Christian Living

Think…think…think…

If you have young children, you may recognize the title of this post as a quote. For those that may not have the powers of kid-TV-knowledge, the quote comes from a character beloved by many: Winnie the Pooh. Whenever he gets in a bind, you see him with hand tapping the side of his head, with that arm held up by the other. “Think…think…think…”

I learned a new game this summer at work. It is simply called, “The Game,” and as soon as you think about it, you lose. (For those that know the Game, you just lost!) What thoughts have held your mind’s attention today?

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Christian Living

In Need of Peace

It’s ironic, I think, that as we stand at the gateway to the Christmas season, we find ourselves suddenly in a panic. When we should be echoing the angel cry, “Peace on Earth,” we instead find ourselves full of fear, uncertainty, and doubt.

What’s driving this sudden assault on peace in our lives? If you’ve been in a box for the past week or so, it is the H1N1 virus.

I’m not going to take a stance on whether or not you, as a Christian, should go out and get the vaccine. Something tells me that if you want to find an argument for one side or the other, there are plenty out there on the internet. For some of us it might be as simple as logging in to Facebook. Like I said, though, that’s not why I’m writing.

Honestly, it seems that whether we have had the vaccine or not, we still find ourselves handcuffed by the spread of this virus. What does that mean for us? Does it reveal something in our lives? That’s why I’m writing today.

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Bible, Christian Living

To See Jesus – 2

We started some thoughts on whether it is good for us to long to physically see Christ while we live on this earth. For whatever reason, many have come to believe that they must see Him. Some believe that it will be a sort of seal of approval on their conversion. Others believe that you cannot truly profess to be a Christian until you have seen Him.

There are few in the New Testament who saw Christ following His ascension into the clouds. We talked about two of them in the previous post. Let’s look at one more, and then see if we can tell why they were allowed to see Jesus.

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Bible, Christian Living

To See Jesus

What do you hope or wish for? What is that you long for? Where would you go? Who would you see? What would you do? We all have dreams and desires, for our present, for our future and for the futures of others.

These dreams and hopes are often our motivation for dealing with the ins and outs of our daily lives. We drag ourselves out of bet and push through another work day because we hold to the hope that our will work will be noticed, we’ll get that promotion, start making more money, and be able to buy a home of our own, or take the family on that special vacation.

Most of our hopes and dreams are related to this physical life. Work, home, family, relationships, achievements. We don’t often wish for something in the spiritual realm. If we do, it’s usually related to healing, miracles, or another kind of blessing that actually affects our temporal lives.

That is, of course, with exception. I’ve run into some people who simply want to see Jesus. But is it really as simple as it sounds, and should we be hoping so intently for it to happen?

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Christian Living

The Right Thing

What criteria do you use to make decisions? Are they different between issues involving your family, your work life, or church and ministry? Some of us leadership often find ourselves having to make difficult decisions. In reality, the winning argument is often right in front of us. The difficulty is in the follow through, choosing the right path.

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Christian Living

A Sense of Urgency

When was the last time you were in the store, maybe a department, grocery or convenience store, and thought you’d pick the shortest line so you would have the shortest wait? If you’re like me, you often find yourself wishing you had picked a different line. It seems that whenever we have someplace to go or something to do, and even if we don’t, we tend stand and wait while the person ahead of us counts exact change, has to write out a check, or goes through a couple of different credit cards, all to pay for the three items that you guessed would get him or her through the checkout line in a hurry.

Today I found myself in one of those situations. Just before I started stewing, God reminded me of a truth that I often speak about in ministry and Christian living.

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