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New Growth
We’ve recently been visiting my wife’s family in New Hampshire, and as we often do, we spent some time during our trip camping in the White Mountains. I’m always grateful to get out into nature for a bit (especially in a place that gets no…
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Engage The Culture, Not The Culture War
Erwin Rommel, a military general under Nazi Germany, is quoted as saying, “in the absence of orders, find something and kill it.” While this may strike us as amusing on the surface, it reveals the dark nature of war. War frames everything it touches in…
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The Ordinary and Extraordinary Calling of God
Scripture is filled with stories of an extraordinary God doing extraordinary things through ordinary people. Or so we might say – but were they really that ordinary? Certainly they were human – flesh and blood – just like us. Yet, we recognize that in many…
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The Gospel As Gift
What is the gospel? It is, simply, good news. It is the good news that God loves us so much that he sent his only son to die in our place (John 3:16). It is the good news that through Jesus our sins are forgiven…
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Dionysius, The 3rd Century Roman Plague, & The Modern Church
In the 3rd century AD, a horrible plague struck the Roman Empire. According to some counts, 5,000 people a day were dying in Rome. It is not clear what specific disease caused the pandemic, but it is clear it was severe and deadly, lasting not…
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The Power and Danger of If
The word “if” can be both powerful and dangerous. I’ve recently been enjoying a Japanese animated movie that explores this idea. The movie, entitled “Fireworks,” is about a boy named Norimichi who accidentally discovers a way to rewind time for the express purpose of taking…