#storychanging
Traffic jams. Angry bosses. Pressure. Demands. Expectations. Failures. When we look around, we can long for a cave to crawl in to. Sometimes, no matter where we turn, another problem looms before us like Mount Everest. Shoving from the side, pounding from the top, shaky beneath our feet… How do we find relief in a…
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“Show me the way I should go…and then I’ll decide if I want to go that way.” Unfortunately, that’s the way most of us translate that verse. We want to know God’s will for us, but we also want to retain the veto power just in case we don’t like it. Sometimes we treat God’s…
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“God wants you to believe in yourself! Do what makes you happy!” It’s hard to get through a week without hearing some version of this slickly-packaged nonsense that is passing for Christian teaching these days. Billionaire TV preachers clog the airways and flood the bookstores with their Bible-flavored messages of self-worship that would have outraged…
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“I used to feel bad about sleeping with my boyfriend, but I prayed and prayed about it, and now it doesn’t bother me at all!” Miss Chirpy giggled with delight. “God’s grace is amazing, you know? I’m free to be me.” Pastor Dave lifted a brow at the young woman before him. “So, let me…
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How can you know for sure that you’re right with God? LOTS of people think they are. What if you’re one of them, how do you know? Over the centuries, people have come up with various litmus tests to assure themselves that they’re right with God. Some religions insist that if men slick back their…
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We’ve all had moments when our parents put us on the spot. “Tell your uncle about that cute girl you have a crush on!” “Cindy can do a handstand. Show them, honey!” Heat still floods our faces when we remember, but we also remember that no one believed in us the way our mothers did.…
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“Say you’re sorry!” How many times did you hear that as a child? If you’re a parent, you’ve said it yourself a handful of times. Our moms taught us that the issue isn’t over until we apologized for using Sister’s toothbrush. But there was another side to that mercy. We also had to forgive our…
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“Just wait til your father gets home!” was Moms’ dreaded warning for kids in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s. In the ‘80’s and 90’s, it was: “Just wait til I get off work!” And nowadays it’s, “That’s it! You’re losing your smartphone, ipad, and Xbox for a week!” Whatever the decade and whatever the youthful infraction,…
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“Do you see now?” a mother asked her defiant daughter. “I’ll have to pay for the damage you caused when you stole my car. I’m barely making ends meet, but I’ll do it because I love you. You’re my child and nothing will change that.” The girl suddenly broke into tears and threw herself into…
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It was past midnight, but Mom’s sewing machine still hummed. Money was tight this year, nothing left over for Christmas gifts. But her children would never go without. She would do whatever it took to keep warm food in the tummies and nice clothes on their backs. She cared nothing about the fact that she…
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