tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39479016770576353962024-03-05T00:55:02.973-05:00Kingdom BloggersMany Writers. . . All Serving the Kingdom.David-FireAndGracehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13540931140500045826noreply@blogger.comBlogger803125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947901677057635396.post-87392940160227900472013-05-07T10:11:00.000-04:002013-05-07T10:11:22.658-04:00Parenthood Should Have a No-Return Policy<!--StartFragment-->
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Motherhood was not something I aspired to as a youngster. I
had no starry-eyed illusions about raising children--because I was a selfish
creature, I assumed any offspring I produced would be selfish as well, and
would thus require something I really did not want to give...my effort and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>energy, and quite possibly, the
putting aside of certain dreams and ambitions. This was something I understood
as a teenager.</div>
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As a young married adult, I sensed that God was changing my
heart about motherhood. By changing my heart, I do not mean that I suddenly
grew rose-colored glasses. He softened me to the idea that perhaps what I
wanted so badly--a career--was not His best for me. He had a deeper,
richer future for me as a wife and mom first, career second. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1XHyMCeDoFe7IHTJORUxjzLhjuQta0uXJC8T2y3MFbpVdB3CgqhBQVYqI1t6pcSLxG5BosqDktac5MLjOTitE3C-OIAvlDfOAhh2QfoEfHOXJa3Q0EUS_4dR5MmhvMkBae71vXpYvOQma/s1600/Kids+at+singing+beach+laughing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1XHyMCeDoFe7IHTJORUxjzLhjuQta0uXJC8T2y3MFbpVdB3CgqhBQVYqI1t6pcSLxG5BosqDktac5MLjOTitE3C-OIAvlDfOAhh2QfoEfHOXJa3Q0EUS_4dR5MmhvMkBae71vXpYvOQma/s320/Kids+at+singing+beach+laughing.jpg" width="320" /></a>This was not an easy change for me. Nor was it a one-time
decision. There were several times where I doubted my abilities to parent well, or struggled with leaving the career-track. Sometimes, the idea of taking a long vacation from
parenting seemed really tempting--but since I missed my children when away just one night, ditching them long term was never going to happen. And
after a short season of restlessness, God would always give me an event or
sweet reminder that I was chosen to be the loving mom to three precious lives. I was
on the right path, even though it was not always smooth. </div>
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So, the other day I read--with probably not a little
judgment-- about grown women increasingly choosing to shirk motherhood because
the choice they originally made is “not a fit” for them. These include
women with college degrees, many who were no doubt proclaimed to be among the
best and the brightest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was
barely out of puberty when I could see the writing on the wall of the
childbearing years, and these mothers are surprised by the work and sacrifice
of parenthood? The real challenge these women face, of course, is not
motherhood: it is the self. She looks in the mirror and sees the One Who Truly
Matters. Narcissism is the plague of our times. </div>
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Peggy Drexler wrote on CNN.com <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/04/opinion/drexler-mothers-leaving">about mothers leaving children</a> permanently in the care of fathers or other caregivers, describing the phenomenon as if it
were some kind of emotionally detached science experiment: “American culture
... is still conditioned--through the media and pop culture--to believe that
many women’s greatest desire is to have a baby. When mothers abandon their
children, it’s seen as unnatural.” </div>
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What can be “natural” about leaving your child? It is not the same as changing a career or moving to a more desirable
location. Children are not things, they are complex, feeling little beings
deeply attached to their parents. An absent parent--be it mother or
father--leaves a void. The CNN piece, by the way, ignored the fact bad
fathering even exists: if the mother willingly leaves her children, the writer seems to
assume, it must mean the father is the better care-giver, and therefore the child
will be okay. </div>
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According to writer <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deborah-moskovitch/oprahs-most-memorable-gue_1_b_869497.html">Deborah Moskovitch</a>, “a parent's
rejection of a child or a parent's inconsistent presence could drastically
affect a child's self esteem ... [but] one good parent who is loving and
nurturing can overcome the negative affects of losing the relationship with the
other parent.” </div>
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This assumes there is a good parent or caregiver left behind as
well.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Motherhood is a gift. Just ask any woman yearning to have a
child. A gift can be returned if it doesn’t fit, or if you already have one like
it. But parenthood should have a no-return policy. Our children need us. If you
are struggling as a parent, get help. Join a support group, surround yourself
with emotionally healthy people who care about your family, communicate
honestly with your spouse about your struggles, speak with a trusted counselor.
You are a gift to your children, one they would not choose to return.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>"I’ve told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends." John 15:13</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">.</span></div>
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Kerry Luddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17045222042728034869noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947901677057635396.post-1126607303182385372013-05-07T07:31:00.000-04:002013-05-07T07:31:36.597-04:00In anticipation of mother's day<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje8PG2xq7M9EeBVYwxAy8tnXbzZ15-o6Zx0pcMoCs3On8NpAt1xP83WZjReO7Gz_XG0X98SoIwNbwqX5MBKZjllmE38vyb4_GIz9cS50Ah5DMDmz4UdTV7GixTLZu98dmgSI5KSPIiLsLS/s1600/935335_10151492610773267_306619723_n+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje8PG2xq7M9EeBVYwxAy8tnXbzZ15-o6Zx0pcMoCs3On8NpAt1xP83WZjReO7Gz_XG0X98SoIwNbwqX5MBKZjllmE38vyb4_GIz9cS50Ah5DMDmz4UdTV7GixTLZu98dmgSI5KSPIiLsLS/s320/935335_10151492610773267_306619723_n+(1).jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dr, Joyce</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
For the next few weeks, in honor of Mother's Day, we are going to be talking about Godly women. First, those Godly women in our lives who shaped us - could be our moms or other women whose love and influenced help make us who we are. Next week, our focus will shift to the heroes of faith in the Bible who are female. We'll look first at those from the Old Testament and then those from the New Testament.<br />
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While writing has been slow by your KBers, and we apologize, let me give you a brief update. I finished my doctoral degree completely - no more hoops or obstacles, I'm Dr. Joyce now. My graduation ceremony was last Saturday and on that day we had a HUGE banquet type party to celebrate that, and our 35th Wedding Anniversary that is actually in February. I've been exhausted. And no break from work, so, I apologize again for being slow with writing. I got to see all my children and hold for the first time my two great granddaughters, the twins. I also got to see again one of my other great granddaughters - the other two great grandbabies couldn't make it -- Most of the grandkids were there as well! <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifPeLaVCc1Fe_3NcvDDkJ2-DIfiRrWKOU4DCUvd77jXULwhyphenhyphen6aQGAXf9AM2gSMItIn4mYkH2njhL3SscXrzEeXDKIdOa_ysLYJDagrnkiKm2QzIn0KHG1m-4x_PrI-9JXb9pUSd90ZfTEk/s1600/255770_10151496672278267_1677668187_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifPeLaVCc1Fe_3NcvDDkJ2-DIfiRrWKOU4DCUvd77jXULwhyphenhyphen6aQGAXf9AM2gSMItIn4mYkH2njhL3SscXrzEeXDKIdOa_ysLYJDagrnkiKm2QzIn0KHG1m-4x_PrI-9JXb9pUSd90ZfTEk/s320/255770_10151496672278267_1677668187_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Super Nana Joyce</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Linda is here with me in Tennessee. I've exhausted her as well. Hopefully she'll recover enough to resume writing this week. <br />
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Jenna is taking a break from KB. She is going to be using her time for other writing efforts. We will miss her strong positive outlook and fun approach to life. We wish her all of God's best in everything she does. <br />
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Rather than write a new post, I invite you to read a former posting about Godly women - you can read about her <a href="http://ageofhopeministries.blogspot.com/2011/09/malla-moe-tante-ruth-and-saturday.html">here</a>.Joyce Ligharihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13853208533065317514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947901677057635396.post-4805063180156284602013-04-30T09:28:00.002-04:002013-04-30T09:28:35.745-04:00Benny Hinn Was Not the Reason I Went to Conference<!--StartFragment-->
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For about 10 years, I attended an annual Christian women’s
conference. As a state and local leader, I was expected to attend the national
conference (it was international every other year) and the time and dollars
required were substantial for a stay at home mom of three like me. The sacrifice to make the trip included my husband having to
take on the care of the household and the children, sometimes having to take
time off from work.</div>
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The value in attending these conferences was not just my
husband’s grateful embrace upon my return (stepping into a spouse’s shoes for
five days goes a long way in understanding the value of what he or she does in
daily life), the speakers (we had several Christian “celebrities” in the
nineties like Joni Eareckson Tada) or even visiting a new city (we had very
little time to see the sights; my favorite place was Nashville and watching a
show at the Grand Ole Opry). It was the opportunity to connect with my local
team in a deeper way, away from the daily grind, and to experience teaching and worship with
over 3,000 women and men from across the nation and around the globe. </div>
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For believers who belong to megachurches where thousands are
gathered each weekend, perhaps that is not such a big deal, but for a girl from
New England where the average church size is around 60 people, it was
awe-inspiring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also, this was not
a gathering of one church or even people from one region. These conferences
were a blend of dozens of different denominations who laid down theological
differences at the door to embrace the mission of helping to spread the Gospel
throughout the world. </div>
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God showed up in a special way at these conferences and the
music/worship was powerful. I really don’t remember many of the speakers (Benny
Hinn was at one conference, but I have no recollection of what he said, which
is probably for the best), but I will never forget God’s presence in the
worship. These women were free in expressing their love and adoration for Jesus
and He was lifted up as the only reason we were gathered. It was not about the
speaker that would soon approach the podium, it was about our Lord who had
gathered his warrior women who wanted to make a difference in their communities
and countries.</div>
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Attending conferences may not be fruitful for everyone. Depending on the organization, conferences may be more concerned with generating income for the organization than actually providing a deep benefit for the attendees. I would attend events expecting God to show up, to speak something through the speakers, special sessions, or the worship, to help grow me up in Him and expand my understanding of what was happening around the globe, and He never disappointed. Over the years, I have found that attending smaller, more intimate gatherings can be just as impacting and special. And guess what? God shows up.</div>
