Moment by Moment

“And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19 I imagine there are many within our community who are beginning to sweat. The government shutdown has entered its twenty-fifth day with no end in sight. For large swaths of the federal government, “essential” workers labor without pay while those deemed “non-essential” are furloughed. Wherever you fall on the political spectrum, I think that we can all agree that the…

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“And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message,so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ…”Colossians 4:3 On Saturday, my daughter Amanda and I were down in D.C. at Children’s Hospital visiting a family friend. After the visit, I wanted to take her to a Jamaican takeout place on N. Capitol St. NW. It’s a little storefront restaurant with no seating and an order counter about the size of a shoebox. We found parking…

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“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace…” Galatians 5:22 Do you make lists? I do. Lists of things to do, lists of people to contact, lists of upcoming family activities, ongoing home projects, books to read…on and on my lists go. Pam has them too. I see them on her dresser, in the bathroom and on the refrigerator in the kitchen. When we are hosting around the holidays, Pam makes lists to make sure everything gets done…

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They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then… also to us. (2 Corinthians 8:5) So where did #GivingTuesday come from, anyway? If you are like me, your social media feed and email inbox are filled with #GivingTuesday “opportunities.” Let me get this straight… after Thanksgiving on Thursday, there is Black Friday, followed by Small Business Saturday, followed by Cyber-Monday and then Giving Tuesday. When I first encountered this several years ago, I thought it was a hoax,…

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“The one who is victorious will be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and His angels.” Revelation 3:5 This past weekend, Pam and I traveled to the University of Virginia to participate in the “white coat ceremony” for our daughter Amanda who is in her second year in the nursing program. As a nursing student, she already has her scrubs,…

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“For we are God’s fellow workers, you are God’s field, God’s building.” 1 Corinthians 3:9 This past weekend was fall break at UVA and it was wonderful to have our eldest daughter, Amanda home… we felt like a complete family again. It was nice to catch up, play some games, enjoy a campfire and have her borrow my credit card, go shopping and spend all of my money. At certain points in the weekend, I was hit with strong waves…

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“And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.” Matthew 10:42 Mondays are my day off. That doesn’t mean that I won’t pick up the phone or check my email; it just means I try to steer clear of ministry obligations and don’t typically schedule ministry related events on that day. Monday is my day to mow…

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Jesus Our Lord, Savior Son of God & God the Son The Good Shepherd, the Door The Way, the Truth and the Life Bread of Life and Living Water The Great Physician, the Lord of all Creation The Daystar, the Coming King Messiah, Anointed One The Suffering Servant The Word of God King of Kings and Lord of Lords The Cornerstone, Our Great High Priest Teacher, Counselor, Prince of Peace The Light of the World, Our Emmanuel The Alpha &…

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“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell … among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.” (Matthew 13:3 & 7) There’s a picture that I pushed out to social media last week that has gotten a lot of chuckles. Perhaps you’ve seen it; it’s my vegetable garden completely, and I mean completely, overrun with weeds. I knew that I should have been a little more attentive to weeding before we…

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…forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. (Philippians 3:13) Originally we were going to stay one last night in a hotel to break up the trip. We thought that this would be a fitting end to a great vacation- maybe relax by the pool or watch an in-room movie. The GPS showed 7 1/2 hours to home, but we typically travel slow and we knew that with bathroom breaks and lunch the drive would be closer to…

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