Easter Inspiration: Praying like Jesus

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  Easter is a time to draw close to Christ and learn from his experience. We also can learn from his prayers from that last week of his life. It’s interesting that of his ten recorded prayers, six come from his last week. And they can inspire our prayer lives. “Father, glorify your name!” (John 12:28 NIV). Despite Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, he said, “Now my heart is troubled.” When we are troubled, we also can ask God to be glorified in us. “May they be brought to complete unity” (John 17:23 NIV). Jesus’s chapter-long Upper Room prayer emphasizes…

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Relationship Glue

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  “What did she use this time?” The kind man who cleans my white carpets squats down to inspect the splashed rainbow. “Acrylic and oils.” I show him the finished masterpiece displayed on the easel above the carpet’s danger zone. He nods appreciatively, and from his arsenal of stain removers, sprays over the area what I assume to be an anti-acrylic and an oil neutralizing solution. “You must see this kind of cleanup project a lot in your business.” I think of the dropped plate of spaghetti he cleaned last time he was here. “Not like this.” He gives the…

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Living in Joy Is a Choice

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I was just eighteen when I landed my dream job writing for our local newspaper during college. After graduation I joined the full-time staff, covering news stories and writing special features and a weekly column where I shared my Christian convictions. This brought invitations to speak for church and civic events. What wisdom did a twenty-something have to share? My favorite presentation, “Living in Joy,” I packed with quotes and Scriptures about happiness and how to find it. Being young and eager to tackle life’s big questions, I didn’t have much spiritual depth—but I offered a solid solution to every…

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Safe Where I Belong

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As I played with my two-year-old grandson in the backyard, a noise caught his attention, and he turned toward the street. “Get back here,” I called. “You are naughty and going immediately into time out for the rest of your life. Now, think about what you’ve done, and how you will fix it!” Are you scandalized by my response? Understandable. But how often do we think God responds to our choices and messes in this angry fashion?   Of course, I didn’t speak those soul-wounding words. I came alongside as he toddled in an unsafe direction. “Hey, buddy. Let’s go…

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Here’s to a surprise-filled new year.

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Hola from Janet Perez Eckles…Igniting Your Passion to Overcome When everyone is busy looking at the horizon of a new year, planning, crafting goals, and plotting strategies, I decided to do the opposite. I’d look back instead, pondering on lessons learned, gems collected, insights applied, and wisdom gained.

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They Were Dropping Like Flies

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Hello from Kathy Collard Miller in the Southern California desert where it’s finally cooling down! It was so hot that even the bees were dropping like flies. In our desert area of Southern California, my husband, Larry, and I get used to the soaring summer heat and we thought the insects would too. But we kept finding dead bees by our front door. We thought, “Can’t do anything about it and it can’t be anything too serious,” so we just ignored the strange phenomenon. Until we also noticed a dark spot on the wall near the ceiling—a wall that was close…

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My Love-Hate Relationship with Flossing

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Hi from Kathy Collard Miller in the hot desert of Southern California near Palm Springs. But don’t worry, it’s a dry heat. I have a love-hate relationship with flossing. Or is it a hate-love relationship? I don’t know. Sometimes I hate it more than I love it and other times I love it more than I hate it. I hate it when I’m about to do it and I love it when I’m done. And that happens twice a day. I’m motivated because my teeth are so ripe for cavities that I want to avoid the pain. Plus, I have spaces between…

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What to do when facing injustice

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How do you put into words the devastation that leaves you numb? As writers, we need to possess the ability to express the deepest pain, the biggest joy, and the most complicated emotions. I tried that. But the effort nearly drained me.

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CAN Book Feature: Kona with Jonah by Sandra Glahn

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      Kona with Jonah ISBN-10: 0899573959 ISBN-13: 978-0899573953      In Kona with Jonah, a four-week Bible study, readers encounter the character of God and their own need to embrace radical forgiveness. In seeing God’s love for the murderous people of Nineveh—ancestors of modern-day Iraqis—they come face to face with One whose mercy extends even to the most despicable.  Leader’s guide included. The Coffee Cup Bible Study series (AMG) is designed for both group and individual use with guided study on the weekdays and relevant devotionals on the weekends. Each study comes with the entire Scripture book of the Bible or passage(s) included. …

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