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KEEP STANDING
“Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” ~ Ephesians 6:13 (The Bible) One of my very favorite works of fiction is J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. As a writer, his powers of description, world-building, and language are tremendously inspiring; as a person, his themes of unconditional love, courage, and hope in the face of overwhelming evil deeply resonate within my heart. Truly, it would be difficult for me to pick a favorite aspect of Tolkien’s work but, if pressed, I would have to boil it down to a concept…
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LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON: SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THE KING
“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom you have sent. ” ~ Jesus Christ (John 17:3) And so we reach the conclusion of this series. We’ve talked about the heart of the Father, the heart of the Son, and how the heart of Jesus on earth was to do His Father’s business. We discussed what it means for man to be made in the image of God and the great sacrifice both God the Father and God the Son (including God the Holy Spirit) made to bring mankind back into the intimate relationship we were made for: adopted forever…
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LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON: THE SACRIFICE
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ” ~ John 3:16 “Oh Pa…What’ll I do now?” In one of my favorite episodes of The Rifleman (“The Schoolmaster”, Season 3, Episode 10), young Mark McCain has had about all he can take of a difficult (and, yes, unfair) teacher. He threatens to quit school but his wise father, Lucas, tells him he can’t run from his problems and that they will figure it out together. So what does Mark do? Skip school with his best friend, of course. In their thrill of freedom,…
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LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON: IN HIS IMAGE
“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image…’ ” ~ Genesis 1:26 Have you ever wondered what it means to be somebody’s “spitting image”? I still have no idea where the “spitting” part comes from (and don’t really want to know 😊), but I’m pretty familiar with the whole “image” thing. It never fails. Wherever I go, if my family has gone before me, someone’s going to notice and feel the need to say it: “You look just like your Dad!” Those words are a bit strange to hear when you’re a girl, yet I always smile and say “thank you” because I know it’s true. I do…
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LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON: THE FATHER’S BUSINESS
“Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” ~ Jesus Christ (Luke 2:49) If someone were to ask you why Jesus came to this planet, what would you say? That He came to save sinners? Do good things? Teach people about Heaven? Or maybe you’d be like, “Wait: who’s Jesus?” If the answer is the latter, check out “The Hidden Meaning” on this blog before going any further. If not, let us proceed… 🙂 Why did Jesus come to this planet? If the question “Why does it matter?” comes to your mind, well, I’m glad you asked it because the answer to that question is the…
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LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON: HEART OF THE SON
“I have come in My Father’s name…” ~ Jesus Christ (John 5:43) “Jesus, what would You like for me to say in this blog post?” It’s taken over a month for me to be able to return to this series (“Like Father, Like Son”). The reasons for the delay have varied yet the desire to understand more clearly the heart of the son has remained ever constant. As I mentioned in my first post, the classic t.v. show The Rifleman has been a key element in this journey, showing so clearly the love of a father for his son and a son for his father: watch the show for about…
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LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON: HEART OF THE FATHER
“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” ~ 1 John 3:1 (The Bible) What comes to your mind when you hear the word “father”? Is it good? Is it bad? A source of inspiration—or disappointment? Do you cringe from unwanted memories or do happy tears fill your eyes? Perhaps nothing comes to mind because you never really had one, or perhaps you are one and you’re still trying to figure out exactly what that means? This past Sunday was designated and duly celebrated as “Father’s Day”, yet I wonder how many of us actually had something to celebrate?…
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KID’S CARTOONS AND RACIAL RIOTS
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ~ Jesus Christ Last Friday was a wonderful day. After weeks of busyness, my family and I were finally able to take a much needed “day-cation”, traveling to one of our favorite places in Tennessee to sight-see, eat some BBQ, and generally enjoy the beginning of what promises to be a beautiful summer. It felt so good just to laugh and relax together—especially after the tension and intensity of the past two months. When at last we arrived back home, I felt rested, refreshed, and grateful to the Lord for being able to enjoy some peace and normalcy. Then I got on Facebook.…
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MARVEL MAY: THANOS, INFINITY WAR, AND WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT THE LOVE OF GOD
“You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” ~ Jesus Christ {Luke 9:55} It has been said “God moves in mysterious ways”. That certainly can be true, and in my own life (because of how my funky brain works) at times those ways can look downright weird (at least to other people), which perhaps was never truer than when He used one of the weirdest movies ever made to teach me a profound lesson. I reference Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Infinity War. Now, before we go any further, let me just say…
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MARVEL MAY: MEMORIAL DAY WITH CAPTAIN AMERICA
“Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” ~ Jesus Christ “A symbol to the nation. A hero to the world. The story of Captain America is one of honor, bravery, and sacrifice.” So speaks the narrator of a Smithsonian exhibit in the Marvel Studios movie Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The words fit Steve Rogers well. I remember so clearly watching the first Captain America movie in theaters: Captain America: The First Avenger. It was 2011, a Friday matinee on a hot day in July. My brother and I decided to go after reading a review online praising the movie’s…