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Kerry Luddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17045222042728034869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947901677057635396.post-74344811890586212242013-04-29T17:03:00.003-04:002013-04-29T17:03:52.994-04:00Esse Quam Videri<b><i>This week the Kingdom Bloggers will be reflecting on a conference that was life changing. We'd love to hear from you how a conference might have affected your life as well!</i></b><br />
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I've been to lots and lots of conferences over the years. I've even spoke at some. I love them! I love to get away with fellow believers. For me the fellowship is always the best part. Sometimes the teaching or speaking gets a little long... I have a hard time sitting still in hard chairs (or benches) squeezed in together with people - that's the part of the fellowship I don't care for.<br />
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As I reflected on our topic for this week, I have been stuck. It was the life changing part that has me stuck. That's a pretty high benchmark. <br />
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If you've been reading Kingdom Bloggers for a while, you remember I headed off to graduate school to get my doctoral degree three-years ago. That first summer, I was required to spend 10 days in a dorm room and go to class day and night - literally! Okay, I know that's not a conference, but it was a bit like an extended conference/seminar. AND IT WAS LIFE-CHANGING! And God was there. At least I found Him there.<br />
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During that summer, I learned that I could survive and keep up with people half my age and less. I was up for the mental and physical challenge. Okay, I was probably more exhausted than the others, but I made it through. <br />
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But what was life changing? Two things - one, I re-learned the message of being response-ABLE. That I was actually in control. I didn't have to be victimized by stimulus around me. I had the ability to choose my response. That was huge! I've often been subject to the whims of others and allowed them to effect my mood, feelings about myself, and choices - rather than choosing for myself.<br />
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The second thing was that all I have to do is be... being me is enough! It's okay! It's okay to be. Esse Quam Videre means <i>to be rather than to seem</i>. Being authentic AND knowing it is okay to be authentic, to be me is all I am required to be!<br />
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It is hard to put into words how much internalizing and moving forward in this messages has changed me. Know I teach some of these messages to my students - and every time I teach it something happens that forces me to once again stop and choose - to practice being rather than performing.<br />
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Sometimes, we think we need to run to a conference for a life changing experience. That's true - but it is also true that God uses all sorts of things to transform us into His image. Right now, I'd love to get away with Jesus at a conference, but I also know He is right here in my living room and His power to transform is always there.Joyce Ligharihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13853208533065317514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947901677057635396.post-62097946066810332262013-04-24T08:07:00.005-04:002013-04-24T08:26:06.743-04:00Angelina's God Book by Jenna Vick Silliman<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">How does a child view God? This is our theme for Kingdom Bloggers this week and today is my day to post a writing. My little friend, Angelina, age 8, graciously gave me permission to share some of the entries she has written in her "God Book" as she calls it. Children know more than we realize sometimes!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Angelina wrote:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;">God </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%; text-align: center;">is amazing. God is GOOD.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;">There are hearts open for God.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 115%;">I love God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 115%;">The Bible contains the mind of God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 115%;">God, the kingdom is the best.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 115%;">Love love…sing to the love.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 18px;">Put your heart into it. –God</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 115%;">God MOM DAD
family LOVE.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The Lord is the best thing </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;">I've</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> ever seen </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;">in my holl
and tire life. Good thing He’s HERE.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 115%;">I love the King…..He is so beautiful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 115%;">God, I am Yours.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 115%;">Angelina’s sword is from God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 115%;">The heavens open yes they do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 115%;">My mom and dad are into God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 115%;">I love GOD just the way he is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">God is love to me.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Jenna Vick Sillimanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16160610705420543798noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947901677057635396.post-22505231173313996032013-04-17T10:23:00.001-04:002013-04-17T10:28:17.573-04:00My Next Book by Jenna Vick Silliman<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqUF0ig6U0apAi_O9aZgW24VC4HXTMbUFdYXvE0mTJqZe6ZoAEAMzyY12Y4FVNn_WY98dxSZ-OsAEL8kQhP3jcqRgwu2DH_qBnzZEoxy8JnAheVivc12ot25sZu8VbZhimD_iyGXahe8U/s1600/book+with+heart+page.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; color: #297aff; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqUF0ig6U0apAi_O9aZgW24VC4HXTMbUFdYXvE0mTJqZe6ZoAEAMzyY12Y4FVNn_WY98dxSZ-OsAEL8kQhP3jcqRgwu2DH_qBnzZEoxy8JnAheVivc12ot25sZu8VbZhimD_iyGXahe8U/s1600/book+with+heart+page.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; border: 1px solid rgb(236, 236, 236); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px; position: relative;" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.52777671813965px;">If I were to write a book, what would be the genre? I choose Health and Beauty Aids. Hahaha! Sounds like a department at the Drug Store! Seriously, that’s my area of interest. I’m a teacher type, so I write instructional or informational manuals. Wow, that sounds really boring, but I can’t help it—that’s what I write.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.52777671813965px;">I have to add, however, the word “another” to the first sentence. If I were to write ANOTHER book? I’ve already written and self-published and sold several different books—or booklets. I have to laugh again—hahaha! My daughter’s voice and she just reminded me that the accurate description is a chap book and NOT a booklet. I guess that is what they call them now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.52777671813965px;">My first one is called “SOAP Handbook” and I wrote it about 16 years ago. It is the history, chemistry and old time craft of soapmaking. It includes my own recipe for making homemade soap in your blender. (No, not the Vita-mix—you need to use some cheap blender from a yard sale!) I used to speak and do soapmaking workshops and I sold my soap through mail order and at the street fairs. I still have the big wooden soap molds, but they serve to decorate the walls of my laundry room. I haven’t made soap in many years. My boys hated the fragrances of the essential oil that clung to everything in the house when I made soap. Even your sandwich would smell like lavender oil. Hahaha! Not too appetizing, eh?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.52777671813965px;">I wrote a little book called “Home Remedies” and another one with a collection of poems and stories called Mama’s Story Book. I wrote one with Twenty Lists (everyone likes my lists) and one called “Say Yes to Life” which is a long poem about welcoming the children God might want to add to your family. I also wrote one that was more substantial than a booklet called “Breastfeeding and Fertility” for new mothers that might be interested in that topic. It was published with a spiral binding by my friend, Nancy Campbell, editor of a mother’s magazine called “Above Rubies.” It is for sale in the back of the magazine, available by mail order and over the website<a href="http://www.aboverubies.org/" style="color: #818181; text-decoration: none;">www.aboverubies.org</a> and also at the Above Rubies retreats. I’ve written several articles for the magazine to encourage mothers. One of my booklets started out as an article for “Above Rubies Magazine” and also was published in “Vibrant Health” and later grew to 40 pages. It is called “Raw Victory” and it is the story of how I lost 75 pounds eating raw vegetarian. It is also a “How To” or instructional type of book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.52777671813965px;">Next I want to re-write, update, re-title, and add to “Raw Victory.” Again, I will self-publish and distribute it on my own. My dream, however, is to be published and have a book with a spine, sold at bookstores everywhere. Maybe, just maybe, I will graduate from “booklet” to “book”. Now is the time to get to work and go for it and see my dream become a reality. So, to answer the question, my BOOK is about healthy living. Thanks for asking! </span></div>
Jenna Vick Sillimanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16160610705420543798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947901677057635396.post-71517188361210747522013-04-15T10:01:00.000-04:002013-04-15T10:01:13.898-04:00Meet the Author(s)<br />
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: blue;">It’s
Monday and time for another full week of writings from your faithful Kingdom
Bloggers. Tony is taking a sabbatical,
and Joyce (that’s me) has rejoined us.
Joyce is taking the lead each week with the Monday postings. </span></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: blue;">This week, we return to a topic we’ve done
before: if you were to write a book (or are writing a book) what would you
write, what would the title be, would it be adult or children’s, etc? We might surprise you, there might be some
changes AND we have some new voices on Kingdom Bloggers, so you are sure to
enjoy this week’s writings. </span></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: blue;">We write for
the glory of God and hope you’ll add us to your regular reading and tell your
friends about Kingdom Bloggers.</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I’ve been talking about writing a book for
FOREVER. When I was in High School, I
read an essay in our textbook. I have no
idea what the essay was, or who wrote it.
What I do remember was writing a reflection on it. In that reflection, I said that I liked the
essay because it was about a writer and that was what I wanted to be when I
grew up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Well, I guess I haven’t grown up yet. That’s good because I hate the thought of
being old. Recently, I had to write
something for graduation about what I learned in the doctoral program. I said that I learned that age was a number,
it didn’t define me, or limit me. That
means there is still time to write and be an author.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Once upon a long time ago, I was very much involved
in children’s ministry. One summer, our
theme was Psalm 150. It’s a great Psalm
that serves as the finale crescendo to the book of Psalms. It sums up all the praises and laments of
Psalms with three words:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: blue;">PRAISE THE LORD! </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">To help with teaching the children about praising
God and the book of Psalms I had a little finger puppet – he was a field mouse
named <i>Selah</i>. I told the children that
there was a funny word in the book of Psalms.
