Across Church Street

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It would be just like him

The God of the Bible looks like Jesus, the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being. It would be just like him to go to the cross.

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Practicing Our Scales

Imagine if our walk with Christ, representing his kingdom in the world, were as practiced and pure as Hania Rani’s fingers on the piano keys.

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Rescue

I practice the spiritual discipline of rescuing earthworms on paved surfaces. It's a reminder to me that I can pause what I'm doing, get a little dirty, and help. Also, that I've been given the responsibility to care.

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Your Roots Are Showing

The life that I bring to the world can only be found in my attachment to Christ. His presence with me is essential.

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Connection

I live in a U.S. county with traffic problems. It's a peninsula, and what's not swamp land has been developed. Building new roads is difficult and expensive. Making things worse, roads that could connect don't.

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What's in the Bowl?

During a spring trip, my wife and I purchased a glass bowl. It's colorful and handmade. When I turn the bowl upside down, nothing falls out. Does that make it empty?

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By Degree

North and south are directions. There are poles, but few of us wind up there. North-ness and south-ness are measured by degree. In politics and religion, degrees aren't allowed; we're pushed to poles: conservative or liberal. For Christianity, this relates to our approach to God's Word. How much authority does his Word carry in my actual lived life? So I ask myself, how many degrees am I from the North Pole of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, Great Commandment, Great Commission, and his other teachings? Does the answer to this question make me more conservative? Or more liberal?

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Give Us Barabbas!

They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising. — John 18:40

Jesus Barabbas and Jesus of Nazareth were both disrupters. One by force, the other by love.

Jewish leaders gave up on love. Was it too slow and inefficient? Too impractical? Too unsatisfying? Or was it as disruptive to them as it was to the Romans?

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Right-Sizing

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. — James 3:9-10

I really want this to be a self-control issue. It's not. It's a failure to see myself and others as God sees us. A proper view of others' God-likeness will right-size them greater in my eyes. My God-likeness should right-size me in the opposite direction.

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