Tag Archives: small group

Weep With Those Who Weep

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This is not the blog I started writing the morning before a monstrous tornado hit Oklahoma.  This is written as news of the rising death toll streams across my screen.  As I switched between news sources I was stopped by this simple sentence on CNN:

“A father of a third-grader still missing sat quietly on a stool. Tears fell from his eyes as he waited for news of his son.”

Night has fallen in Moore, Oklahoma, and the searchers are looking for missing children at the elementary school. When I think of that waiting dad, my tears fall, too. Continue reading →

Leap of Faith

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The longest jump I ever cared to make was 6 feet into a lake, which is why Felix Baumgartner’s skydive from 24 miles up boggles my mind.  Just looking at the photos from his helium balloon makes my stomach cringe.  Where did Baumgartner get the courage to step out of the capsule and jump?  Was the jump a crazy leap of faith?  Or was it a step of reason?

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Oh, Brother!

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Jesus grew up with at least four brothers and a few sisters. He was the oldest sibling in this typical Jewish family from Galilee.

If you have an older brother, as I do, you know this can be a mixed bag. An older brother watches out for you, but he also likes to tell you what to do. Can you imagine what it was like to grow up with a perfect older brother who never did anything wrong? What if he told you he was equal to God? That would be a problem.  It was a big problem for Jesus’ brother James.

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There Will Be A Test

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“There will be a test” are words few students enjoy hearing.   “There will be a field trip” or “there will be a group project” sound so much better than a test. Which is why we find it so strange to read in the Bible:

Consider it nothing but joy when you fall into all sorts of trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 

What is a faith test? How do I know if I passed? Why should I be happy about it? Continue reading →

Got Your Six!

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“I’ve got your six,” my friend wrote at the end of his email. “My six what ?” I wondered.      A google search told me he meant, “I’ve got your back.”   I still wondered, “Six what? Six vertebrae?”

But I should have known, since my dad had taught me many years ago what the six meant. Continue reading →

Need Light?

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Recently I was happily pushing my shopping cart down the soda aisle when…. uh oh….the place went silent and dark.  DARK.  Totally prepared, I reached in my bag, pulled out my LED mini-flashlight, and turned it on.  I was pleasantly amazed at how much of the aisle was now lit up.  I could easily have led everyone to safety.  But the generators kicked in and we resumed shopping.

Sometimes life goes suddenly dark, doesn’t it?  An unexpected event changes everything and we can’t see a way out.  Unless, of course, we carry a source of light with us. Continue reading →

What’s Pulling You?

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How much horsepower do you need to pull 14 water skiers?  I hadn’t thought about that until the U.S. Water Ski Team came to town with their show.  The skiers were great with their pyramids and jumps.  But what really caught my attention were the motors and drivers. Continue reading →

My Refuge

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I write this on the porch of my grandmother’s cabin in the woods.  Grandma moved onto heaven when I was an infant, but she left me this wonderful gift of a summer refuge in the Adirondack Mountains.   As I write, I look down a birch-lined road to a sparkling lake.  Tranquility rules.

But not all the time…….one morning we awoke to howling wind and havoc. Continue reading →

Walking Into Fire

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We received long-awaited good news in our family last week: Josh, my youngest son, was hired by the City of Paterson as a Firefighter/EMT.  Josh worked hard and long to attain this position.  I am thrilled and extremely proud of him.

But when I share this good news, not everyone’s equally delighted.  Many of my friends get a concerned look and ask, “Does that scare you?  Do you mind that he chose such a dangerous profession?”      Well, to be honest, at one time I was scared…… Continue reading →

Riptide!

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This is “Rip Current Awareness Week,” and once again the dangerous nature of a riptide is in the news.   A rip current, often called a riptide,  is a strong channel of water flowing seaward from near the shore.  Riptides can flow at a rate of up to eight feet per second, dragging a swimmer quickly away from shore.  Even an experienced swimmer can exhaust himself trying to fight their strength.

Would you know how to escape if you were suddenly caught in a riptide? Continue reading →