No one knew for sure what it
meant – I told them it was a secret. The
word really was the name of a field mouse that King David found when he was a shepherd
boy. When David was praising God, he’d
call <i>Selah</i>. David carried <i>Selah </i>with him
everywhere.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What a great children’s storybook series I
thought. <i>Selah</i>, the mouse in King David’s
pocket would tell the story of the life of David from the eyes of a field
mouse. That was my book. A children’s book! Somewhere, I might still have the beginning
manuscript for that book. Someday, maybe
I’ll still try to write it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Since then, I’ve developed several deeper
theological type books in my mind. One
was on a fresh look at those verses most women love to hate – or at least
wonder about – The Virtuous Woman of Proverbs 31. I did a paper on this and developed the idea
that this could also be interpreted as a look at the mature “wife” or
church. That was my next idea for a
ground breaking book. A <i>book</i> quickly followed this on the
difficult passages in Genesis surrounding Hagar and Ishmael. I preached a sermon series shortly after 911
on the Intercession of Hagar. I thought
it would make a great book and later did a lot of theological work and even
translations of Genesis 16 from Hebrew to English.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There have been lots of books; all in my head. I recently finished my dissertation, soon I’ll
get a bound copy of that and I guess then I can say I really wrote a book. But the book that is yet to be written is a
book about my life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: blue;">I
have had several working titles and none I really like – but my story is one of
being a high school dropout who every one saw as a loser – of being a welfare
mom living in a trailer – of being a single mother after being beaten and
abandoned by her husband – of being a child bride and so much more who through
the grace of God has had a marriage of 35 years to a wonderful husband, bore
and raised 8 beautiful children, had several successful careers and now is
getting her doctoral degree. <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That’s the story I am compelled to tell and will. The day will come when I will be an author.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Joyce Ligharihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13853208533065317514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947901677057635396.post-18703091383099271462013-04-13T10:38:00.000-04:002013-04-13T10:38:09.903-04:00Imitation of Life by Linda Maynard<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">An old favorite movie is “The Imitation of Life”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I saw the 1959 version with my mother. We were both quite moved, especially a few specific heartbreaking scenes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After losing her daughter at Coney Island, Lora, a widow and budding actress, seeks to find her daughter Susie. She is frantic, understandably so.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">She eventually finds Susie eating ice cream, with another young girl, Sarah Jean. Sarah Jean’s mom, Annie was watching them. It is noteworthy that Annie is black and her daughter’s skin is light.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Lora actually thought Annie was Sarah Jean’s mammy and is surprised otherwise.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Annie is homeless and proposes to help Lora and her daughter. Lorna cannot pay her to help, but invites her to stay one night.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Annie was loving, selfless and patient and most of all had a great love for her daughter. She does allude to the color issue, talking to Lora, “How do you tell a child she was born to be hurt?”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">She was black, but the father of her daughter was light colored. Annie says “She favors her father” (meaning in looks).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As Sarah Jean grows her anger and embarrassment at having a black mother escalated. She does not accept that she is black. She eventually runs away from home. She makes wrong choices and even gets a beating from a boyfriend when he finds out she is black.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Lora’s career takes off. Susie, in the meantime resents that she was always second best to her mother’s pursuit of a career. Annie ends up raising Susie as Lora pretty much rejected her</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Years later, Annie realizes that Sarah Jean is working in a </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">scandalous place. She visits her daughter in the rooming house, saying that she just needed to see Sarah Jean to make sure she is OK. In this heartbreaking scene Sarah Jean venomously belittles her mother for coming. She yells “I am white!” Her mother however reiterates that she just want to see Sara Jean one more time. (Her health was deteriorating) She said that she cares for her and wants everything to be ok. She even asks Sarah Jean, that if she needed anything, would she be willing to contact Lora? (She knew her time was short)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As the mother is leaving the room, she tells her how much she loves her. Sarah Jean’s hard facade diminishes. She is conflicted and distressed. She starts to cry and as they hug, she whispers “Mama”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Her roommate came in, she said to Sarah Jean, after Annie left, “So honey chile’, you had a mammy?” Sarah Jean replies “Yes all my life”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Annie, eventually is bedridden and being cared for by Lora.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">She dies of a broken heart and was given a funeral she requested. It involved a large crowd, gospel singers and a horse drawn funeral carriage.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Sarah Jean returns to town. She must have been informed of Annie’s death. Just as the Funeral procession was leaving, she runs after and falls on her mother’s casket crying “Mama…please forgive me!”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I feel that Annie represents the Love that the Lord has for us. We are His, “no matter what” He realizes that we will have to go through hard times (being in this world but not of this world). In spite of how much we reject Him, spew anger at Him, and try to run away from Him…His love remains the same.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When we go astray, He goes after us, trying to woo us back Home. We can still be filled with rebellion and reject His overtures of Love.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We can be like the Prodigal who went to live out on His own. His father (our Father) knows where that will end up, but I have often thought “In LOVE…the father let him go”…He never forces us to stay.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">However, deep within her heart, Sarah Jean loved her mother. She just went so far away…she may have not known how to get back.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Lora to me represents a person with selfish ambitions. Pursuing a dream, in and of itself, is not wrong, but she sacrificed her daughter on the altar of self. Her daughter suffered.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I think it was honorable that Annie stepped in to raise Susie, but what I thought of was the term that is thrown around recently “It Takes a Village to Raise a Child” Like so many things, on the surface, it could sound good, but I don’t want my children or grandchildren or nieces and nephews to be “raised” by a society that has very different views than I do. For the most part hate God and hate Christian values. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Of course, God doesn’t die with a broken heart in the way we understand, but it IS broken and poured out with a Love that is true.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In essence you could say the life, in the natural, without God, is truly an<b><i> Imitation of Life.</i></b></span><br />
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It's Something Beautifulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05730285162820042650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947901677057635396.post-72379811852858906122013-04-09T09:52:00.000-04:002013-04-10T12:17:29.165-04:00Fairy Tales, Fantasy and Films<!--StartFragment-->
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv_l9FTjFJqR762ecklxYK9nKKqCel3Y7uAZZXD20MfjGfvIhzSsdYfs3-SaujFgYGgenmYIzRS_jgz9xGRrEifkUolDibuYlZdnHT2_jQdu_PRvXyvxdHwodl3RV35_GVKQiquG2eSSlh/s1600/ladyhawke01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv_l9FTjFJqR762ecklxYK9nKKqCel3Y7uAZZXD20MfjGfvIhzSsdYfs3-SaujFgYGgenmYIzRS_jgz9xGRrEifkUolDibuYlZdnHT2_jQdu_PRvXyvxdHwodl3RV35_GVKQiquG2eSSlh/s200/ladyhawke01.jpg" width="140" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 13pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sharing your treasured films with others can be risky: “One woman’s
trash is another woman’s treasure,” "Do not throw your pearls before swine," and other sayings come to mind as caveats. But we still do it. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 13pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I remember lending one of my favorite
films, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ladyhawke,</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> to a friend, and was stunned by her reaction: “I am
surprised that you of all people would like a film that has stuff like that.”
The ‘stuff like that’ was, I suppose, a curse that is placed on a young couple
by an evil archbishop in 13</span><sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">th</span></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> century France. “It’s a </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">fairy tale</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">!” I
replied. I scratched my head over this fellow believer’s passion for Bruce
Willis’ <i>Diehard</i> franchise yet her taking offense over the dark themes in
</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ladyhawke</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 13pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fairy tales, fantasy and science fiction films can be great tools
for telling meaningful stories. This medium puts us temporarily outside of the
gravity that holds us down: anything seems possible, beauty is in Technicolor,
evil personified, and incredible challenges to be surmounted by our heroes. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 13pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here are some of my favorites, primarily chosen for their themes of sacrifice,
overcoming adversity, love and taking on evil head-on. When Jesus walked this
earth, he was in the business of confronting evil, loving people, sacrificing
his entire life for others. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 13pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/">The Matrix</a></b>: </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 13pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“The matrix is the world that has been pulled over
your eyes.” </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 13pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Read <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Cor%204&version=NIV">2 Corinthians 4</a>. "Y</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ou cannot
die because I love you." Read <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2017:22-26&version=NIV">John 17</a>. This film is unfortunately given a bad rap because of the supposed connection to the Columbine shootings (black coats, etc). In actuality, the film is a powerful story of good and evil, conversion, sacrifice and a willingness to confront evil. (Thanks to my friend Steve Froehlich for his insights into this film.)</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxY1sIetxUScV8Dk-jUv9JXxoSn88jl6zDzesARx08y0woDhsc51EjZSQSzxSPfY3AW1bQwXC_jmsAM41mUCWBFISDCsFhyphenhyphenU-0rDZMVAF-9ORRqNiLVSlDnvtU_-v5iRyHbtZo42HiKtg2/s1600/the-lion-the-witch-and-the-wardrobe-2005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxY1sIetxUScV8Dk-jUv9JXxoSn88jl6zDzesARx08y0woDhsc51EjZSQSzxSPfY3AW1bQwXC_jmsAM41mUCWBFISDCsFhyphenhyphenU-0rDZMVAF-9ORRqNiLVSlDnvtU_-v5iRyHbtZo42HiKtg2/s320/the-lion-the-witch-and-the-wardrobe-2005.jpg" width="320" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 13pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0363771/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2">Chronicles of Narnia</a></b>: “’</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Aslan is on the move’</span></i></span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 13pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">....</span></span><span style="color: #141310; font-size: 14pt;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></i></span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 13pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At the name of
Aslan each one of the children felt something jump in his inside. Edmund felt a
sensation of mysterious horror. Peter felt suddenly brave and adventurous.
