Until Dawn Do Us Part

Until Dawn Do Us Part

Reading Time: < 1 minuteUntil-dawn-do-us-part relationships make until-death-do-us-part ones so very hard. They exchange temporary happiness for permanent burdens. Years of memories that could have been shared instead become moribund recollections of “might have beens.” A wife of noble character who can find?She is worth far more than rubies. Proverbs 31:10 I can’t imagine myself finding a ruby and chucking it away. People die with integrity or despair, and the history of companionship goes…

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The Four Loves—Happy Valentine’s Day

The Four Loves—Happy Valentine’s Day

Reading Time: 2 minutesI can’t say that I naturally engage many people—one of my relationships started off with the other person stating that I seemed boring, and from our perspectives, that was an accurate assessment. There is nothing inherently wrong with someone finding you boring; people have different interests, and they might share little in common. The topics I love tend to have little appeal to most, and my personality is more than…

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E Pluribus Unum
E Pluribus Unum—A Christian Concept?

E Pluribus Unum—A Christian Concept?

Reading Time: 2 minutesE pluribus unum.  Out of many, one. This is a Biblical concept found everywhere from Isaiah 66 to Romans 12. God takes people from all nations and peoples, no matter how unlikely, and makes them one in Christ, often to the surprise of those who currently see themselves as “the one true church.” Having only human eyes with which to see, we can certainly declare some things: people are known by their fruit, disciples…

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Church of Christ—Denomination or Not?

Church of Christ—Denomination or Not?

Reading Time: 3 minutesI am a member of the Church of Christ. I’ve preached and helped out at a number of different assemblies, and I think that we are a denomination, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse, but we’re one that I’m pretty comfortable with, as often we have some solid, Biblical teaching. I’ve noticed that our beliefs can vary a bit, too. In one town, in the assembly, the women will…

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EMS and Servants

EMS and Servants

Reading Time: 2 minutes When I was a younger guy, I was blessed with the opportunity to serve my community through volunteerism in emergency medical services (and also to work professionally in a large city doing the same). Along with some other dedicated individuals, I was able to help influence a cultural shift in a volunteer organization; as part of that shift, I created the following patch to go on uniforms, which we decided…

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Urbanization Is Associated with Increased Levels of Mental Illness

Urbanization Is Associated with Increased Levels of Mental Illness

Reading Time: 2 minutesUrbanization is associated with increased levels of mental illness, but it’s not yet clear why.  It has been suggested that decreased nature experience may help to explain the link between urbanization and mental illness.  One mechanism [toward increased mental illness—Luke] might be the impact of nature exposure on rumination, a maladaptive pattern of self-referential thought that is associated with heightened risk for depression and other mental illnesses. Our findings of the effects…

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Girls kayaking String Lake, Wyoming. Peruvian woman and Chilean woman.
Creeping Determinism Gets You to Beat Yourself Up

Creeping Determinism Gets You to Beat Yourself Up

Reading Time: < 1 minuteYou kick yourself for making that dumb decision! What were you thinking? The team tried a play that just didn’t work—gah! Why’d they blow it? Introspection is important, but there’s a subtle, insidious error that can slither into our thinking—creeping determinism. It’s a phenomenon where, over time, we begin to look back and realize how a decision wasn’t going to work out; how all the dots were connecting into a…

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Monuriki Castaway Island Fiji
If I Could Do Life All Over—Cast Away

If I Could Do Life All Over—Cast Away

Reading Time: 2 minutesIf I could do life all over, I would. Not really for myself. I don’t enjoy my career, and I don’t like where I live, but I’m better off than I deserve. I have better friends than I deserve. And I am happy having my own existence, doing my own thing, seeing things that only I will have a memory of.  Usually, when I make the mistake of looking back,…

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Do You Believe in Good and Evil?

Do You Believe in Good and Evil?

Reading Time: 2 minutesDo you believe in good and evil?   Professor Michael Ruse, a noted atheist and philosopher of science, has correctly noted what morality is in a world without God. In “The Darwinian Paradigm,” he noted:  “Morality is a biological adaptation no less than are hands and feet and teeth.  Considered as a rationally justifiable set of claims about an objective something, ethics is illusory. I appreciate that when somebody says, “Love…

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Portion Size in Conversations with Dr. Peter Boghossian

Portion Size in Conversations with Dr. Peter Boghossian

Reading Time: < 1 minuteProblem: I like information. When I find myself in any sort of conflict with people I like it too much. In the book, “How to Have Impossible Conversations: A Very Practical Guide,” Dr. Boghossian points out a number of things that I do poorly. On having difficult conversations, he writes: “Most basic elements of civil discussion, especially over matters of substantive disagreement, come down to a single theme: making the…

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Making up Laws and Adding to the Word (My friend Wendy!)

