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Thank You, Father
Today’s post is short, but oh-so-heartfelt. Who knew that pushing the gas pedal could be so hard?! I had put the car in reverse, but I had to force myself to push down on the gas. Why? Because I was leaving a part of my heart there. It took actual mental and physical effort to make my foot push down. Once I stopped heave-crying and began to just ache, my heart and mind turned to God. I knew I couldn’t do this without His help. And then, another thought intruded. I was leaving my son in a place where he was loved… Where he was excited to begin his life…
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The One Echo Chamber We Should Never Leave
The phrase “echo chamber” has become commonly used in our culture. Due to the multiplicity of ways we can receive news and information, people often just gravitate toward outlets that reaffirm what they already believe. Thus, an “echo chamber,” because it is just repeating what they already believe. People will just read or watch news from a channel that has a leaning toward their side. They will listen to podcasts that state what they already believe. They will watch YouTubers who reaffirm what they want to hear. And, scarcely if ever will they truly listen to the other side. In fact, the only thing they hear about the other side…
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From Three to Two to One
When you read that title, you may have thought of the last few seconds prior to the launching of a rocket, the end of a dramatic basketball game, or something else like these things. In reality, the title has nothing to do with any of those things. Instead, it has to do with how confusing our society is becoming. It is (or at least it used to be) normal during a wedding ceremony for a preacher to encourage the couple getting married to make sure that God was the third partner in their relationship. He might even spend some time explaining some of the benefits of that. Even if the…
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God Is So Good
So many things have been going on in our world today that cause us to think only of the bad side of life here on earth. There is much sin and wrongdoing all around us. Just turn on the news and you’ll hear all about it. Our daily walk as Christians who are trying to live for Christ and lead others to Him sometimes gets more overwhelming with each passing day. We become loaded down with the heaviness of sinful living and illness around us and we lose sight of the wonderful life that is set before us. Often we fail to see the bright side of living the Christian life.…
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It’s Not a Temple, But…
When a congregation decides to build a church building, they are taking on a huge responsibility. In our culture, we are so used to church buildings that we barely give them a second thought, but that meeting house is a major decision for a congregation to make. It is expensive to build or purchase. It costs quite a lot to “run” and keep up. And, without good leadership, it can become a point of contention (insert obligatory story about people fussing over the color of the carpet here). I have been to scores of church buildings over the years. Some were very small while others were expansive. Many looked similar…
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The End of An Era (Make That Two)
I need to begin this with some — for lack of a better term — warnings. First, this post is much more personal than some I’ve done in the past. Along with that, I’ve also decided to “name names.” Finally, the people whose names you will read later will probably not appreciate that fact. At least one reason for that is that the two men whose names you will read have little interest in being well-known. They are “just” a couple of people for whom I have a great deal of admiration and who have made positive impacts on countless people. I guess that “the story begins” in 1996 when…
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Just for Today
Today’s article is once again inspired by listening to devotional songs as I was driving. Aside from the main point I would like to make, may I take a moment and suggest that taking the time to find, download, and create playlists of devotional songs is a fairly easy (and enjoyable) way to center your mind on God and His goodness in your life! The words from our title today help me. I am one who often gets overwhelmed by all the things I “have” to get done. I just returned from a week at Horizons on the campus of Freed-Hardeman University. The theme of our week was “Still.” I…
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Turning a Spiritual Ship is Harder
If you’ve read many leadership books or articles, you have likely heard a very common illustration. It has to do with changing the culture of a business, organization, or even congregation. It is the illustration of trying to turn around a large ship. The picture is meant to remind you that you simply cannot turn those large ships on a dime and it takes awhile for them to get turned all the way around. As it pertains to leadership, then, that picture is meant to instill in the leader the idea that you cannot just change everything overnight and expect it to be successful. Changes have to be thoughtful (of…
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And Their Voices Prevailed
If you have a copy of God’s Word handy, you may want to read the twenty-third chapter of Luke before you read the rest of this post. In that chapter, we can read Luke’s inspired account of some of the events concerning the arrest, interrogation, condemnation, and crucifixion of Jesus. Other details are in the other gospels, but we will focus our comments to those recorded by Luke – along with a few details gleaned from the other gospel accounts. I find the words that are used as the title of this post to be extremely interesting and informative. They play a major role in the narrative that follows. A…
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After the Declaration
This post is being released after Independence Day passed earlier in the week. That date is very important for America and it is always encouraging to see people celebrate it by hanging a flag or posting something patriotic on social media. However, July 4 was not the end of the Revolutionary War. While it is a very important date, the battles in that war continued to be fought for quite some time. It would not be for a long while until the British finally surrendered and America truly had her freedom. They could not just declare that they were independent, they had to fight for it. It is also true…