Susan felt as if some delicious smell or some delightful strain of music had
just floated by her. And Lucy got the feeling you have when you wake up in the
morning and realise that it is the beginning of the holidays or the beginning
of summer” (selection from C.S. Lewis’ <i>The Lion, the Witch and the
Wardrobe).</i> <i>Narnia</i> is based on this amazing tale from Lewis, one of Christendom’s most
treasured thinkers and authors.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 13pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120737/?ref_=sr_1">Lord of the Rings Trilogy</a></b>: “It's a dangerous business, Frodo,
going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet,
there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.” Director Peter Jackson’s
brilliant depiction of J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy novels. I watch this trilogy
about every six months and it always affects me emotionally and spiritually. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 13pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089457/">LadyHawke</a></b>: What I love about this film is the determination of
friends to see an innocent couple released from a terrible curse, even in the
face of resistance and unbelief by the couple--they no longer have hope for
themselves, so the help from friends to confront evil is crucial. Or, if an
evil Archbishop giving himself over to the devil’s work offends you, go
see <i>Diehard</i>. </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 13pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457430/?ref_=sr_1"><b>Pan's Labryinth</b></a>: Guillermo del Toro's very dark melding of fairy tale and reality, t</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">his is a film that will disturb and move you.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 17px;"> Again, a confrontation of evil is afoot, and the courage and imagination of a child unhappy with her reality over which she has seemingly zero control.</span></div>
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Kerry Luddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17045222042728034869noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947901677057635396.post-91949353017050787012013-04-08T14:53:00.002-04:002013-04-08T14:53:16.559-04:00The Secret to Life<i>This week your Kingdom Bloggers will be writing about a movie that spoke to them spiritually.</i><br />
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One of my favorite movies is <i>City Slicker</i> with Billy Crystal. I love Billy Crystal. Maybe it is the New Yorker in me that relates to the New Yorker in him. I love his movies. <br />
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I actually remember the first time I saw the movie at the theater in 1991. Mitch Robbins, played by Billy Crystal is having his mid-life crisis and decides to go on a cattle drive. During the drive, he means Curly, raspy cowboy played by Jack Palance. I grew up during the days of <i>Wagon Train, Gunsmoke, Wyatt Earp, Rawhide, Bonanza, Big Valley</i> and a host of other "cowboy shows." I had a holster, a six shooter (shot caps), a cowgirl skirt with fringe, boots, and a hat. I wanted to be Annie Oakley. I had the right middle name - Ann. I tried so hard to learn to twirl and shot or spin a rope. This movie had everything. Comedy, relevance, and a flashback to my cowgirl childhood.<br />
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I literally held my breath and gasped when Curly tells Mitch the secret of life. Curly held up his "pointer" finger and smiled. Mitch said what? your finger? Curly said ONE THING. Instantly my thoughts went to the scripture in <a href="http://www.biblestudytools.com/luke/passage.aspx?q=luke+10:38-42">Luke 10:42</a>. This is the story of Mary and Martha. You know, the one where poor Martha is so busy trying to be a good servant but gets frustrated with her sister's lack of help. She asks Jesus for help and instead of sending Mary to the kitchen, He reminds Martha that one thing is needed and Mary has chosen it. I have always felt sorry for Martha in that story and have a lot to say about that story, but not this time.<br />
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Eventually Curly says to Mitch that he has to find that one thing for himself. <br />
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I thought "that'll preach." And it has. I can't tell you how many times I've started a sermon with that scene from <i>City Slicker</i>. Here it is:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/2k1uOqRb0HU" width="420"></iframe><br />
<span style="color: red;"><b>WARNING - LANGUAGE</b></span><br />
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Sometimes I go to Luke and talk about the one thing being worship - other times I go to the story of the<br />
"Rich Young Ruler" in <a href="http://www.biblestudytools.com/mark/passage.aspx?q=mark+10:17-31">Mark 10:21</a> and focus on compassion for the poor and the ministries of social justice. But my favorite is to go to the second chapter of <a href="http://www.biblestudytools.com/luke/passage.aspx?q=luke+2:21-40">Luke</a>. The birth of Jesus is followed by his presentation at the temple. There are two people that we don't hear much about in this story -- the first is Simeon, the second Anna. <br />
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Both of these people had one thing - for them it was to see the Christ. Both were moved by the holy spirit - both were advanced in years. Both had been waiting a very long time. Anna had been a widow after seven short years of marriage, she was now 84 years old. She never stopped worshiping at the temple. Probably ignored by the throngs of important people, perhaps shooed away by the priests - nevertheless, she knew there was one thing she had to do, one thing she'd see and experience before she died. Same with Simeon - both blessed the Lord, prophesied about Him, and were forever remembered in the pages of scripture. That gives me hope. I don't think I've had that one thing yet. I'm still waiting. Not as faithfully as Simeon and Anna, but still waiting, hoping, praying.<br />
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One thing - sometimes I wonder if my life really is reduced to one thing. I don't know. I do know I am still waiting for something. I know Curly is right - there is one thing and when you find it, you are satisfied and all the puzzle pieces of life fit.Joyce Ligharihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13853208533065317514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947901677057635396.post-5379630076862916412013-04-04T16:04:00.000-04:002013-04-04T16:04:03.208-04:00Hey Buddy, Do Ya’ Think You’re Gonna’ Get a Free Lunch Here? by Linda Maynard<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">FREE!!!...FREE GROCERIES…$250 worth and I fell for it…I fell hard.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">It was a couple of years ago, when we really could have used this type of “gift”. Are you shaking your heads saying…”uh—huh”…”that sista’ had that trusting thing bad”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">So, I went into the 1st screen that brought me to the next screen, and offers…. (Shipping and handling only of course) all the while me thinking when I was going to get to the free grocery special?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I never quite made it all the way. Something or someone told me to stop there. But I messed up enough saying yes to a particular offer in which I paid shipping and handling. BUT, I signed up for a never ending monthly CD. I FINALLY got to discontinue it, with the bank’s help, but I lost a couple of hundred dollars in the process</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">What the saying? “If it sounds too good to be true….it probably IS too good to be true.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Well that applies to earthly things but not heavenly things.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Jesus died, not because He was a great Teacher, Leader or Person. He died on the cross to free everyman woman and child from the ravages and consequences of sin</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdGgw_oBy5TLOULZkMJAtjB73qIf_cpLK6-R1x4PurqCsfqtp2mqGK2EcKeA2avs3vD_L9bel7_qA_B03HGD0DPyHFfEjb2MaxwefyclxjXvxWLCcOCONOlM5X57RjKsyFP1cVIeV9Tvg/s1600/Salvation+a+gift.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdGgw_oBy5TLOULZkMJAtjB73qIf_cpLK6-R1x4PurqCsfqtp2mqGK2EcKeA2avs3vD_L9bel7_qA_B03HGD0DPyHFfEjb2MaxwefyclxjXvxWLCcOCONOlM5X57RjKsyFP1cVIeV9Tvg/s320/Salvation+a+gift.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Interestingly enough, that news IS good news…it does sound too good to be true.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">However, there is something in our human nature that has a hard time yielding to that type of Love. It seems too far-fetched. We want to know what WE could do to earn such a gift.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">There was a song when my kids were growing up. On the album’s title song which was.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“Free to Be You and Me” It comes from the 60’s and 70’s era, where free love was expounded and free expression was valued. Not all of that is wrong but we have to admit some of it was off balance.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I agree with the fact that we can be held back by expectations of others, as well as our own for ourselves.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I can remember my oldest brother asking Marcel (my husband) why he felt he needed to become Born Again. He prefaced it this way though,” I know why SHE ( meaning me) felt she should be born again, but you seem to be one who has a lot less needs”…(Don’t you love older, blunt brothers?) He further questioned Marcel he could just not get his mind wrapped around the fact that he didn’t have to do anything to earn salvation. He didn’t have to jump through hoops to attain forgiveness. And probably got stuck in a place many people get stuck in, is the fact that they STILL want control and so there is something that they need to do…that they can do. As Marcel, explained it as best he could, my brother kind of shook his head and perhaps thought “Freedom is free??? It makes absolutely no sense to me. I can’t be that easy”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">He had some religious upbringing but that did not gel with this news. And if he did think that, he was correct in that point, it is religion that wants to have rules and regulations and a way that seems right to a man, rather than believing the incredible Good News.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I remember hearing once that the Gospel is “The Good Glad Glorious News That Makes a Man Leap for Joy”…I like that…It sure sounds like sheep a leapin’ in the fields. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Jesus wrought us a freedom that is free and yet was not free. Ok, you say, now you are mixing me up.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYNKMHmyPDdA0kal5Drl-dbXdSn5aTzO-MlM0Y9B91qMBM9WYUTGVxq6ovUIWFTRgbPBUiF4vj4cj_ujmb_vUKIbj3nBwRZ9EwU8PpvIE6fUL0VjmDSeVJgQdkt0OT4yjtE2IHlqaFK6U/s1600/salvation+rock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYNKMHmyPDdA0kal5Drl-dbXdSn5aTzO-MlM0Y9B91qMBM9WYUTGVxq6ovUIWFTRgbPBUiF4vj4cj_ujmb_vUKIbj3nBwRZ9EwU8PpvIE6fUL0VjmDSeVJgQdkt0OT4yjtE2IHlqaFK6U/s1600/salvation+rock.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">It is a Free Gift to us but it was a Costly Gift for the Lord. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">He gave ALL He had…His very own life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">He gave His Life, what More could He do?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Oh how He loves me</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Oh how he loves you</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Oh how He loves you and me.</span><br />
It's Something Beautifulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05730285162820042650noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947901677057635396.post-81567216015633949402013-04-03T09:32:00.000-04:002013-04-03T09:40:49.421-04:00Freedom Blessing by Jenna Vick Silliman<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A couple of years ago, on New Year’s Eve, my pastor, John Himmelberger, asked if he could pray for me for more freedom. I didn’t think I needed more freedom, but I now know I did! Freedom in the Holy Spirit is wonderful. “It was for freedom that Christ set us free.” (See Galatians 5:1.) Free to be all that God created us to be, free to grow and bloom and be more and more like Jesus every day. Our heavenly Father has so much for us! In our lives we typically only recognize a small portion of our blessings. Today I would like to bless you with more freedom. May I give you a "Freedom Blessing"? Just insert your name in the blank and receive all these blessings from the Lord that are all yours already!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Dear _____, Today I bless you with receiving the Truth that the Lord promises will set you free. I bless you with knowledge of your Papa’s awesome, extravagant love for you and how He treats you with special care because you belong to Him. I bless you with a new understanding of your freedom from anything holding you back such as fear, worry, negativity, complaining, distrust, or doubting. I bless you with freedom from loneliness and a new awareness that Papa is with you 24/7. I bless you with freedom from anything that would make you unusable for the Lord’s glory. I bless you with a desire to forgive anyone who has hurt you and to forgive and forget any offenses. I bless your spirit with the freedom from distractions to seek after God and love Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. I bless you as FREE INDEED. Free from the bondage of worrying what people think. Free of all the negative stuff. Free to share our faith with confidence. Free to give generously and enjoy it. Free to worship and express emotions and enthusiasm. Free to dare to be different and unique. Free to be child-like and have fun and goof off. Free to dance without self-consciousness. Free to believe. Free to love and be loved. Free to be affectionate and receive it too. Free to receive all the promises in Scripture! I bless your mind with the freedom to dwell on all good things--whatever is lovely, whatever is of good report, and whatever is worthy of praise. I bless you with freedom to stand—unshakeable-- in victory and triumph over sin, not by your own might or your own power, but through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. I bless you with a revelation that you can do all things through Christ Who strengthens you. I bless you with the freedom to declare the truths of God’s Word and take authority in the name of Jesus. I bless you with ears to hear your Papa’s voice better and to hear Him call you by name with tender lovingkindness. I bless you with eyes to see into the supernatural realm and recognize the riches of our inheritance and our identity in Jesus. I bless you with the revelation that we are co-crucified, co-buried, co-resurrected, co-enthroned, and co-heirs with Jesus! I also bless you with the ability to see yourself the way Papa does—free of sin, perfect, and beautiful. I bless you with a new zeal for encouraging others in the Lord, for evangelism, for prayer, for healing, and for using all the gifts so freely given to us from our Papa. I bless you with the ability to receive empowerment in the Holy Spirit. I bless you with the desire to give thanks always, to rejoice in all Papa’s good gifts, and to celebrate FREEDOM!"<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Oh the glorious FREEDOM of the children of God! (See Romans 8:21b.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Please say this poem aloud with me to receive additional freedom.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Freedom Poem (Author unknown)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I believe in love.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I believe in miracles.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I believe in freedom.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I like to color outside the lines.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I like to dream without fines.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Busted parking meters.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I like to push the pedal.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It’s time to release.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It’s time to be freer than walls.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It’s time to answer the call<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">To be who I am<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Strengths, weaknesses, and all.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I believe.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">His love is untainted for me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I am free.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">[I got the idea of giving a blessing from the book <b><i>Blessing Your Spirit</i></b> by Sylvia Gunter and Arthur Burk. However, “Freedom Blessing” is written by me, <a href="mailto:JennaSilliman@gmail.com">JennaSilliman@gmail.com</a> <a href="http://www.thedanceoflifewithjenna.blogspot.com/">www.TheDanceOfLifeWithJenna.blogspot.com</a> and I’d be so happy if you would pass it on. Feel free to share it!]</span></span></div>
Jenna Vick Sillimanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16160610705420543798noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947901677057635396.post-11034339986513808142013-04-01T08:00:00.000-04:002013-04-01T08:00:01.522-04:00Free to BE<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Kingdom Bloggers are shifting around again. We like to keep things moving and having
different voices. I’m a returning KBer
and will be filling the Monday slots.
