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Release Hidden Tensions
Neighbors called the rescue squad. There was something unusually quiet about the apartment of the old woman. They entered, found her in distress, and took her to the hospital. She had one hand tightly...
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Prayer as an Action Verb
Prayer rightly understood and practiced is the most potent instrument of action. Gandhi. Did you ever think of prayer as an instrument of action? Prayer seems so passive. You sit or you kneel and talk...
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Prayer
Prayer “Be careful what you pray for…you might just get it,” so says a friend. She refers to praying for patience. You will be given many opportunities to live in patience until you absorb the lesson....
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Practicing Compassion
Conditions at home have reached an unbearable point. “I’ve got to get out of here,” they think. Someone says, there’s hope in America. The word spreads. Groups start the long and treacherous journey....
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Prayer Is Not Difficult
Jude, the next-to-last book in the Bible, warns us about the dangers of trusting and following the wrong people. The writer advises prayer as the answer to building us up and keeping us on the right...
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Prayer–Slow Down and Listen
“Most conversations are a monologue with witnesses.” (Attributed to Mark Twain.) Is your prayer life like that? Yesterday I wrote about meditation and contemplation. The foundation of both is to slow...
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Don’t Turn a Spiritual Problem into a Political One
My heart continues to break over the fallout of the Ferguson, MO events. One thing that really affects me is the number of posts on Facebook from my “Christian friends” that perpetuate a meme making...
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Praying Your Way Out
There is one God, the Father, From whom are all things, and we to him; And one Lord, Jesus the Messiah, Through whom are all things, and we through him. –1 Cor 8:6 (The sh’ma rewritten by Paul) One of...
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Conversation With God
I sit and try to meditate opening up myself to an experience with God. My thoughts distract me. I refocus, breathe deeply and regularly. Focus on God (I repeat the word to maintain my focus). My...
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Prayer Beyond Words
“In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.” – Mark 1:35 One thing that has impressed me almost from the first time I read the...
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Do You Want To Get Lucky
An old joke from the Newhart Show set in Vermont. The handyman, Tom Poston, finds a stray dog and takes him in. He names the dog Lucky, because he is, well, lucky to have a home. Enter Stephanie, the...
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Grumbling In Their Tents
In Hebrew history there seems to be a recurring theme. As described in the Exodus story and the time in the wilderness carried forward into the Psalms, the people grumbled in their tents. Americans are...
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What Happened To The End of Racism?
Many people in my all-white home town gave me some grief over my civil rights views in the 1960s. But it was mild, if pointed. And I survived driving through Mississippi a couple of times in 1970 with...
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Teach Us To Pray
“Lord, teach us to pray.” Writing about prayer yesterday dredged up some memories of teaching people to pray. Paul has much to say that is practical. Jesus’ disciples asked him point blank one day. He...
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How We Can Pray Without Ceasing
Our friend, the apostle Paul, gave this advice to the disciples in Thessalonica, “Pray without ceasing.” That sounds so simple. But wait, how can you do that? You wake up in the morning. Think of that...
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Be Filled With the Fullness of God
I will be looking at Ephesians for a few weeks with a small group. We used to pride ourselves on how long we took going through a book. Now, they seem to rush through. The leader covered two chapters...
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Choose Peace Not Stress
We live in a time of high stress according to many writers. I think that humans have always faced stressful circumstances. Think about living in houses or shelters ill-equipped for the winter with the...
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Pray With Intention And Trust
It was just a simple movement. Stretching across the driver’s seat to put some stuff on the passenger seat before I left for a business meeting in Cleveland. In that instant, my quadriceps muscle...
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I’ll Pray About That–Really?
“I’m so sorry about you losing your job and your car breaking down. I’ll be sure to pray about that.” “I’m sorry to hear about all your troubles, Sarah. I’ll pray that someone helps you out.” “I need...
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Cultivate The Need for Prayer and Reflection
The Archbishop once told me that people often think he needs time to pray and reflect because he is a religious leader. He said those who must live in the marketplace—business-people, professionals,...
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