Making up Laws and Adding to the Word (My friend Wendy!)

Reading Time: 2 minutesA bit ago, my friend Wendy Nichols made a post about how our mutual, Christian heritage sometimes labels other Christians as “not Christian” based on whether or not they sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (Eph 5, Col 3) with, say, someone also playing the piano. Of note, it can be demonstrated that “psalms,” and to a degree hymns, were often accompanied, but not necessarily 100% of the time. The…

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Will Singing with Instruments Send You to Hell? (Funny?)

Will Singing with Instruments Send You to Hell? (Funny?)

Reading Time: 3 minutesHow sinful are instruments? You’re about to find out! You’re driving down a highway in your home country, which is a nice, tropical island nation. The speed-limit sign says, “TRAVEL 80KPH,” and you’re doing a solid 75. Suddenly your rear window is suffering from over illumination. Cripes, it’s the cops! You pull over, and the cop walks up to your window and asks if you know why you were stopped….

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Let People Get Past Their Pasts

Let People Get Past Their Pasts

Reading Time: < 1 minuteMost of us can forgive and forget—we just don’t want the other person to forget that we forgave! That’s tough for us as humans, because we often see in our mercy a cost to ourselves. Perhaps, we think, that cost should be directly proportional to the amount of added value that the one we forgave should now see in us. We’re very blessed that God is not like that, but…

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Avoiding Relationships Designed to Make You Jealous

Avoiding Relationships Designed to Make You Jealous

Reading Time: < 1 minuteIn relationships, God warns against jealousy and selfish ambition. One early warning sign that something is sick in a relationship is if jealousy exists, and especially if it is purposefully precipitated. Watch out for those who seek to make you jealous while courting. It’ll often take a very subtle form…maybe a subtle comment on a picture of someone of the opposite sex on facebook, maybe mentions of how pleasing past…

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You Just Broke the Law of Silence!

You Just Broke the Law of Silence!

Reading Time: 2 minutesAre you good at following the law? Or are you an evil, law-breakin’ good-fer-nuthin’ lout? Imagine: You land in the beautiful, French island of Martinique and proceed to immigration. They stamp your international driver permit, but tell you that you’ll also need to get a local permit for €5.00, as well a read a short list of rules for driving on the island. The rules are simple and nothing that…

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Precision Obedience in Christianity

Precision Obedience in Christianity

Reading Time: < 1 minuteI have seen people comment on “precision obedience.” One preacher said, “God does not expect us to be able to conquer sin or be perfect, so he gave us the perfect acts of worship, and how to perform them perfectly. Thus those who use instruments in music are of their father the devil.” Consider what God said. “[God] also made us sufficient as servants of a new covenant; not of…

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To carry a grudge is like being stung to death by one bee.

To carry a grudge is like being stung to death by one bee.

Reading Time: < 1 minuteTo carry a grudge is like being stung to death by one bee. “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Eph 4:31-32)

Selfless Marriage

Selfless Marriage

Reading Time: < 1 minute Luke 6:35 says, “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High.” One aspect missing from many marriages is that of selflessness. Relationships can’t be 50/50—they need to be 100/100, with each partner giving it all they have. Watch your expectations, that you don’t let them ruin your appreciation. My friend…

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Looking Back Can Kill You

Looking Back Can Kill You

Reading Time: < 1 minuteDo you have lots of regrets? Do you look back on past relationships, actions, or feelings, wishing that you could JUST do it different? Sometimes that consumes people! John Landy and Roger Bannister broke the miracle mile (sub 4’00”) around the same time (header image). When they raced against each other, the eyes of the world were looking. Right before the finish, Landy looked back over his shoulder to see…

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Don’t Use People As Bandages to be Discarded

Don’t Use People As Bandages to be Discarded

Reading Time: 2 minutesI’d been hurt, so I “needed” to bandage those wounds. And with this person, I’d found my bandage, but as a mere tool. Something to be taken off and discarded at a later date. And that’s what I did.