Who isn’t excited to open a present?
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God Longs For You To See His Beautiful Gift – And Here’s How To Open It
Spiritual
God Offers You Something More This Christmas – The Forgotten Gift Of Flying! Here’s How To Receive It
Jesus is standing outside your door RIGHT NOW! He stands in the rain or the falling snow, depending on the weather where you live. He’s holding your Christmas present.
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Rise Above Frantic Holiday Shopping To Immediately Like Yourself More!
It was like he pushed his boot through the book he wrote, the one I was reading, and kicked me in the rear.
Ouch!
“What did you do that for?” I asked the book accusingly.
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The Best Christmas Was The Most Painful Christmas
Photo by Cristian Palmer on Unsplash
I held my head in my hands, the non-physical pain consuming me, twisting my body to reflect my inner state.
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How To Find What You’re Looking For This Christmas
Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash
It was dark. I grasped the floor, trying to find some unseen object. I couldn’t remember what I was looking for, but I knew it was on the floor, not far away.
If I could only pick it up!
“Where are you?” I cried, tears streaming down my face. Then I brushed up against something, the finger of God. I tried to grasp it but went in the wrong direction by mistake and lost my sense of where it was again.
But now my heart was beating with hope.
The tears stopped flowing, just a riverbed of dry tears streaming down my face, now.
“Where are you, God?” I called out. Hope filled my heart.
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I Found This Startling Truth: God Is Wrong! (But Smarter!)
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I want to be clear that I don’t think God knows what he’s doing with this one annoying habit of letting everyone use His name and, therefore, call themselves a Christian.
(I.e. Christian comes from the word Christ, as in followers of Jesus Christ.)
Look, I wish all the Christians looked like Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta, too. But they don’t. At least they could all look like Bill Gates and maybe not be super handsome but have an intellectual coolness in their back pocket.
Look, just so it’s clear if I was vetting admittance to the Jesus team, I’d have admittance cards.
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How To Be Successful? Loudly Flaunt More Of Your Ego!
Photo by Andre Mouton on Unsplash
So it’s my birthday!
Photo by Delaney Dawson on Unsplash
My blog’s birthday, that is. My blog is two years old this week*. I can’t believe you found me in this unknown, unvisited corner of the internet!
And wow!
I can’t believe that every day, 10 of you** (No, I didn’t forget any zeros. Why do you ask?) read this stuff! And it’s not just the people in my family I bribe with food anymore! Whisper: Don’t people have anything better to do nowadays?
What I meant to say is: Wow! You must really like me!
Wait. What I meant to say is: Think of all the fame and glory I have!
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Blind To The Most Important Things? Borrow These Glasses So Your Heart Can See
Photo by @felipepelaquim on Unsplash
I put on my gloves, breathing in the brisk fall air and preparing to stomp on some fallen leaves with her as we walked together.
I excitedly anticipated hearing what ups and downs on the journey of life had coaxed her to recently move to our little town by the river, and to join our homey little church.
Spending time with her felt like a bit of a slap upside the head, however. But the good kind of slap upside the head. The type of slap helps you see things afresh and shakes out the cobwebs.
[God will give] a thorough housecleaning, getting rid of all the historical and religious junk so that the unshakeable essentials stand clear and uncluttered.
“Oh, there’s Raymond,” my new friend muttered under her breath as we passed by a disheveled, drug-addled young man. I was anxious to get back to our conversation and see what happened next in her life story. I coaxed, “but what made you move to . . . ”
She wasn’t listening.
“Hi, Raymond,” she called out. He smiled, genuinely pleased to see my friend, and waved at the three of us. At that exact moment, I looked around to see who must have smacked my new friend, as her eyes were inexplicably filling with tears. The cold fall air, I wondered. A brisk walk often made my eyes run, too.
But she was still talking about Raymond.
“Sometimes I just hold him in my arms and tell him God loves him,” she whispered, her eyes tearing. I looked around for who she could be speaking about. Had an old friend of hers just passed us as well? There was no one else around. My neck craned in all directions, and I stared wide-eyed at my new friend, slowly understanding she was still talking about Raymond.
“You do WHAT??” I wondered, horrified.