This week your faithful scribes will be sharing our perspectives on freedom. We will be answering the questions. <span style="background: white;">What has Christ made us free to? What is freedom in
Christ?</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The first thing that went through
my mind when I read those questions was the song – I am free to run, I am free
to dance… Maybe you don’t know that song – if not, here it is:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But then I thought – oh yeah, Jenna
is the dancer on KB so maybe I should share something else.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Freedom in Christ is a deep subject
– it’s easy to say Christ has made me free.
You might even think of the scripture Romans 8:2 and think of being free
from the law of sin and death. But for
me, I have been free to be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If you’ve read KB for a while, you
remember me. You remember I went back to
school. The first summer session we
learned the phrase – Esse Quam Videri – to be, rather than to seem. It’s always been hard to be me. I’ve always felt like I was an oddity and
different.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Guess what? I am. And
so are you? We are all unique. We are not a cookie cutter creation of
God. We are each individuals, perfectly made. I had a very hard time with that. I thought I should be like someone else.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As I reflect on the freedom I have
in Christ, I realize that I am free to be.
I am free to be the nerd. I am
free to be quiet. I am free to feel all
the emotions that well up inside of me.
I’ve spent most of my life trying to do.
To do this and do that, to be busy and please God or others. We do need to be sensitive to others. But when it controls you, you aren’t being
YOU. The YOU God created.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I’m almost finished with
school. As I look back, I think the
thing that I’ve learned that will serve me best, is that I can “be.” I don’t have to do, I can just be. Christ has given me the freedom to be the
woman He created me to be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Joyce Ligharihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13853208533065317514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947901677057635396.post-87515300527092306312013-03-29T05:03:00.000-04:002013-03-29T05:03:00.255-04:00Why Am I Thirsty?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It's a good question, don't you think?As humans we have a few different systems running together in our bodies that make up something we call life. Without our digestive system, we would not survive. The same is true with our nervous system and our reproductive system - well, maybe we could survive, without the latter - ah never mind.<br />
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<b>Today's Holy Week verse is <i>I am thirsty.</i> John 19:28.</b><br />
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Our human bodies have drives and instincts that respond to all sorts of stimuli as well as an ongoing chemical analysis going on in our body. We have the drive to eat, to drink, to reproduce, and instincts, senses and emotions that drive us to what it is that we do as humans.<br />
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The good news is that we, unlike any other animal, have an other system, another dimension which we call spirit. There is the unredeemed version we call evil, and the redeemed version that most evangelicals refer to as "saved." I confess, I don't really know how God's Spirit co-mingles with our spirit, but I know when it happened.<br />
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Thirst, even the thirst which Jesus had on the cross, is often analogous for <i>spiritual thirst</i>. As a longtime Christian, for me, it's sort a worn out analogy. I want something more, something deeper, something meaningful.<br />
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There are many symbols for the Holy Spirit in the Bible. Psalms refers to the "deep calling deep." (Psalm 42:7) There are terms for rivers (Matthew 3:16) and rivers of living water (John 7:38) and water so deep we can measure it by another cubit. (Ezekiel 47) So?<br />
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<b>But isn't there more? Isn't there something deeper to our thirst
than just another sermon, another worship tune, and another Easter
service?</b><br />
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I don' think we thirst for more of God, or a deeper understanding of Jesus. If that were the case, more Christians would be flocking to church and more of them would be asking less questions about his existence, moral character and his ability to do things like heal.<br />
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<b>WHAT IS THAT WE ACTUALLY THIRST FOR?</b><br />
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As Christians it's easy to be like the Israelites and demand water from a rock. Demanding things from God won't work. Why? Because what we thirst for is PURPOSE. Each one of us has a God-given purpose and destiny. Our choices bring us closer to it or farther away; at the very least, they keep it at bay.<br />
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Today as you ponder the crucifixion of Jesus, and again on Sunday morning as you celebrate His resurrection, ask Him to give you a drink of His especially designed purpose in your life - to take a drink of your destiny in Christ. For you to be in the Kingdom of God here on earth, "like it is in Heaven!"<br />
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<b>Isn't that what you are thirsty for, to know the will of God for you family, your job, and flow with that? You want to know where God is going, right? The good news is that, like a cold beer on a hot day, he is never stingy.</b></div>
David-FireAndGracehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13540931140500045826noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947901677057635396.post-51433725816655887972013-03-28T12:02:00.000-04:002013-03-28T12:02:12.885-04:00Forsaken by Linda Maynard<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> "Eloi, Eloi lama sabachthani"</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> which means<b>, "My God, my God,</b></span><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">why have You forsaken me?"</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Matthew 27:46</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I will never leave you or forsake you</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">…Hebrews 13:5</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This week in KB we are each talking about one of the seven things that Jesus said from the cross.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My assignment was the above scripture in that Jesus is crying out, in a loud voice, to God, about being forsaken.</span><br />
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Forsake</span></i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span> </b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> <i>abandon, to withdraw companionship, protection or support from somebody, desert, leave disown, cast off, reject.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When Jesus said this, was it that God the Father could not look at sin? Jesus took all sin upon Him, and is that the reason He turned His back to Jesus? To me that makes sense, yet some disagree. But I propose that, at the very least, the intimacy and fellowship that Jesus shared with His Father was broken.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We see in Genesis, Adam’s (the first Adam) intimacy with God, was broken by his disobedience. That happened in the Garden of Eden, at the same hour of day, as when darkness settled over the earth at Golgotha, where Jesus was on the cross. Jesus (the second Adam), was destroying sin by dying on the cross and restoring fully what the first Adam had lost. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While listening closely to what people are saying, you can pick up clues.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjauW22AwEZJap67z-0PYxghPBisIL5RdQVzeFIoS7XUsdEQUJfe7wwNaIFwuMXKPZ8EgD6Edo2zbYZWPQz84y77U7BoKdhPDhMsJ9si6Bb8rBbqCph1aIVM8co-DTHQ-uoWObXWBlHuww/s1600/Giorgio_Vasari_-_The_Garden_of_Gethsemane_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjauW22AwEZJap67z-0PYxghPBisIL5RdQVzeFIoS7XUsdEQUJfe7wwNaIFwuMXKPZ8EgD6Edo2zbYZWPQz84y77U7BoKdhPDhMsJ9si6Bb8rBbqCph1aIVM8co-DTHQ-uoWObXWBlHuww/s320/Giorgio_Vasari_-_The_Garden_of_Gethsemane_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" width="284" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We go to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus goes with his disciples to pray. (Boy, did He ever need prayer support!) After telling the disciples that His soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death, He asks them to watch and pray. Going further, Jesus falls to the ground and prays<b>, "My Father, if it be possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as You will… Mt 26:39</b></span><br />
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</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He returns to the disciples and finds them asleep. (I used to judge them harshly until I admitted that I have "slept on my watch" too.) He went away a second time and He implores<b>…" My Father, if it is not possible, for this cup to be taken away, unless I drink it, may Your will be done… Mt 26:42</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jesus, still in the Garden of Gethsemane, is calling God, His <b>Father</b>. Then, on the cross, He is referring to Him as <b>God</b>. That to me is telling that there was a breach in the intimacy, which Jesus previously enjoyed with His Father…His ABBA. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jesus felt abandoned, rejected, cast off. To Him, God the Father seemed indifferent. We have to remember again that Jesus was FULLY God and yet FULLY man. And as man, the Word says that He is touched and familiar with our infirmities.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My "go to" Life scripture is <b>Hebrews 13:5. "I will never leave you or forsake you."</b> I cannot tell you how many times it has settled storms in my life. It has also given me hope, as well as reassurance when I have blown it. I am reminded of God’s consistent Love.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Because Jesus endured the cross, along with feeling that He too was alone and no longer in fellowship with God the Father, I can say "Lord, You have defeated a sense of aloneness for all, on the cross for all mankind."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I may <i>"feel"</i> abandoned or rejected, but His Word always trumps my feelings.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He has given me His Word that He will not disown me. He is not a man who would lie and withdraw His protection and support.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I ask, <i>"God where are You?’</i> </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> He will whisper, <i>"I am right here, my child"</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Whew! I can breathe again and let out a deep sigh of relief.</span><br />
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</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang=""></span></span></span><br />It's Something Beautifulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05730285162820042650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947901677057635396.post-34921802289725969852013-03-27T06:00:00.000-04:002013-03-27T06:00:04.584-04:00Celebrate Passover! by Jenna Vick Silliman<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="textexposedshow"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 115%;">Exodus 12:22-24 "And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in
the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts
with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door
of his house until morning. For God will pass through to strike the Egyptians;
and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, He will pass
over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike
you. And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons
FOREVER."</span></span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 115%;">Jesus celebrated PASSOVER
with His disciples. (See Matthew 26:17-19.) The word in Hebrew is Pecach or
Pesach. It is from the root verb Pacach, meaning to pass over, to spare or to
skip.</span> Jesus is our Passover lamb that takes away the sin of the world.
