Family
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Is Gratitude a Thing of the Past?
A stranger held the door open for me as I was entering the restaurant and he was leaving. I responded with a heartfelt “thank you.” When Jim opens the car door for me and sees that I am safely inside (which he almost always does), I try to always thank him for that kindness. When I receive a gift from someone, I thank them verbally for that gift, and sometimes send a thank you note. When I am asked to speak at a Ladies’ Day at a congregation, I usually begin my talk with a thank you for the invitation and the hard work that went into making the day possible.…
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Forgiven, Forgiving, & Free: The Peace of Living Without a Past – A Partial Review
After a break from teaching and a foray into teaching younger children during Bible class, I am back to teaching our Wednesday night ladies’ class for a time. On my surprise visit to a day of Polishing the Pulpit this fall, I was excited to see some of my favorite people: Dan and Diane Winkler. I was also excited to purchase Dan’s new book about forgiveness. If you are like most people, the idea of forgiveness is something we all want but may struggle to give. I was enthralled with reading about this topic from someone who has so publicly been called upon to grapple with and demonstrate the Christian…
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It’s Okay to Cry on Christmas
Happy holidays. Merry Christmas. It’s the most wonderful time of the year. While there is a lot of stress associated with Christmas–with all the shopping and outings–it is a time of the year I always enjoy, especially while we still have children at home young enough to be totally into Christmas. For some, though, Christmas isn’t easy. They may enjoy the day, and get to see family, and take part in all sorts of traditions, but, at some point during the day, they may shed tears. And I’m writing today’s article to say that it’s quite okay to cry on Christmas. To me, Christmas is all about memories. We make memories each year,…
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Fountains and Drains
On the day that I am typing these words, I heard a man use an interesting expression as he was interviewed on a radio program. I found out as I listened to the man who used it that it is, as he said, one of those “old sayings.” I suppose that I need to do more reading, listening, and/or something because it was the first time I’d heard it. I am quite sure that it will not be the last time I think about it. The man, who is a coach of an athletic team I don’t even follow, was talking about how some people are fountains and how others are…
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Episode 95: Christmas Memories [Podcast]
https://media.blubrry.com/faughnfamily/content.blubrry.com/faughnfamily/Legacy_Podcast_095.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSS(Player not displaying or working? Click here.) With Christmas right around the corner, we thought you might enjoy a relaxed conversation. So, on this episode, Adam is joined by the whole Legacy of Faith crew to share memories about Christmas. Enjoy thoughts from Lyssabeth, Turner, Daniel, Mary Carol, Luke, Leah, Amber, Jeremiah, Donna, and Jim! More from A Legacy of Faith To subscribe to A Legacy of Faith by email for free click here. Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes Subscribe via rss Find us on Stitcher Radio Visit the show archives
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Time to Prepare
Jim and I were privileged to attend an annual holiday dinner for those over 65 years of age where our son preaches. We enjoyed the visit with those people so much. The food was delicious and the talent show that followed the dinner was so much fun. One of their older members led the prayer before dinner and I appreciated all that he said in that prayer, but one statement really caused me to begin to think. He thanked God that He has given us time to prepare for eternity. I’ve spent some time pondering on that and I began to wonder if I fully realize that whatever time I spend here…
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Twenty-Six
One would like to think that a place of worship would provide a safe environment for people. Sadly, that no longer seems to be the case. Not long ago, the largest mass shooting in the history of the state of Texas took place on a Sunday morning at a relatively small church in a small town. According to one report I read, every person who was in attendance that Sunday was either killed or wounded. As the news began to spread, it was widely reported that a total of twenty-six people lost their lives that day. I was intrigued by the wording of a report posted a week later on nytimes.com. I found one…
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What Makes a Day Good?
Do you ever have one of those days where you just realize all is going well and things are good in the world? I had one of those today and as I sit here tonight trying to reflect, it makes me wonder: what was so special about today? What made today so good compared to yesterday or tomorrow? Nothing spectacular really happened. I did manage to get up on time, which is always a nice start for me. It was a normal day at school with a positive start celebrating a recent success of some of my kids. I still had lessons to teach and paperwork to complete. Some of…
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How Titus 2 Will Transform a Church (and Save a Bundle of Money in the Process)
Families are struggling. Even in the church, families are going through rough times. We can act like it isn’t happening, or we can face it head-on. While there is nothing wrong with this approach, for many congregations the default response is to hire someone. “Let’s get a younger preacher who can relate to these families.” (Never mind the fact that, since he’s young, he’s probably struggling, too!) “Let’s add a family minister to our staff.” “We need to add a counseling center.” Trust me, none of these are necessarily bad things, and in many cases, they can provide a great help to a congregation. But in our rush to think…
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3 Ways to Stay Positive When You Are Depressed
“It’s the most wonderful time of the year….It’s the hap..happiest season of all.” That’s what the song says anyway. It would be great if this were truly the case in every situation. But in reality, the holidays can be stressful. There are so many things to get done, and the weather turns dark and dreary and cold. People are more depressed from December to February than during any other time of the year. And if there have been major disappointments or if there has been recent loss of life, Christmas can be far from cheerful. So here are a few tips on how to stay positive when all of the…
