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In That Day
During my growing up years, our grandmother lived with us periodically. She always tried to make herself useful, but we really loved her for her stories, and some of her most endearing gifts were the cookies she baked in the afternoon just before we came home from school. When my brother and sisters and I…
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A Better Hope
When I first read in the book of Hebrews that “The law made nothing perfect, and a better hope is introduced.” (Hebrews 7:19), I wondered how “Hope” could in any way be “better. Does “hope” come in “good,” “ better,” and “best”? Is “hope” even measurable at all? But when I read on about the…
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Thirst
The first time that I can remember ever being really, really thirsty was in a gym class in seventh grade. We had had a “work out” involving apparatus and mats, and finally a “few” laps around the gym. We were all sitting on the floor around the gym teacher, and to this day I have…
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One Warm Smile
My great aunt, Vina Fish, once owned and operated a Tea House on main street in a small farming town in upstate New York. At one time or another, virtually all of the women of the family, cousins of mine, as well as my grandmother and my mother, all worked at the Tea House. People…
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When God Calls
Katrina was a pre-teen girl living in a Russian orphanage when she was adopted by an American family. They had one daughter, and wanted another for companionship. When they met Katrina, she was bald; her head had been shaved, the cure for lice in the orphanage. Katrina was relieved to know that she would have…
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Politics
Two of the United States’ founding fathers went together on a vacation tour of England while they wee stationed there on U.S. Government assignments in 1786. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both enjoyed gardening and farming, as well as both being fans of Shakespeare, and so they stopped at Stratford- upon- Avon to visit Shakespeare’s…
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Knowing God
At a time when Israel had fallen almost hopelessly away from their God, Jeremiah spoke God’s words to them: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom, or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding…
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Simplicity
Simplicity An instructor of mine told this story about herself. When she, Anna, was eight years old she overheard her father talking to her mother on his phone about their vacation plans. What she heard was, “We’ll take the Pontiac up the coast (of California) and catch the circus in San Francisco.” What she thought…
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Deep But Simple
Sitting on the deck overlooking Possum Kingdom Lake in the early morning just before sunrise, I closed my eyes to pray. When I opened them there was a glow in the eastern sky, and half of the stars had disappeared. The morning came gently. It was neither hot nor cold with very little wind, as…
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The Spirit Of Christmas
Already the Christmas catalogs are arriving full of decorations, cards, and gifts. While they remind me of all that has to be done before that one day of the year, I also welcome them for the reminder of that one day, and even for all the days surrounding it in preparation, and for the glow…