All we have to do is BELIEVE. Jesus is God become a man so that He could shed
His blood for us. His blood covers us and so we are spared just like the
Hebrews were spared by the blood of the Passover lamb on their doorposts! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">If you haven’t yet, say
this simple prayer to God and you will be made holy and blameless before Him
for all time and abundant LIFE will be yours to enjoy!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;">“Thank You, Lord Jesus
God, for Your blood shed for me and for the forgiveness of my sins forever.
Thank You for peace, joy, and abundant life. I believe in You!”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In Hebrews 10:17 we read
that by the blood of Jesus, God remembers our sins and lawless deeds no more.
Now that is a PASSOVER TO CELEBRATE! Happy Passover everybody!!!</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Jenna Vick Sillimanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16160610705420543798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947901677057635396.post-60420125718048658242013-03-26T10:02:00.000-04:002013-03-26T10:02:03.369-04:00"Today you will be with me in Paradise."<!--StartFragment-->
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBKnbrxEMMx4B2p84aumbNIgc624YyvTWFIj1w2OY58Ew7J0BOGll3DuYzk5ecprZ6wa04u_fvLPEgti0jhqt_35EKFoyajWS6ttGjVMiriYd6bGJFd4_5At63rNvSseQg8F-MSSmw39Zi/s1600/View+from+the+Cross_Tissot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBKnbrxEMMx4B2p84aumbNIgc624YyvTWFIj1w2OY58Ew7J0BOGll3DuYzk5ecprZ6wa04u_fvLPEgti0jhqt_35EKFoyajWS6ttGjVMiriYd6bGJFd4_5At63rNvSseQg8F-MSSmw39Zi/s320/View+from+the+Cross_Tissot.jpg" width="296" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Paul Miller, in his book <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Praying-Life-Connecting-Distracting-World/dp/1600063004">A Praying Life</a></i>, describes Jesus' amazing ability to have a one-person focus even in a crowd: “When Jesus
interacts with people, he narrows his focus down to one person... that person
is the only person in the room. The way he loves people is identical to the way
he prays to His Father. This one-person focus is how love works. Love
incarnates by slowing down and focusing on just the beloved” (Miller, p. 46).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Astoundingly, Jesus
manages this even on the cross. He is in agony. Nails have been driven through
his hands and feet. Earlier, he had been scourged (for a description of the
physical torture Jesus would have received as a prisoner, click <a href="http://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=13&article=145">here</a>). But his
agony is more than physical: for the first time in his 33 years, he is
separated from his heavenly Father (see <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2027:46&version=NIV">Matthew 27:46</a>). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">He has been abandoned by
his disciples. The Jews who had welcomed him just days ago with praises, are
now heckling him. Jesus is even jeered by one of two thieves hanging from
crosses on either side of him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><i>One of the
criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save
yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><i>“Don’t you fear
God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly,
for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing
wrong.”</i></span><span style="font-family: Verdana-Bold;"><b><i> </i></b></span><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><i>Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come
into your kingdom.” <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><i>Jesus answered him,
“Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:39-43).</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Jesus’ one on one ministry
extends even from the cross! The thief to the left wants down from his
predicament and curses Jesus for not fixing things for himself and them. Even in
the face of death, this man’s heart is hard and fixed. The thief to the right
sees the reality of his own sin and the innocence of Jesus. Not just his
innocence, but his divinity. What faith to see God in this suffering,
blood-covered man. What depths of love our Savior had for a repentant criminal. What hope for humanity, that it is our faith in Christ, not our works, not a religious process, that saves!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana;">“Christ upon the cross, is
gracious like Christ upon the throne. Though he was in the greatest struggle
and agony, yet he had pity for a poor penitent. By this act of grace we are to
understand that Jesus Christ died to open the kingdom of heaven to all
penitent, obedient believers. It is a single instance in Scripture; it should
teach us to despair of none, and that none should despair of themselves; but
lest it should be abused, it is contrasted with the awful state of the other
thief, who died hardened in unbelief, though a crucified Saviour was so near him” (<a href="http://www.christnotes.org/commentary.php?b=42&c=23&com=mhc">Matthew Henry</a>).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Sources: </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana;">"<a href="http://www.artbible.info/art/large/495.html">View from the Cross</a>," James Tissot, 1886-94. Brooklyn Museum.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Miller,
Paul. <i>A Praying Life</i> (NavPress, 2009).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana;">Matthew Henry Commentary, retrieved
online: <a href="http://www.christnotes.org/commentary.php?b=42&c=23&com=mhc">http://www.christnotes.org/commentary.php?b=42&c=23&com=mhc</a></span></div>
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Kerry Luddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17045222042728034869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947901677057635396.post-49027589329204235302013-03-25T07:30:00.000-04:002013-03-25T07:30:05.112-04:00The Last Mortal Words of a Savior (By Tony C)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This Holy Week, like the past two, I will be going dark on all forms of social media. I do this to cut out a lot of the background noise we all are inundated with each day and to focus more on the events of this week over 2000 years ago...and how it impacts my life personally.<br />
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This week your Kingdom Bloggers are going to each write on one of the seven phrases spoken by Jesus from the cross as recorded in either the Gospel of Matthew or Luke.<br />
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<span class="woj"><span style="color: red;">“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they
do.”</span></span> Luke 23:34 NKJV<br />
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Scholars and medical professionals alike have studied and shared with us the agonizing death that crucifixion caused. It was plain and simple torture. Not only was the victim exposed, literally, for all to see and to the effects of the elements, the process was grueling and punishing. Death for many came by asphyxiation or drowning in fluids gathered in the victims lungs. It took hours for death to mercifully arrive.<br />
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Add to the fact that Jesus was flogged so severely that the injuries from that task alone could have ended His mortal existence, and you have a morning and afternoon of unimaginable suffering.<br />
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Then...you have the act of sacrifice that would see the sins of all mankind placed on a person and entity that had never, repeat never, personally experienced sin in an eternal life.<br />
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I think we often overlook the physical aspects that Jesus suffered because, well, He is God. But Jesus suffered tremendous physical pain and I believe anxiety. Yet through the bodily suffering, the humiliation (some from His own people), and the soon to come bearing of mankind's sin...Jesus looks to the Father and ask Him to forgive those who tortured and mocked Him below the cross. <br />
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Love is not a big enough word...it's just not.<br />
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I'm blessed to write about this subject on my last post for the near future. I'm taking a hiatus to focus on another issue, but please know that I not only covet your prayers, but I would be honored to do the same for each of you. I leave my writing position on Mondays to someone I both love and respect, and I look forward to reading her future post about God's Kingdom. Thank you Joyce.<br />
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<strong>Praise God! The tomb was empty that Easter morning!</strong> Tony Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05525644107594362899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947901677057635396.post-45118343899097115502013-03-22T05:55:00.001-04:002013-03-22T05:55:22.448-04:00We are the Hands and the Feet and the Heart Of Jesus..Where is He Leading ? Linda Maynard<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Where would I choose to go on a 6 month Missions trip, if the opportunity was presented to me? That is the subject up for discussion on KB this week.</span><br />
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</span> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGZ-1XNJI9EQn_J2RRtE7Xcv_ZJmfazKemGNUNCUhWFYiRRd0v0UpebkraA5_jBsA2vj-l_CPzakLP1U8Yw9Q7NCItBnOq3h8ZlpKLpVRdsEdD45tjgIV34-d4_q7AhqzOj6TOhMttBPE/s1600/polish+wooden+dolls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGZ-1XNJI9EQn_J2RRtE7Xcv_ZJmfazKemGNUNCUhWFYiRRd0v0UpebkraA5_jBsA2vj-l_CPzakLP1U8Yw9Q7NCItBnOq3h8ZlpKLpVRdsEdD45tjgIV34-d4_q7AhqzOj6TOhMttBPE/s1600/polish+wooden+dolls.jpg" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My immediate thought was Poland. Both sets of grandparents are from that country in Europe. I feel a strong sense of connection with the Polish people.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My main focus for the trip would be to talk to the people. I would share as one brought up in the catholic tradition, about my own experience of finding the Lord Jesus as my Savior. I would like to talk to them, preferably in their own homes. I would share, one on one, about how I had a level of understanding about Jesus and how I came to realize that head knowledge of who He is differed from the heart knowledge, which I have come to embrace.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In this, I would pray that my discussions would whet some appetites to further study about Jesus, especially through the Bible. Perhaps they might, as I did, come to know Jesus rather than just know about Him. Giving mental ascent was what I did and I surmise that many Catholics do the same. Through non-confrontational discussion; I would pray that our times of fellowship would cause them to hunger for more.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As I left, I would be confident that even though my trip did not involve mass meetings, it would have touched the hearts of families and from there, they could spread the good news of the Gospel with their community. I would pray for that to become a ripple effect and in that many Catholics in the area, would come to a genuine faith in Jesus Christ.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Because there was no steadfast “rule” about the 6 month period, I would like to split up my time in Poland and Tapachula Mexico.</span><br />
