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The Wonder of Christ in You

February 16, 2015
| 34 Comments
| Categories: Who we are in Christ / Identity of a believer

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Today was the day we had been waiting for all winter.

We spent twenty minutes locating hats, snow pants, the lost boot and the missing glove.  We made the trek to our backyard sledding hill (the alley behind our house). I listened intently to each crunching footstep. Last winter, snow was a regular occurrence.  Somehow, this winter, we have missed much of the snow that the rest of the nation has received.

Today was different.  Today we reveled in the snow. We lifted the shades higher and broke out the camera…

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Loving the Living Stones

February 8, 2015
| 26 Comments
| Categories: Who we are in Christ / Identity of a believer

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Sometimes that sweet steeple can have some ugly underneath it.  I think it’s safe to say it out loud.  I don’t know too many who haven’t been disappointed by something ugly that has happened in church.

There will be disappointments within the walls or under the steeples of our churches, but we are witnesses to a watching world in how we respond to those disappointments.

When I say church, I mean the place where we meet on Sundays, not the world-wide church, the body of Christ made up of every believer.

I’ve experienced the two…

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Our Truest Identity: Living Stones

February 2, 2015
| 13 Comments
| Categories: Who we are in Christ / Identity of a believer

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“As you come to Him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”               – 1 Peter 2:4-5

So often I equate the abundant Christian life to simply my personal relationship with Jesus: saying no to sin, yes to the freedom I have not to sin, turning toward Jesus…

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When Longing for More is Good

January 19, 2015
| 29 Comments
| Categories: Encouragement, Fear

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“Those ice cakes may have traveled all the way from South Dakota,”  my dad said as he clicked away on his camera.

The Missouri River runs through my town carrying ice cakes with it toward the gulf.  My dad, the kids and I explored it.  We watched the cakes quickly race by while the stagnant water in small inlets remained frozen, cracked and unmoved.

I wondered what the ice cakes have seen.  How long they’ll stay solid and where the last frozen chunk will melt.  As a child I always wanted to…

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Glory to the Newborn King

December 20, 2014
| 4 Comments
| Categories: Jesus

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Vasari, Giorgio, The Nativity, c. 1546

If we exalt Christ, we elevate Him to a high rank or position in our lives–our heart, mind and spirit.  Are you allowing Christ the King to reign there right now…in these last days leading up to Christmas?  Or do you sense other stuff vying for that place of position in your life right now?  I am overwhelmed at the thought of all of the things to do and the things I COULD do right now and in this next week.  Yet the…

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His Purpose – To Become Our High Priest

December 13, 2014
| 13 Comments
| Categories: Jesus

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Saraceni, Carlo, The Birth of Christ, c.1610

Hebrews 7:24-28

“24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. 26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer…

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Born of a Woman

December 6, 2014
| 10 Comments
| Categories: Jesus

 

Correggio

Correggio, Nativity (Holy Night), 1528-30

 Galations 4:4-5

“4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”

Aren’t you glad that “the fullness of time” had come over 2,000 years ago and that you are on this side of that mark in time?  Our God allowed being born into our world like us in order to be born under the law, live the perfect…

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The Radical Ordinary

November 25, 2014
| 5 Comments
| Categories: Encouragement

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My last post on The Jesus Ripple Effect seemed to resonate with many of my readers.  In it I pondered the radical life of simply following the Lord through turning away from sin and loving others.  So I’m revisiting a post from over a year ago while I prepare to blog over the Christmas season.  This blog post was titled The Radical Ordinary.  In it, I reminded myself that living a simple life as a Christian can be radical.

This Thanksgiving I happen to be pondering how thankful I am for simply living…

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The Jesus Ripple Effect

November 17, 2014
| 23 Comments
| Categories: Jesus, Ministry and Serving, Spiritual Growth

Water Ripples and Greenery

I want beauty in my life.

I want it to be in the form of refreshment for myself and others.

I want to see Jesus more in my life.

I want the Jesus ripple effect.

I see it play out in chapter seven of the second book of Corinthians. This beauty and refreshment released in the lives who make up the body of Christ. It happened when they repented and turned toward God and others in love.

Chapter six tells us God’s word to us about himself:

“I will make my dwelling among…

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News that is Praiseworthy

November 2, 2014
| No Comments
| Categories: Encouragement

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The leaves are looking more brown than red now days and most are on the ground.  We had our first frost this week with a low of twenty-six .   I do believe I feel the earth tilting farther away from the sun.

But the glorious sunrise and some good news warms my heart this chilly November morning.

The headlines of our national and world news are far from encouraging.  Are you as weary as I am?

A plague of terror and a plague of sickness seem to reign over the minds of the…

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