Category: Following Jesus
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I Don’t Love Her – Matthew 22:34-40
One of life’s sweetest blessings is when my grandchildren holler “GRAN – MAAAAA!” and come running to greet me. They haven’t knocked me down yet, but their exuberance is certainly felt. One Sunday after church, however, I wasn’t too happy about my grandson’s behavior. He’d been playing near the bleachers at the back of the gym, and I…
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My Aunt’s Bummer Ministry – Mark 4:18-20
Aunt Eileen had what she called her “bummer ministry,” giving free haircuts to the church’s teenagers. I felt singing with the worship team didn’t have long-lasting value either. My aunt saw hair clippings fall to the floor in her kitchen. And when I sang, it seemed my voice dissipated like mist in front of my face. Poof! Gone forever. Where…
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Hope after Election Blues – Psalm 118:8-9
Did you take the candidate’s announcement of his departure from the race as hard as so many folks did? While I was making dinner my husband held his cell phone so I could see the video and hear the crowd’s protests. Some voiced disbelief, some shouted, “No!” Some groaned. Soon my social media was flooded with…
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On Voting and “What Would Jesus Do” – Isaiah 46:9-11
Our voter’s pamphlet arrived a couple days ago, and it’s calling me from the pile on my kitchen table. How should I vote? Remember WWJD? Does it work during election time to ask myself what Jesus would do, how he would vote? Such a question leads only to guessing, and I want something more solid than speculation.…
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New Life Comes from Cutting Back – John 15:1-2
I killed our apple tree this winter when I pruned it. Ducking under its lopped stubs, I hung the long-handled cutting tool on its pegs. How could the poor tree survive that, I wondered. It’s happened before, when I worried I went too far in my efforts to improve a plant’s productivity. But what I’ve…
