Tag: Christian Living

Christian Living

Delays

Chris

I traveled home to Minnesota this week for the privilege of standing next to my brother as he tied the knot.  It’s a good thing we had some things to look forward to this week, because we faced a terrible traveling situation flying out.

We showed up for a 5 pm flight out of Portland, Maine, on time around 3 pm.  After checking in at a kiosk with the help of a nice security/baggage guy, we had our boarding passes and headed for security, feeling like we were on our way.

After passing quickly through the check point, we were headed for our gate when we heard our names on the PA system, calling us to a different gate for a message.  The friendly airline employee asked if anyone had explained our flight delay to us.  My wife and I looked at each other and knew we were in trouble.

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Christian Living

Victory or Peace?

Chris

It’s been almost two weeks since the passing of my father-in-law, but some of the lessons I’ve learned in the past month stand at the forefront of my thoughts and conversations.

I mentioned previously that he was convinced he was under the attack of Satan, and therefore needed deliverance and victory.  Since he slept little in his last months, he would often stay up most of the night watching Christian television.  He called in and signed up for information from an evangelist who promised healing and prosperity and spiritual victory, as long as we sent X-amount of dollars each time we received a mailing.  Books on divine healing would come in and he would read them, he would try the miracle spring water and the Dead Sea salt because he was so desperate for deliverance.

For those of you who might not have guessed from that last paragraph, I am a Spirit-filled believer and minister who believes in what God has provided us through the death of His Son (for example, read Isaiah 53 and 61).  But at a certain point in the dark valleys of life, we need to grapple with whether God wants us to trust in Him for victory, or for peace.

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Bible, Christian Living

What else could it be? Questions about sickness.

Chris

This week I’ve been thinking about my father-in-law.  Most of you wouldn’t know him from Adam, so I think I’m safe discussing things here.  Actually, he is on our minds a lot.  Why?  Because he’s dying.  There’s no easy way to come around to it, it’s just a matter of time. 

A few summers ago he had a series of strokes and possibly heart attacks that so ravaged his body that the doctor’s never expected him to live.  But he came out, for the most part, with little consequence.  About a year ago he had surgery for colon cancer, and they removed as much as they could; some was still near the spine, and that has since made it into his bone.  And now a genetic disease, Huntington’s Disease, that most of us knew would be kicking in, has come on full force and is taking his mind.

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Bible, Christian Living

Eyes on the Prize

Chris

It’s the “dog days of summer” now, and though baseball is making it’s way to the playoffs, most other professional sports are on hiatus.  In the (American) football world, the CFL just recently hit the regular season, while the NFL just started its preseason.  The NHL and NBA are on their off-season, while the WNBA is getting going again.  There is talk of drafts, free agents, trades, contracts . . .

But what is the goal of every game, every player transaction, every contract and every move?  To win a championship.  In the world of sports, it is easy to identify the prize, and equally obvious what it means to keep your eyes on the prize.

We as Christians also have a “prize.”  There is a goal that we should be living for.  That prize is Heaven.

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Christian Living

Selling Eternity

Chris

The main reason for starting this series (one that seems to almost be eternal) was that I started to think about what our picture of eternity is truly like, and whether or not we as Christians actually want to go there.

Of course, our first response is that we want to go there, seeing as the alternative is anything but pleasant.  We’ve sold Heaven strictly as the alternative to Hell, and I think that we have failed to truly understand what it is all about and that we should truly long for “those pearly gates.”

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Bible

Eternal Roles 4

Chris

There is just one more role that we should examine.  If you have questions from the previous post, this might actually help answer some of those for you.  The basis of our ability to rule/judge in eternity is because of this last role.

If you thought that these were acts reserved for God alone, we have to take one thing into consideration.  For we know that Christ is King and Judge, and He receives those roles Himself because He is the Son of God.  But we, too, are sons, adopted as if we were born of the Father Himself.  Therefore we are joint-heirs with Christ.

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