I quickly composed myself. I mean, I am a Christian, so of course, I – ahem – knew EXACTLY what she was talking about . . . er . . . knew of people who knew exactly what she was talking about . . . er . . . I mean, who doesn’t grab the odd smelly bum we pass on the street and hold them in our arms, crying tears of God’s love for them?
To reassure me, however, I made a mental note to check my “Christian Club Membership Card” when I got home to ensure it hadn’t expired.
Her heart mirrored a tiny piece of the heart of Jesus, and her words seemed to mirror what would have fallen from His lips.
I stared wide-eyed at this new friend.
She was still silently weeping. “I sense such a Spirit of God on him,” she said so quietly it was almost a whisper. I looked back at Raymond, who was walking away from us. He had waved and walked on.
The image of tears of love spilling from her face onto Raymond reminded me of another woman whose tears of love spilled onto Jesus.
Just then a woman of the village . . . came with a bottle of very expensive perfume and stood at [Jesus’] feet, weeping, raining tears on his feet. Letting down her hair, she dried his feet [and] kissed them, and anointed them with the perfume.
You can love a person dear to you with a human love, but [many] can only be loved with divine love.
Leo Tolstoy in War and Peace
As we continued walking in silence, I wondered:
– WHO really is Raymond?
– WHO am I?
– WHO is Jesus?
It seemed I was blind to all three.
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How To Save* (Or Destroy?*) Your Marriage – Two Advanced Acronyms
We start skiing on the green runs.
We start working on our marriage by successfully applying two nonsense words to our marriages. But you are ready for the blue runs, the intermediate terrain. One blue ski run (or intermediate acronym) for the daring only is:
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The Best Climate Solution Hack Is To Focus On This One Other Thing Instead
Just because the battle of [insert famous battle name here – I’m not a Historian, ok?] was lost, doesn’t mean those soldiers lost the war too!
The same is true in the war that many in our culture are fighting to open our eyes to the reality that climate change is real.
We’ve lost a battle or two, granted.
For example, consider the implementation of climate solutions and the recent US election. I am not a Harris supporter by any stretch of the imagination. (Also, I’m Canadian, so no one cares who I would have voted for. AND, it’s much easier to criticize leaders trying to create positive change than to come up with real solutions that work!)
The point is that we lost another battle in the war against recognizing that climate change is even a “thing” with the election win of Mr. Trump.
But just because climate change has lost another battle, that doesn’t mean we have lost the war in finding a solution to our climate woes – Not by any stretch.
It is time to close the chapter in the book “Let’s talk about climate change rationally, using science.”
Instead, let’s focus on applying and implementing this one solution.
Let’s focus on food.
No, I did not leave my rationale mind over there as I wrote this post over here.
Stay with me.
In Paul Hawken’s book “Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation,” there is surprising hope in implementing Regenerative Agriculture.
Don’t have time to read?
Check out this free movie, Kiss the Ground Film | Official Website
A Hollywood Actor narrates the movie, so that’s how we know it is the truth!
Just kidding – There is LOTS of science here and a growing movement.
“Kiss the Ground is an audience-supported nonprofit promoting regeneration and healthy soil as a viable solution for our wellness, water, and climate crisis. Since 2013, we’ve inspired millions to participate in the Regenerative Movement through storytelling, education and partnerships.”
Oh, and another benefit – when you put less poison in the form of hyper-processed foods into your body and recognize food ITSELF is healing, you’ll probably feel a lot better, too!
There is a movement of people who have started to be accidentally healed of various modern ailments through eating healthier foods, but we’ll talk about that another time.
Oh, and we can avert the climate crisis once this movement snowballs, too, without mentioning the term “climate change.”
The thing is (whisper):
God has a solution to EVERY problem we see in our world.
We have hope! Let’s dance! No problem is too big for our God.
As the song below plays, ask God, “Has my hope been reduced to the size of politics or the problems in my life and our world? Forgive me. Would You help me place my hope in the One who is bigger than every problem?”
“If . . . my people, my God-defined people, respond by humbling themselves, praying, seeking my presence, and turning their backs on their wicked lives, I’ll be there ready for you: I’ll listen from heaven, forgive their sins, and restore their land to health. From now on I’m alert day and night to the prayers offered . . . “
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