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Being. Happy and Fortunate.
Sometimes, particularly after a bad experience, I wonder how God’s heart must break from all the evil that we do to each other. The harm, hate and abuse we pour into each other. It’s bad enough what this does to us, I can only imagine God’s pain from seeing it. There was a particular horror that Jesus experienced. God brutally murdered. Judged and executed in full public display. Jesus’ father forsook him, his friends either denied or betrayed him, his community rejected him. He experienced all of the pain and misery, harm, hate and abuse that we’ve suffered. This means he understands and can relate to us. The resurrection of…
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Two Nails
Four soldiers, sitting there Wagered for his clothes They looked up to the cross where The blood from his wounds still flowed The blood from his wounds still flowed Three women came to see Put their heads in their hands Witnessing up on this tree The slow death of this man The slow death of this man Two nails are on the ground There’s one more to go While people stood all around The body was brought down low The body was brought down low One friend came to the cross Took his body away Wrapped him up in brand new cloth And laid him in his grave And laid…
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Does God Care about Your Artwork?
Does God care about your artwork? He does. Everyone expresses themselves creatively. It can’t be helped. It’s one of the things we’re born to do. It’s part of what the Bible refers to when it says we’re made in God’s image. (Genesis 1:26.) An essential part of God’s nature is that, beyond all possible imagination of abundance and diversity, he’s creative (Genesis 1:1). We reflect that part of his nature in the abundance and diversity of our art, music, movies, etc. The difference is, God creates out of nothing. We, at best, “borrow” any material we can find and repurpose it. As Picasso said, “Good artists copy, great artists steal.”
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The Price
Does every blessing bring a curse with it? Or, to put it in a non-religious terms, do you feel like you have to pay a price for every good thing that happens in your life? What causes this? There was a time when I would lay on the porch behind our house and look up at the sky. I found it relaxing to daydream and watch the clouds go by. Every now and then I would see a plane flying overhead. I would imagine what it would be like to be on a plane again, going to far-off places. I said silent prayers, “Lord, I would like to travel.” That…
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Who is Jesus?
Ever wonder what it would be like to come back from death? To tell us what heaven is like? If such a place exists, how would you describe it? Would you say it was filled with indescribable love, beauty, and happiness? There was a man standing on a beach 2,000 years ago, near a sea called Tiberius. In the early morning light he saw men in the distance, rowing toward shore. They had spent the night fishing. He yelled out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” They answered no. He told them to throw their net out once again, this time on the right side of the boat. With…
