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Ready to celebrate?

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  Getting ready for the party   Christmas is a month away, a season of hope and happiness when we celebrate the Lord Jesus ’s birth and gather in families. Does love and the anticipation of a happy occasion fuel your preparation, or do you grit your teeth, hoping you’ll survive the chaos?  S pecial occasions need careful preparation. Gifts are purchased for Christmas, a bride shops for the perfect dress, an expectant mother buys a crib for her baby, or a family member prepares a relative’s funeral in their honor and to deal with their grief.  We’re more likely to succeed when we prepare, avoiding disappointment, heartache, and last-minute stress.   When God sent Jesus into the world, he made extensive preparations. Adam and Eve had sinned, destroying the close relationship they’d enjoyed with him, but God is merciful. He did not respond to their disobedience by wiping them off the planet. He planned a momentous event: he would live as a man among men an...
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Breakfast with Jesus: Taste and See Part 2

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                                                                   Breakfast on the Beach                                           Savory treats, sweetened with love   After his resurrection, Jesus prepared breakfast for his disciples .   One evening, Peter invited Thomas , Nathanael and a couple of Jesus ’ disciples on an overnight fishing expedition . A few days earlier, Thomas had thrust his hand into Jesus’s side, and the truth dawned on him. Jesus had risen from the dead, and this was his Lord and his God.   But Peter had sunk into despair, acutely aware he’d denied his Lord. A fisherman and a man of action, he could not sit motionless under the weight of nagging guilt. There’d been hints ...
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Jesus: Taste and See...Part 1

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   Taste and See   Taste and see that the Lord is good.  Blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.    Psalm 34:8 .     A savory supper with a bitter twist         Before Jesus ’ death, his disciples prepared him a celebratory supper .   Jesus climbed the steps to the upper room. A week earlier, He’d sent Peter and John to find a donkey for His kingly ride into Jerusalem . During the initial period of Unleavened Bread , these disciples encountered a city dweller carrying a water vessel, and they hired his upper chamber. While the nation prepared for Passover , travelers to Jerusalem could hire rooftop chambers, accessed by exterior staircases without disturbing the owner.      Approximately fifteen hundred years earlier, Jehovah had delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt . Under God’s instructions, they killed a perfect lamb, roasted it in the fire, along with bitter herbs, and smeare...
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Open my ears, Lord!

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                                            Open my ears, Lord    My great-aunt Mary was deaf . One Saturday, her employer sent her and another worker to the bank with the takings from his store. While they were walking along the street, a man grabbed her colleague around the neck and pulled him into the gutter, snatched the money, and scrambled to his feet. Aunt Mary, screaming for help, tore the bag away from the bandit while her colleague hooked the bandit’s leg and tripped him. Next, a passerby rushed entered the fray, pinioning the thief from behind, but he escaped, snatched the bag back from Aunt Mary , and jumped into the getaway car. As they sped away, his accomplice fired a parting shot.    The trauma affected Aunt Mary so much that she suffered facial palsy and deafness for the rest of her life. She heard our conversations only if we raised our vo...
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Eyes to see Jesus

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                                               EYES TO SEE JESUS          I stared at the eye chart in the ophthalmologist’s office. I couldn’t decipher the lower lines, and the upper ones were blurry. He nodded at me.       “Mm, your sight is borderline for driving a car, and I’d recommend cataract surgery.”         It wasn’t the result I wanted, but the doctor’s words rang true. I’d been struggling, and he was warning me about road safety. What if I caused an accident? I had to accept his advice.    “ Okay, Doctor, I’ll agree to the surgery.”     I expect that I’ll enjoy improved vision after the operation, and I’m very grateful the procedure is available.   Imagine if you’d never experienced the c...
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The touch of his healing hand

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                                                                He was the only one who dared                 My township rested at the foot of the mountain, a small rural community of low stone houses around a market square. On the outskirts, peaceful sheep and goats grazed on the grassy hills, but no one would employ me. A solitary lesion had spread across my body until my fingers and toes turned white and lost all sensation. No cure existed, and the priest pronounced me ‘unclean.’ To my shame, wherever I roamed, I had to warn everyone of my condition, and they kept their distance, repulsed and disgusted by my hideous disfigurement.             Since my family also feared me, I was forced to live outside, blistering in the summer sun and shivering in the c...
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Sitting down with Jesus

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           A special way to share moments with Jesus is to read the Gospels. As we begin this new series, we will walk with Him on His earthly journey. I pray the Lord blesses us and that these experiences make a profound impact on our lives.                                                              The Beatitudes Blessings!  When did you last feel crushed? Or has the blue dog of depression sunk its paws onto your shoulders, dragging you to despair? When that happens, you have a choice: either believe Satan's mixture of truth and lies, or consider how Jesus can lift you out of it.       Two thousand years ago, Jesus climbed a Galilean mountain to sit with his new disciples. Some of them h...
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SOS! Save Our Souls! Hear the messenger!

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                                                Please...                                             D on’t ignore the messenger!       If someone suffers because they've been foolish, are you bold enough to tell them they need help? Do they listen or will they hurl abuse? Often, I would rather let them learn by experience than confront the problem. And I’d probably miss the opportunity to ease their pain. This was Malachi’s challenge, but he obeyed God, counteracted objections and spoke the truth with love. What faith and courage!      God was about to leave the nation of Israel to its own devices. Ever since Moses had led them to the Promised Land, prophets had warned them about the consequences of ignoring God. Now ...
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