Just Visiting

black name tag sticker with the text hello my name is in white on a red background

Most parents with school-aged children have at some point visited their children’s school and classroom.  Depending upon the school, visitors are often required to wear a nametag identifying VISITOR, unless the parent is a frequent volunteer and granted more leniency.  Regardless, the tag notifies teachers and children alike that the…

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Avoiding the Presumption of Proximity

thoughtful man in church

“Remain in Me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.” (John 15:4) While Jesus was teaching His disciples in the hours before His crucifixion, He made an important distinction…

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The Mystique of Being Unconventional

artist's paint brush mixing colorful paints

Artists are often thought to be a little peculiar, so in college I took advantage of being an Art Major to be unconventional.  My clothes were splashed with my current projects: pottery mud, paint, or ink, and sometimes blood from the slip of an X-Acto knife. I generally wore the…

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Deconstructing the Lie

red apple wet with droplets of water in a dark setting, illuminated from the top with a spotlight

Most of us are very familiar with the account of the Fall of Man where Eve was deceived by the serpent into eating forbidden fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  It is tempting to judge her harshly for so easily believing the words of the…

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No Black Bears

One of our boys came home from elementary school with an unusual challenge he tried out on me.   He said, “I bet you can’t stand in a corner and not think about a black bear.”  My immediate reaction was that was silly, because I never think about black bears unless…

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The Unexpected Through the Unlikely

Most of us very familiar with the Christmas Story of Jesus’ incarnation marvel at what God did, and give no thought to a possible alternative story line.  We have the advantage of Biblical history that specifically fulfills prophesy.  But those who originally received these prophesies could only guess what the…

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The Spark that Ignites Fires

roaring fire giving off sparks

The entire nation witnessed the tragedy of the Pacific Palisades fire that ignited on January 7, 2025.  Although that was almost a year ago, residents and businesses are still trying to dig out and recover.  What many lost is irrecoverable, and those familiar with the area’s former beauty are doubtful…

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Too Many Voices

I am told by friends who wear hearing aids that one of the hardest adaptations is trying to weed out superfluous sound that their brains used to automatically label “white noise,” not worthy of attention.  Hearing aids magnify all sound, requiring the wearer great focus to hear a selected thing…

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