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</span> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1NWizLml7weWauZel3hpHV4ZRKrwkJEFHmr26sCuz2xyTo74SRiVydMGMGhDXNnwVb0PSUNsZ2Cjo83AP4jzmxwufxm6qgEH9gZiNmYSgq4_iBA7OrodeY0hCxLXuDJcHulyxdYYQu0M/s1600/40children.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1NWizLml7weWauZel3hpHV4ZRKrwkJEFHmr26sCuz2xyTo74SRiVydMGMGhDXNnwVb0PSUNsZ2Cjo83AP4jzmxwufxm6qgEH9gZiNmYSgq4_iBA7OrodeY0hCxLXuDJcHulyxdYYQu0M/s1600/40children.jpg" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I’ve come to know a couple, who are missionaries in Tapachula. Hope and Steve are the parents of my daughter in law.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">They themselves had been on several trips, through their church. As time passed and as circumstances changed, they felt a pull to become full time missionaries.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The focus of what they do is children. They have established 2 boy’s homes and 1 girl’s home in the same neighborhood.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You may wonder where the children come from, as they are without their parents and yet the homes are not orphanages.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">They come from prisons.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Yes, you heard that right, from prisons. They have not committed any crimes, their parents have. And the way things are governed in that region is that, when an adult is convicted of a crime and sent to prison, the whole family has to go with them.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As you can imagine, they are deplorable places for adults, let alone children. In this dark place, they witness despicable behavior and they themselves are victims of all forms of abuse…sexual abuse being the major one.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So, through Mission on the Move, and the efforts of Hope and Steve, these children come to a place of hope with a future.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">To get into to the Home, they have to be granted permission by the parents.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There, they are “cleaned up”…body, mind and soul. They are taught things like basic manners, as well being provided with regular schooling. They learn to trust adults. They receive counseling to deal with the aftermath of the squalor they have lived in. whether through the prison and the lifestyle of their parents previous to their incarceration. Most of all, they are introduced to the Savior Jesus Christ and receive instruction in the bible.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Some of them arrive as young as 5 and others at an older age. As of now, 3 boys are attending college and I know of 1 girl, who has graduated from college.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The home provides them everything that a healthy home would provide. Sadly it is not perfect in the sense of the ultimate family would be one in which healthy parents would provide all the resources for their own children to grow up with a good future.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As a bonus, some of these parents have become Christians as well. They are provided with instruction through a Prison Ministry.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I would like to be part of the ongoing process to teach, nourish and encourage these children…especially the girls.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If an opportunity arose, I would be willing to speak in public to raise awareness about this beautiful ministry. I would hope to raise funds for college scholarships for them and to start a fund to establish, not only an additional girls’ home, but more homes as well.</span><br />
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</span> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisWJwn69EMlcve831HgRSzsQ-37W4NePKUdoT0br-gnc7KI54bghasWt_KtFKK6iH0zkaNfnM4iXDVA2QUQY61xivb-z4ewHHpJ6aXS73O5bU_Y0DYcdxBMygxbwNvgZJXZVob9OEPUAI/s1600/hlding+globe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisWJwn69EMlcve831HgRSzsQ-37W4NePKUdoT0br-gnc7KI54bghasWt_KtFKK6iH0zkaNfnM4iXDVA2QUQY61xivb-z4ewHHpJ6aXS73O5bU_Y0DYcdxBMygxbwNvgZJXZVob9OEPUAI/s200/hlding+globe.jpg" width="200" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Up front personal ministry and prayer would thrill me, to bring the Good News of the Gospel to these 2 very different people groups.</span><br />
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</div>It's Something Beautifulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05730285162820042650noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947901677057635396.post-49912810614170787992013-03-20T11:07:00.000-04:002013-03-20T16:40:09.736-04:00My Missionary Lifestyle by Jenna Vick Silliman<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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When Jesus said to GO I considered myself SENT and now I am on a MISSION everywhere I go. However, the Lord has not given me any desire to travel anywhere in this season of my life. I am to bloom and grow and bear fruit right here in Clallam County where I live and where He has planted me. As I abide in Jesus I will bear much fruit as Jesus promised. (See John 15.)<br />
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To establish a mindset, I have five declarations that I speak out and keep before me to help me in my missionary lifestyle:<br />
1. I am a connecting link to God's loving kindness.<br />
2. People are open and ready to hear about God's love and to believe.<br />
3. Through me God's love is drawing people into a relationship with Him.<br />
4. Everyone around me has powerful encounters with God's presence.<br />
5. I have Jesus as Lord in my heart; I'm always ready to share about Him.<br />
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My focus is on God and worshiping Him. He inhabits the praises of His people. I walk habitually with the Lord 24/7 and continually give Him thanks for this is the password to His presence. I am a host for His presence!<br />
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Yesterday after teaching my children's dance class I danced to a song of worship to show my students "worship dancing." My son Peter did a video so I can share it with you. The song is called "The Paintbrush" from the album "Paint Your Picture" by Julie Meyer. As I dance I am praying and asking God "Pick me up like a paintbrush, God, dip it in the colors of my life, paint Your picture, Father, fashion a heart that is wholly Yours...Take Your fingers God, Master Potter come mold the clay. Tell Your story...and write Your name in the clay and sign Your name on the picture."<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="800" src="https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=509646052417135" width="480"></iframe><br />Jenna Vick Sillimanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16160610705420543798noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947901677057635396.post-616560403828878642013-03-19T08:00:00.000-04:002013-03-22T11:45:46.865-04:00Six Month Mission Trip Next Door<!--StartFragment-->
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">This week KB is asking its
writers to choose a country we would work in as missionaries for six months.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I wouldn’t have to go very
far. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZLEHOrVHQ0nzMIYrORFD5_apo3tUUnPj-P6eyyo2XHLTKC5H06khWj-_vA5Xp-TjhlLPRrmTMqYCElW_8dbdlYDgDQFf8LKKnc7Ol8TPc3q8tPL4M9oPp2UVE7EKUz39nXfnJK91XX9x-/s1600/skyline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZLEHOrVHQ0nzMIYrORFD5_apo3tUUnPj-P6eyyo2XHLTKC5H06khWj-_vA5Xp-TjhlLPRrmTMqYCElW_8dbdlYDgDQFf8LKKnc7Ol8TPc3q8tPL4M9oPp2UVE7EKUz39nXfnJK91XX9x-/s1600/skyline.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana;">We live in a quaint
village along the historical Eire Canal. Three seasons a year, I can walk along
the canal, soaking in nature, crew teams, pleasure boaters and lots of shops
and restaurants. My teenage daughter can walk home from school and spend a
Saturday afternoon at the local Starbucks or the library. It is idyllic. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">But not nine miles from us
is the crescent of Rochester, New York, a swath of geography across the city,
east to west, throbbing with violence, drugs, and poverty. The high school drop
out rate is the highest of the largest city school districts in the state:
45.5%. In our town, 98% of students graduate from high school,
and most then attend college. Rochester is known as one of the ten smartest
cities in the nation because of top colleges, yet its public schools are fraught with problems.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">To live in the crescent
would be out of my comfort zone. I like knowing my family can go to sleep without
bullets flying through the walls, and not having to address the issue of a crack
house next door. But the problems of our nation’s cities, like Chicago,
Hartford and Rochester, require a radical mission.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">There are many churches in
the city, including <a href="http://www.brightonpresby.org/">Brighton Presbyterian</a> where my husband and I work and
minister. But the problems of neglect, drug abuse and poverty can’t be fixed
just by Sunday church attendance or even a weekly Bible study. Something more radical is required: ongoing
prayer, mentoring, dedicated outreach and perhaps a live-in situation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Nearly two years ago, I
met a couple who are not only living in the city, they have dedicated two
decades to raising other people’s children in a Saturday program called <a href="http://www.bethelexpress.org/">Bethel Express</a>, which they now base at our church. Its focus and mission is on what its leaders call the "S Factor: Spiritual Strength, Social Stability and Scholastic Success." Children can begin the program
between the ages of 6 and 12 (but no later) and the volunteer leaders feed and
mentor them every Saturday until they graduate from high school. The program
has a nearly 100% graduation rate. The adult volunteers love, encourage, and
pray for these children for years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Another couple I know
established an inner-city healthcare ministry called <a href="http://www.hisbranches.org/">His Branches</a> 35 years ago,
choosing to live just two blocks from their medical practice. The neighborhood
has drug dealers, robberies and the occasional shooting. Eighty percent of HBI
clients are at or below the poverty line.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">We also know of three
families who have made the decision to live in a tough area to make a
difference in the neighborhood, and to be part of their church’s efforts to
“re-neighbor” broken communities: <a href="http://www.441ministries.org/">441 Ministries</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana;">I do have a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana;">dream missionary trip (Ireland; Bible studies in a pub). But for me, the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana;">radical mission next door causes me to tremble.</span></div>
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Kerry Luddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17045222042728034869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947901677057635396.post-42266777292234692482013-03-18T09:59:00.000-04:002013-03-18T09:59:00.288-04:00If I Could, I Would Leave Right Now!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>This week, the faithful and varied Kingdom Bloggers will be writing again. I would add, that I have not written here for quite some time, so it's nice to pop in on one of my favorite subjects, missions! </b><br />
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<b>This week, we'll be answering a hypothetical question: <i>If you went for 6 months, what country would you go on a mission to?</i> </b>Some of our answers may be based on dreams and hopes, and others, such as mine, will be based on previous experience.<br />
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<b>I am choosing Brazil!</b><br />
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The classic version of missions has been to spread the church and the Kingdom of God in heathen nations; to go where Christianity wasn't and bring it there. Brazil still has Indians in the Amazon region, there are Aborigines in the Outback of Australia, and other, often tribal peoples, scattered at various places around the globe. And then there are those that live in entire nations which are closed to Americans.<br />
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<i>I didn't always have a heart for missions. They sounded awful, and it seemed, people made so little progress when the money and time could be better spent at home. All of that changed one day. I was at a meeting and the minister said "I see planes flying here and flying there. I see that God has given you a heart for the nations." Although I didn't care for uncomfortable conditions in a country where I didn't speak the language, oddly; it resonated in my spirit.</i><br />
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Later that year I was leaving a church service at the Salvation Army. A friend of mine was preaching that evening. It was a very small group, less than 10. There was a drunk woman, a Brazilian. The pastor wanted to help her, so he sent one of the men at the meeting down the street to see if there was someone at the Brazilian church who could interpret.<br />
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As I was leaving, the man came back with a pastor from the Brazilian church. I decided to stick around to see what was going on. Before I left I spoke to Carlos, and we became great friends. Not only did we preach and teach in the US, but I traveled with him 3 times to Brazil.<br />
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Why do I like to be in Brazil? It is the very thing that God has made me for. When I am there, I am free to participate in meetings, do street evangelism, and most of all fellowship with a wonderful culture and people.<br />
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<b>Most importantly, it is where I God and I connect as we partner to build the Kingdom of God.</b></div>
