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15 Encouraging Bible Verses for the Graduates of 2021
So blessed to be able to write this, especially after such a crazy year!Congratulations graduates! www.rocksolidfaith.ca/bible-verses-for-graduates/
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Raising Children in a Success Obsessed World
As we finish another school year, praying I will focus on God’s definition of success, and not the world’s. twitter.com/pcacdm/status/1291310561783951360
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Why We Are All Foreign Missionaries Right Now
In 1996, I taught English in Xingjian, a remote province in China. Bordering Kazakhstan and Mongolia, this obscure province is where Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was filmed and is currently well known for the Uighur “reeducation camps” located there. My only longer-term (6 weeks) overseas experience left me with many insights: Denominational differences are not as important in spiritually oppressed cultures. The brothers and sisters living there spoke of secret “bathtub” baptisms, ostrasization by family members, “blacklisting” or complete disappearance of new believers, and yes, the death sentence for those found guilty of “proselytizing”. Pentecostal and reformed were not at odds. Believers were truly family. They stuck together despite denominational…
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A #Mother’s Day Prayer in an Imperfect World
While holidays tend to highlight the pain of the lonely and broken, the gospel gives comfort. Psalm 68 reminds us the God is “A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families. . . . “ (Psalm 86:5-6). James 1 explains, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this; to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (James 1:27). In short, the church is meant to be a family in a world when so many don’t have one.
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Lord, Fix My Eyes
Yep. That’s definitely what’s happened to me. I am definitely weary. Tired of quarreling and fighting, promises of quick fixes that only seem to perpetuate society’s already ill state. On top of my frustration with the state of, well, everything, I seem to have spiritual amnesia. I somehow believe that I am living in the first time in history without direction, characterized by godlessness, unrest and, yes, insanity. In my frustration, I am conveniently forgetting, blind really, not only God’s sovereignty and love, but the uncertainty of the Abraham’s barrenness, Joseph’s sale and slavery, Daniel’s den and furnace, the Israelites’ captivity again and again; not to mention Christ’s crucifixion during…
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I Lift My Eyes
In the year 2000, I began a six year stint as a teacher in a treatment facility. I had just moved back my home state of Montana, after spending 6 years in Oklahoma and Texas, when my Grandmother died tragically. I missed my family, and I was really questioning how I had spent so many years in the flat lands, so I moved home. That year I began a six year stint as a teacher in a treatment facility. My experience in this setting is and was invaluable. As I taught, worked in the residential lodges, and helped lead worship with the students I taught, I was educated in what…
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Faith-Based Parenting: Restrictive or Compassionate?
In 22 years of teaching in public schools, I’ve seen a lot of change. Technological advances, educational trends, parenting styles, behavioral patterns; a lot has changed. One particular change, a growing movement over the years, is that of atheism or agnosticism. In short, many more parents of this generation have decided to raise their children without religion. My first clue to this societal shift came over ten years ago, when only one student in class of fifteen knew that Christmas was about a birth. In recent years, I have seen it more and more. The reason? From what I have been told by friends of mine who’ve made this decision,…
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The Shocking Truth About Easter
I have reflected on this incident many times since then. That day, I began to understand the shocking truth of Easter. Easter is about resurrection, an occurrence only brought about by a miracle of God. It means not only have our sins been covered, but we, in Christ, have conquered death. We are truly free of the fear of guilt AND of the afterlife. Without Easter, our faith is meaningless, we might as well claim nothing. Everything we know as Christians hinges on this miracle, foolishness to those who don’t believe. So, this weekend may we truly meditate on these words, “He is not here, but has risen. Remember how…
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As We #Reopen, Let the Children Lead
If you’re like me, I get a “verse of the day” on my phone. Today’s verse was Jeremiah 17:7-8 which states, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit”. What a timely word. The words “. . . does not fear”, “ . . . is not anxious”, and “does not cease to bear fruit” are so contrary to much of the what the…
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My Recent Post on Weakness by Connect PCA
When I consider my own temperament, I often question why God chooses to use seemingly difficult dispositions to accomplish his plan. Well, we may never have the answer to that question this side of heaven, but there is good news! The fathers and mothers of the faith were human too—personality flaws and all.