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Stability in an unstable world
The offering of hope For many, this Christmas season has come with conflicting emotions. Past Christmas traditions have been snatched from us through this pandemic. A season of friend and family gatherings has left us wondering how to create community, despite continued distancing. In a world that may feel unstable, shifting and currently unreliable, we find ourselves looking for something steady and sure. We have grown tired of fake news. Our souls are longing for truth, for real news. The hope of redemption God’s great plan of redemption offers to all who will receive it, the gift of hope. As Christ followers our hope is planted upon the rock-solid foundation…
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Social Distancing brings an odd push and pull of emotions
Living close to the Savior is not a place of clamor, confusion and clutter. It is a place of quiet rest despite the storm clouds that come rolling in. They may look like they are going to take us under; but Jesus Christ is the only One who can calm the angry waves. If you remember, the disciples looked at the waves that could sink them while the Master of the sea, Jesus, was asleep in the boat. Through all that we are going through Jesus offers His children the gift of Himself, the gift of hope and the gift of perfect peace admit the uncertainty of Covid 19. Jesus…
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Social Distancing: Beginning with the end in mind
Part Two: Re-birthing the vision: The Bella Project This week I began my indoor flower garden. After purchasing a kit that contained multiple silver-dollar size discs, and several of my favorite seed packets, I invited my granddaughter over and together we went to work. I gave her a bowl of warm water and a measuring spoon. Soon she was tossing spoonfuls of water on the tiny pods. It was fun to watch the mystery on her face as each pod began to grow right before her big brown eyes. Within seconds the pods began to swell to well over three times their original size. The water had given birth to the…
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Social Distancing: Beginning with the end in mind
Part One: As I begin week two of living in isolation and keeping appropriate social distancing, I have come to the realization that I must stop spending excessive amounts of time on social media, stop looking around every corner for chocolate, and get up and move! I am a self-proclaimed procrastinator and a self-declared list person. I go to sleep with a list and wake up to a list. Because of my ADD tendencies I like to do things in small doable check boxes. I often set my phone alarm for 15 minutes and try to accomplish the next thing on my list. Of course, the best part for me,…
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Is community always physical closeness?
I woke up early this morning with one question scrolling through my mind. How can we break through the barriers of social distancing and create a community of closeness? Is community always about proximity; being physically near one another? Or can we learn to develop a new layer of community without physical touch? During the past few weeks as the corona-virus has swept around the globe and reached our local communities, I have had the opportunity to connect online with friends, young mothers, teens and some of the elderly in our personal social network. For some their concerns raise an element of fear, for others they are already experiencing loneliness,…
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Social distancing provides the provision of prayer
This morning I was thinking of the importance of prayer during this outbreak of corona-virus. We may not be able to get together with each other, but we can pray. We can pray for our community, national and local leaders, church leadership, families, the elderly, parents who are struggling financially because they can’t work from home, parents with school age children who are now at home, loved ones whom we cannot travel to see; pray for those living in nursing homes, sick in hospitals, nurses, doctors and those incarcerated. PRAY! The list is endless of who we can pray for. Nearly daily I receive a message from a young teen…
