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Where Love and Freedom Meet
Love and freedom are inextricably connected. That’s the way God designed it, and the implications are many: Because He loved us, we are free “The truth will set you free.” But what is the truth? “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall…
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Growing in the Body of Christ: Review of The Unexplainable Church Bible Study
Some things are better shared. When I received a copy of The Unexplainable Church for review, I expected to squeeze it in amongst other Bible studies and books. Day One stopped me. I haven’t completed this study, answering questions or looking up passages of Scripture. I’ve only read the content and the questions to be…
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You May Build It, They May Not Come
There’s a popular saying is based off of a quote from the movie Field of Dreams: “If you build it, they will come.” We hear it often, usually in connection with ministries, programs, or facilities that are launching or expanding. However, the whole concept is a myth. Unfortunately, many people actually believe it is a…
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When Resumes Don’t Match Dreams
Call me weird, but I love helping people with their resumes. It reminds me of those fun matching worksheets we’d fill out in school. Maybe you remember them too? One column might list dates. The other would outline events. We would draw a line between those that matched. Similarly, good resumes tend to align with…
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A Time to Search: Cease Striving, Start Seeking
Reconciling the Biblical call to cease striving with the command to continually seek is tricky when you’re in the midst of searching out God’s will for your life. You know that sitting on your hands doing nothing isn’t what God asks of any one. At the same time, you know that moving ahead without his…
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Jesus’ I AM Statements and Your Identity
The unchanging character of God is such an assurance. It seems like everything is always changing- which means there is always something new to adapt to, to embrace, to struggle with. But when we know the great I AM, we have someone to rely on always. What a gift that the unchanging, completely trustworthy, everlasting…
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Starting Well Means Growing In Grace
When we got married one of our premarital counseling activities was sitting down with my in-laws to ask a few prescribed questions. One question went something like “what’s something you learned when you started out that has been valuable?” My mother-in-law answered: “It was actually about parenting. Someone told me to never punish a child…
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Tips for Educators of Students With Incarcerated Parents
When teachers receive their roster each school year, they are handed more than a list of names—they receive an opportunity to invest in lives. It‘s likely that some of these lives are impacted by crime and incarceration. 2.7 million children in the United States have a parent behind bars. Teachers and school administrators play a significant…
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Starting Well Has to Do With Little Choices
We often feel less like we’re making choices and more like we’re just doing what we have to do to keep going. We’re so used to making some decisions all day, every day that sometimes we forget we have choices. But the truth is our days are full of decisions. Even in the little things,…
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Starting Well Requires Forward Movement
Part of starting well- no matter what we’re starting- is pushing steadily through the process of learning new things. “First days” and “starting fresh” can feel like being lost in the middle of nowhere while knowing there is a town just miles away. You know just enough to recognize there’s a lot to know that…