Category: Uncategorized
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Lessons From Along the Road
Sometimes you learn, or relearn, the greatest truths from the most unusual places. This has been such a week for me. On Wednesday I went to an immersive experience with Van Gogh paintings. Before getting to the paintings there were quotes and historical facts about the painter that touched me in rather profound ways. Vincent…
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Who Am I? Seeing As God Sees
A couple weeks ago I passed a mother holding her toddler in the hallway at church. The cute little boy smiled and began wildly waving his arms. I smiled. Then the mother started to speak as only proud mothers do and explained that her son was imitating me leading the music. Apparently he recognized me,…
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The Joy of Discipleship
The name of this blog is, Look to God and Live… Joyfully. Every week I have endeavored to write on various topics that I believe can help us find joy as we do those little things that draw us, and others, closer to God. This week, on the heels of watching ten hours of my…
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Never Giving Up Hope
Last week I was watching a college football game. It wasn’t one I particularly cared about, except in the impact it had on the standings, but I got caught up when it looked like the unranked underdog was going to knock off their ranked opponent. It got a bit stressful as the spread in the…
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A Cup Half Full
This week I had the funniest notifications pop up on my phone. Okay, the subject wasn’t funny, but the juxtaposition of the two was rather hilarious. As you may or may not know, I am a news junkie and I get breaking news stories from more than a dozen sources (from all across the political…
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Casting Aside Fear: Some 9/11 Anniversary Thoughts
When I was a teenager I loved to be scared. The local radio station had their nightly Mystery Theatre that featured tales of murder and mayhem, airing in the latest hours of night, that thrilled me to the very quakingest marrow of my bones. I looked forward to being terrified every single night. Don’t get…
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Healing and Fixing what is Broken
When I came home from Cleveland two weeks ago, I learned that my vacuum cleaner had something wrong with it. A very weird thin metal bar kinda thing was sticking out of the bottom. I looked at it and tried to figure it out. I admit that I’m not the most mechanically minded person I’ve…
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Developing a Listening Heart
I have a question. What is your response when someone expresses hurt feelings? Be honest. How do you react? Okay, think about different scenarios. What if someone tells you that you hurt them? How about if somebody else offended them? What if what hurt them wouldn’t hurt or offend you? Does that make a difference…
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Embracing Change
I don’t like change. Nope. Not really. I’ve mentioned before how I like to plan everything in advance and don’t appreciate when my plans don’t work out, but this time I want to talk about bigger change. I have discovered that I like status quo living. It might be difficult at times, but it is…
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Brushing Up Our Ability to Serve
I have used an electric toothbrush for many years. It’s a nice one and it beeps every time I’m supposed to change which quadrant of my mouth I’m brushing. It allows me to be fully lost in my thoughts while brushing. As a daydreamer this is the way I like to do things, haha! This…
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Miracles NEVER Cease
I have an interesting history with cars. Not cars, exactly, more like driving. When I first got my license I had an incident where I mistook the McDonald’s drive-thru lane divider for a speed bump and I got stuck. Like completely and utterly stuck. They had to close down the drive-thru and make a ramp…
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Learning to Love Perceived Foes
I’m going to admit something really bad here: I have been prone to prejudice during my life. I believe that I have made good progress in overcoming most of those prejudices as I have gotten older and listened to peoples’ experiences and feelings, although I recognize that I probably still fall short in some ways.…
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Look to God and Trust His Plan
I am a planner. Like, I seriously plan things down to the last detail. I’m the person who likes to have the big family master calendar with birthday celebrations, holiday get-togethers, vacations, and other events all put together on January 1st. Mind you, I’m usually fine if things switch around, but having a roadmap for…
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Happy Independence Day!
Today I had an interesting juxtaposition of experiences. I stood amidst buildings of ancient history where men found obtaining and maintaining power at all costs to be a paramount interest and then I stood at the gravesite where so many of my countrymen of recent history are buried after paying the ultimate price to free…
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Looking for God’s Silver Linings
Sometimes what you want isn’t the best thing. I know, what a revelation, right? I bet you never heard that cliché before, hahaha! I’ve heard it and even espoused it, but don’t always agree. This time, however, I can honestly say that while I really wanted one thing, the Lord had a better plan in mind. Let…
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In Tribute to Legacies (and those who leave them)
Today Elizabeth sang in two different church meetings. She sounded great at both, but that’s not my point. When choosing a song to perform, Elizabeth chose a song I wrote years ago based off of William Blakes poem, The Lamb. I wrote it as a lullaby back when we were super poor and I needed…
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High Hopes for the Younger Generation
Photo 199715078 / High Hopes © Solarseven | Dreamstime.com Perhaps one of the most timeless and universal activities that people indulge in is that of complaining about the younger generation. Back in the day, like in the 4th Century B.C., Aristotle complained, “[Young people] are high-minded because they have not yet been humbled by life, nor have they experienced the force of…
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Shedding our Layers
The other day I decided that it was time to brush my dog Sunny. Now, Sunny is a Mini Australian Shepherd and has a lot of hair for a dog so small. I was tired of finding her hair all over the house, so I decided to give her a thorough brushing. I brushed and…
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To Remember… And Hear the People Sing
Memorial Day unofficially began in 1866 as a tribute to the fallen soldiers of the Civil War. Following that most bloody of conflicts there was a desire across the country to honor those who paid the ultimate sacrifice by decorating their graves and sharing their stories. While 1866 is considered the start of organized tributes,…
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To Build Jerusalem
One of the most beautiful theological ideas to me is the concept of Zion, often called Jerusalem or even the New Jerusalem. It is revered in Judaism, Islam, Christianity, and the Rastafari movement. In various ways according to the different traditions it represents peace and holiness, a place of joy and absolute safety, a place…
Look to God and Live... Joyfully! 