I thought some of you might be interested in what others were reading in 2017. These are the top posts, according to the stats. I gave you a little taste so you could see if you wanted the whole piece.
April 2017 — 15 fact-based reasons to accept the resurrection of Jesus
Brothers and sisters, because of what happened in that Upper Room, on that cross, and in that tomb nearly 2000 years ago, we know God the Father intimately, we walk with Christ daily, and we are guided by the Holy Spirit eternally. That’s the truth, and it is beautiful (John 8:32). When I was first becoming a Jesus follower, I just barely believed it. But my mind led me to my feelings, and then both led me to my spiritual capacity which enlivened the heart of me so I could walk by faith. I am risen with Christ myself! That’s a beautiful truth, too.
July 2017 — What to do when that troubled person is not going away?
Sometimes we just have to meet someone on the street who is unreconciled to us and Jesus. We will try to make things right, as far as we are able, but we will not stop following Jesus, knowing He is able to do more than we ask or imagine. We may not all be in one of these messy situations right now, but we probably will be. Let’s keep praying for one another, keep being honest, and keep following the One who will bring it all to right in the end.
November 2016 — That feeling of obligation could be good for you (or bad)
If we listen to God and one another, we will probably end up pretty close to where we ought to be as a member of the body of Christ. The Spirit moves us to grow into our fullness. In the course of that movement there will be a lot of opportunities to say “No” or “Yes.” Even if we are wrong about how we react, our poor reactions will just provide more instruction for our future — even when we lose, we can’t lose with Jesus. In Christ, our main obligation is living and the Lord guarantees the fullness of that if we keep going.
June 2017 — What will Wonder Woman do to the children?
We considered our plan for children as a church last Saturday. I watched Wonder Woman on Friday. It was quite a juxtaposition. I wonder if we will have enough community in Christ to counteract the 1500 people who rammed Wonder Woman into our consciousness and threaten to trample it into submission.
October 2017 — There is hope: But you’ll need to die to enjoy it
God is protecting that golden true self at the heart of each of us, calling us to meet in that Spirit-open place where life moves us and draws us. The everyday way to living comfortably and securely outside our present-oriented injuries and fears and into our eternal now with God is the listening, feeling and releasing prayer of meditation. I
June 2015 — Tagged with “cult”
Try to be someone and there is likely to be at least one person who will try to get you back into the world as they know it. Try to follow Jesus in the way he is going and the takedown factor doubles.
May 2017 — 15 habits of success the rich stole from poor Jesus
We have an unhinged president who, by all accounts, is successful. You probably want to be less like him every day! But I can’t help thinking that we need to get better at doing the God-given things with which we are charged since people who are proficiently wicked rule us more efficiently all the time.
August 2015 — Praying with Jesus in the weeds
People who pray in the weeds, like Jesus prays from the cross, end up smelling like Christ. They don’t have to fight in a way that is as ugly as the world. They have a beautiful morality that people experience whenever they show up, having just come from prayer, having just realized, again, that they are one with Christ and Christ is one with them.
June 2017 — Avoidance: Six ways to find comfort in your suffering
People ghost my cell, the church, our appointment all the time and sometimes they even get out of my party before I can make them say good-bye to me. (Best solution to that awkwardness: avoid the party, which has surely been done). I guess Jesus is the only Holy Ghost who doesn’t ghost us. It is a good thing he doesn’t need an invitation to our parties, and it is especially wonderful that he even stays to help clean up.
February 2017 — We are God’s antidote to loneliness
I think Jesus has made his church the antidote to the present malady and to what might be coming. It is not like someone will walk into a meeting and automatically feel connected (although that regularly happens). But we have the solutions to the problem, when it comes to loneliness. We have a lot of damage to repair, but Jesus is still the Healer.
August 2017 — Crisis in the Congo: An invitation to peek out from under our blanket of self-absorption
I just want to say that It would be best if we were not so self-absorbed that we react to every Trumped-up bit of nonsense that comes over the airwaves as if it were of primary importance. We should discern what are the most important things for us to care about, not just careen from newsbite to newsbite. Even as the President tries to distract us from some sin by committing another, we should not take the bait, but attempt to see from the eternal perspective of Jesus and act accordingly.
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