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Are You Optimistic? The Online Etymology Dictionary is my friend. It often confirms my quasi-informed suspicions about words and their origins—including the word optimism. When I say that I am optimistic, I want to know whether what I think I mean is what I am actually saying. The word came into English through the French…
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Maturity is not guaranteed by age. I am meditating on maturity. We can grow old and still remain stuck in childish notions, habits, and patterns. At the same time, some people begin to mature remarkably early. They embrace who they are. They acknowledge their pain and struggles. They decide to move forward. They open themselves…
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Sing to the Lord “Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.”—Exodus 15:1 KJV Almost everything reminds me of a song. It might be a…
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Frankly, I’m Too Busy—and Too Broke We have only so much mental, physical, and emotional energy. If we spend it, it is spent. If we spend it fretting about something that will ultimately take care of itself, we have wasted a limited resource. Fretting is expensive, and frankly, I am too busy and too broke…
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The psalmist gives us three positive choices with the power to interrupt three destructive responses: “Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.”—Psalm 37:8 We can make a deliberate choice in each of these areas. When anger arises, we can refrain from it. We can acknowledge our anger without allowing…
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Brittle, rotten, bug infested? Supple, living, love-invested? I am a tree, and I am planted Taking nothing now, for granted. Needy, wanting, hoping, come, I to Thee, to Thy Kingdom. All to Thee, my trust forever. Nothing shall this life-flow sever.
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Bible Chats You Might Have Missed – cross-posted to https://biblechatwithpastortom.blogspot.com/ Bible Chat is an ongoing conversation with Scripture. Some studies grow out of the daily lectionary. Others develop from sermons, questions, theological reflections, or moments when an ancient passage speaks with particular freshness to the present. Each Bible Chat begins with the biblical text but does…
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The Christ We Confess and the Way We Follow Matthew 16:5–28 Peter gave the right answer about Jesus—and then immediately tried to tell Jesus how to be the Messiah. That is one of the central tensions in Matthew 16. Christian faith requires a correct confession, but it does not end there. It is not enough…
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“Then the LORD called, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ and he said, ‘Here I am!’” —1 Samuel 3:4 “The word of the LORD was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.” —1 Samuel 3:1b In the days of Samuel, when God’s word did not regularly rest upon the ears of the people, the lamp of God still…
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