded me about how thrilled and blessed I felt about the reason for their decision.…
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Can They See God Through My Feed?
Facebook was down earlier this week. For several hours on Monday, Facebook–along with other services they own such as Instagram and WhatsApp–were inaccessible. I thought about writing this article about how the world was still able to keep spinning despite those sites being down for a few hours, but their downtime also brought to mind something I have been thinking about–and praying about–quite a lot lately. One of the main features of social media can be both a blessing and a curse. One of the things we love about Facebook and similar outlets is the ability to share pictures and other personal things with our friends and family. Pictures of…
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Crabby Old Man
I’m honored to give up my space in A Legacy of Faith today to brother Hugh Fulford. As some of you may know, he sends emails and posts on Facebook some of his thoughts which he calls “Hugh’s News & Views.” In my opinion, this particular material is a great “follow up” to something I posted earlier about the aging process. It is also my opinion that it makes some points that I did not make. I am reprinting brother Fulford’s material in its entirety and with his permission. –Jim Faughn (Note: I am indebted to my friend David Tant for the following poem from his “Thought For Today” of March…
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Lizards or Alligators
I saw a lizard the other day and it reminded me of a time in my very distant past that has always lived in my memory bank. I grew up in a small town in a time when you walked to town to do your shopping. As a very little girl, I remember what a treat it was to walk with my grandmother to town when she needed to shop. We had to walk past an open area that had a hand rail on one side because the land dropped off on that side of the sidewalk. As I was skipping along beside her (and probably talking), I saw a rather large lizard…