Every summer during our pastor’s vacation, a member of the worship team pinch-hits for him in the pulpit. His latest sermon was what I call an “award winner.” It focused on Hebrews 10:19-25 and our call to build one another up in the body of Christ. The passage ends with the advice: “Let us not…
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This may be old news since it happened two weeks ago, but I don’t think celebrating our former president’s 75th anniversary will ever get stale. In an era when broken homes are as common as broken dishes, it is worth cheering Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter’s enduring match—especially after the recent spate of headlines over Bill…
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One of my favorite verses of Scripture is Hebrews 4:12: “For the word of God is alive, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intents of the heart” (MEV). The Bible’s sharp, always-fresh character…
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An elderly member of our church appears to be in the final days of his life, something that has saddened many of our hearts. Years ago he escaped death in an accident, spending a month in the intensive care unit. A few years later he developed complications from the incident and wound up back in…
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As one quite familiar with fluctuating freelance income the past 35-plus years, I know how challenging it is to be grateful when the roller coaster takes a dive. That’s what happened after I completed a time-consuming book rewrite and editing project at the end of January. At first, I wasn’t too upset. I had completed…
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While Monday of last week marked one of the best days of 2021, it started off a loser. I awoke feeling “out of sorts,” a strange fatigue that had dogged me for two weeks. At first, I attributed the situation to a mysterious knee injury that forced me to ice it every night. However, when…
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National champions: it has a nice ring to it. Considering it doesn’t happen all that often for a mid-level major like Marshall University, winning the men’s soccer title a few weeks ago set off wild cheers around Huntington, West Virginia. It was especially sweet given the chart published in the week leading up to the…
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While this year’s NFL draft drew national network coverage and hoopla galore, a story that remained in the background concerned the faith of #1 pick Trevor Lawrence. I learned of it after the first round, when a Christian news service ran a story under the headline: “The community that helped build Trevor Lawrence.” It told…
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Earlier this year, West Virginia made national news headlines for leading the nation in the percentage of residents being vaccinated against the coronavirus. Now that the low-hanging fruit has been picked, the hard work comes. Namely, getting a large enough percentage vaccinated to promote herd immunity. And, protect society from the kind of resurgence that…
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I’ve often thought if scammers would dedicate their time and talent to productive pursuits, it might raise the nation’s GDP by several percentage points. Of course, phony fund-raising letters, million-dollar payout promises, and the like have been around for years. But a rather scary story in the latest AARP Bulletin, “Lessons from Inside the Fraud…
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