David-FireAndGracehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13540931140500045826noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947901677057635396.post-84517209263891390702013-03-14T16:54:00.000-04:002013-03-14T16:54:27.225-04:00Some People Tell You What You Want to Hear. James Tells You What You Need to Hear by Linda Maynard<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Can you remember being in school and having a demanding teacher? One that didn’t take any nonsense and expected the best from you?</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">At the time, you may have been frustrated and even a little angry BUT, when you look back, they probably are on your list of favorite teachers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Why? Because, by “pushing you”, beyond what you thought you were capable of, it brought results that you didn’t expect.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">However, if all they did was demand from you, that would border on abusive. With certain character traits, this teacher had integrity and modeled speaking the Truth in Love... And that my friend makes all the difference. They earned your respect.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">That is how I view the author of the Book of James</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Many years ago, a friend told me that this was her favorite book of the Bible. Why did I then feel, that when I read it, I kept saying “ Ouch!”...That hurts!”...”Owie!” …” That’s me!”…”That’s not me!”…”You’ve got to be kidding”?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">At the very beginning, the book says, “Count it all joy, when you face trials of many kinds…” James 1:2</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">“ STOP RIGHT THERE!” That’s crazy I thought (sorry I am being honest). I didn’t read the complete thought, but eventually came to realize that this wasn’t “Let’s throw a party with Happy Feet”, but that the Lord’s intention is help us build spiritual muscles.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpsyv1Dlffca1U7bkaGqvjNkDp-aBlLyAt4z9SAr3DAUETCD6U1lp9B2We7Lj8ZmisqGNZyyroBMZ2s4v9GbiqMFa0LgwNAJUiPlhtu9S6M8rJFcgC6duFkBWAueoNcRdf-gSNW5MGmAc/s1600/waves-wallpaper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpsyv1Dlffca1U7bkaGqvjNkDp-aBlLyAt4z9SAr3DAUETCD6U1lp9B2We7Lj8ZmisqGNZyyroBMZ2s4v9GbiqMFa0LgwNAJUiPlhtu9S6M8rJFcgC6duFkBWAueoNcRdf-gSNW5MGmAc/s320/waves-wallpaper.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: large;">The writer in 1:5-8, talks about asking God for wisdom. THEN after hearing that wisdom, applying it to our lives. Again, my eyes skipped over too quickly and all I focused on was a person who doubts. James describes them like one tossed in the sea, blown here and there. And that person is double minded. In this particular area, I had to “work out” this truth, with a lot of effort.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">My thinking can get scattered. It has been an ongoing struggle. In the past, I had prayed, asked for wisdom and got wisdom. I don’t feel I doubt God, having the wisdom and wanting to impart it to me. My struggle seems to stem with wondering if I discerned correctly. The consequence is the same…I am tossed all around and not at peace. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The enemy can tempt us in a bunch of ways. He tries to keep us from obeying God and/or lying to us telling that we cannot do anything right.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwofs5GaoweZsRckPpsbHo00sVtBTvKV2TUS9cLdmjZHegsMHrJiczaUGliGCa7eiawObARODWHYstzQ_Y5iSmwA-xZi_UEnDVvhosw2AihoW406ShzatPUP0mWmGkjc6BO034P0XHyFY/s1600/sacrifice_with_praise_bg_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwofs5GaoweZsRckPpsbHo00sVtBTvKV2TUS9cLdmjZHegsMHrJiczaUGliGCa7eiawObARODWHYstzQ_Y5iSmwA-xZi_UEnDVvhosw2AihoW406ShzatPUP0mWmGkjc6BO034P0XHyFY/s1600/sacrifice_with_praise_bg_small.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">The other day, on the issue of taming the tongue, i.e. “Out of the same mouth, come praising and cursing. James 3:10. …no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. James 3:8 I had a blowout. I have been taking a medication that can, as a side effect, cause angry outbursts. The other day, all %^#@* broke loose. I spewed angry words over my husband. I was horrified. Did I have a legitimate explanation because of the medication? Although, it was a contributing factor, junk seemed to be hidden in my heart. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">There certainly are times when we can over focus on the enemy and his tricks. However, ignoring the acts of his presence is a mistake too. Without having the “devil made me do it” excuse…I better believe that he is out “to kill, steal and destroy.” </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">This brings me to the final section.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">“Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” James 4:7a.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"> Again, I glossed over what preceded that verse. SUBMIT yourselves to God THEN resist the devil and he will flee.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So James has taken on a whole different tone or me. It is a practical book with a lot of wisdom.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I am not sure I could call it my favorite, but it is a book that has much value in my life.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBeToVUO562ltBzIUauL6-bpoNhOmOfGjbdyr-hW4HWK_wDtvwpMq-hgwR6XNjqM0ZLguVViGQIGduD6XOFoxAgH2Kfg546wvwoowTuWQrS_cS41TNtSlfbQdHVuGp5wIkOYvY45M7htI/s1600/502645_sunset-beach1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBeToVUO562ltBzIUauL6-bpoNhOmOfGjbdyr-hW4HWK_wDtvwpMq-hgwR6XNjqM0ZLguVViGQIGduD6XOFoxAgH2Kfg546wvwoowTuWQrS_cS41TNtSlfbQdHVuGp5wIkOYvY45M7htI/s320/502645_sunset-beach1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Anytime I sense myself wavering or slipping and sliding, I think it would be a good time to check in with James.</span><br />
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It's Something Beautifulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05730285162820042650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947901677057635396.post-81762138833085414372013-03-13T10:34:00.002-04:002013-03-13T10:34:14.411-04:00Faith and Works by Cliff Silliman<br />
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As a
young believer I decided to read the New Testament from front to back. I kept
going and ran into the book of James. I got more excited about my faith as God
spoke to me through His word. That word continues to speak to me fresh each
time I read it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My
wife asked me the other day if I had read James lately. I gladly open the Bible
and went to see what would resonate in my heart anew. I wondered if it would be</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> an old familiar verse like "count it all
joy brethren…” or “let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak…” or “pure and
undefiled religion is this…” or would it be in the verses about the tongue?
Maybe the Lord would highlight to me “draw near to God and He will draw near to
you.” Maybe I would sense something special in the verse that talks about the laborer
who mows your field--as a guy with lawn business appreciate the Lord speaking
about what I physically do. Maybe He would reveal more depth to me
about healing from the verses in chapter five, or provide me encouragement from
seeing that I am just like Elijah. All these things passed through my mind as I
prayed and open to the Book of James. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What jumped off the
page starts in the second chapter of James, verse 14, "What does it
profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can
faith save him?" Continuing in verse 17, ”Thus also faith by itself, if it
does not have works, is dead.” And verse 18, “I will show you my faith by my
works.” and the kicker is verse 22, “Do you see that faith was
working together with his works, and by works faith was made
complete?” Wow! Do my actions reveal that I have faith? Has my faith so
permeated me that I reveal that I have faith in the living resurrected Christ?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Many times I am
abundantly aware of my shortcomings. The devil is good at reminding me of them,
trying to cause my focus to be diverted from what is good and holy.
But here is scripture calling me to look and see if my actions really reveal
that I believe Jesus is with me 24/7. Do my actions speak of the glory of the
kingdom of my God? Have I yielded today to His Lordship over every area of my
life? Ah these verses also reveal that it is a work of God in my life leading
me into deeper and deeper faith through works. Through the process of applying
my faith, and having compassion for others, my faith will deepen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Not just the visible
actions like when I went on mission trip to Mississippi to help
after Hurricane Katrina, but how I handle my role as husband, father
of eight, employee, friend, homeowner, businessman, person in the community,
even those actions that no one would see but me, they are all a part of the
process of works that complete my faith, that cause me to grow into to being
more pleasing to Jesus who I love with all my heart.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Jenna Vick Sillimanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16160610705420543798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947901677057635396.post-27980815215506300422013-03-12T09:11:00.003-04:002013-03-12T09:11:55.858-04:00Taming the Tongue of a Sass-Master<!--StartFragment-->
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><i>Doth a
fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><i>James 3:11 KJV<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana;">In the
book <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tuck-Everlasting-Natalie-Babbitt/dp/0312369816">Tuck Everlasting</a></i>, a family discovers a spring that bestows immortality
when its waters are consumed. At first, they find the advantages of eternal youth to be awesome: they never aged, remaining as they were when they first drank from
the spring. But over decades, with the passage of time, they yearned for a
normal, mortal life. The water of the fountain of youth was both sweet and bitter.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The
fountain spoken of by the Apostle James, however, is not one of youth, but of
the everlasting impact of our words. This fountain, our tongue, according to
James, should not be producing words of both love and hatred.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP0MPA1SGbqtuZZ066PYTZv-uF1OhX7WdkFbYiDY763ABHIcebVJ73awfA6UPGSqOBRWdoq9QgNggn6UvGS6SkhUeHUMVxKUREStR6Vk97Av8UoF0VusPwnSUCJFIiwDQNyJ8uxOilwc3o/s1600/Water+streaming.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP0MPA1SGbqtuZZ066PYTZv-uF1OhX7WdkFbYiDY763ABHIcebVJ73awfA6UPGSqOBRWdoq9QgNggn6UvGS6SkhUeHUMVxKUREStR6Vk97Av8UoF0VusPwnSUCJFIiwDQNyJ8uxOilwc3o/s320/Water+streaming.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><i>With
the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings,
who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and
cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana;"><i>James 3:9-10, NIV.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">As
newlyweds, my husband and I wanted our marriage to be centered on our faith in
God. We both worked full-time, but carved out time to develop as believers in
prayer groups and Bible studies (not all at the same time!) with others, many of whom became lifelong friends. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">One
afternoon, I exchanged some sharp words with Tim. Actually, it was less of an
exchange and more like direct fire aimed at my husband</span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">. A few minutes later, I sat alone
at our kitchen table and flipped open my Bible randomly. These words from the
epistle of James seemed to be in neon lights: “<i>Doth a fountain send forth at
the same place sweet water and bitter?”</i></span><span style="font-family: Verdana;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I knew
immediately that the Lord was addressing my sharp tongue. Here I was, sitting
down to study the word and bless the Lord with my praises directly after
spewing venom at my life-partner. Gulp. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Anyone
who knows me will wonder if that spectacular moment of sweet conviction truly
sparked change in me. I have a way with words: a teenager recently told my
daughter that “your mom is a sass-master.” Gulp again. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">But I
never forgot the gentle admonition from God that day. I apologized to Tim and
began to see the truths of the Word of God to be very real and applicable to my
life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><i>All
kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have
been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless
evil, full of deadly poison. James 3:7-8, NIV.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Our words
can carry such weight: the cold boulders of ill-will, anger or envy, or the warm,
thick honey of love, encouragement, mercy and laughter. We have the power to choose which words
we hurl at those around us, even those who appear to deserve the best a
sass-master can deliver. Lord, tame my tongue! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Kerry Luddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17045222042728034869noreply@blogger.com0