Category: christian life
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November newsletter
Shalom, friend! During the Passover Seder, there is a section of the service called the Four Questions that launches the recounting of the story of God’s deliverance of the Hebrew people from slavery. The first question is “Why is this night different from all other nights?” There will come a day when we may ask,…
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Fighting for peace
I don’t remember what the argument was about. It was just one in a string of those “But everyone else is doing it” versus “If everyone else was jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge, would you follow?” skirmishes that often come with parenting young teens. (I also don’t remember actually using the Brooklyn Bridge as a…
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Peeling away the veneer
What’s under the surface? We had a home inspection before we purchased our 1970’s-vintage mobile home in April, 2019. The inspector told us he saw evidence of a bit of termite damage, but assured us it was par for the course in a sub-tropical climate like Florida. We planned to get an exterminator after we…
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Rebuilding after the storm?
These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the…
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Praying the Lord’s Prayer in the first person singular
My Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give me this day my daily bread, forgive me my trespasses as I forgive those who trespass against me, and lead me not into temptation but deliver me from evil for…
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The end of “friend”?
The morning after the 2016 election, I expressed shock and sorrow about the results of the voting on Facebook. I did not vote for Donald Trump. Someone I’d thought of as a friend for more than 15 years responded in anger by telling me, using these exact words, to “put on your big girl pants…