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God’s Kingdom is Like…
I grew up in a church that prayed the Lord’s Prayer on a regular basis, so I learned it by osmosis, just hearing it prayed all the time. When I was very young, I remember...
Elyse M. Nielsen
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Pay It Forward
Recently, I heard someone describe how they ordered food at a drive-thru, but when they pulled around, the car in front of them had already paid their bill! Of course, there was no way to...
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The Blessing of Giving
I did not expect that my perspective on Christmas would change once I had children of my own, but it did. When we’re young, we look forward to Christmas mainly because of the gifts we...
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Sowing and Reaping
We’ve all heard the adage, “You reap what you sow.” This saying has its roots in the Bible (see 2 Corinthians 9:6). This expression holds true in several ways. We often think of it in...
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The Generous Life
Americans generally enjoy a life of plenty. Most of the time we take full grocery shelves for granted. But there are a few occasions when we face the threat of scarcity. When a hurricane is...
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Tax Collectors and Sinners
Why does Jesus seem to gravitate toward tax collectors and sinners? The Bible describes Jesus frequently associating with people with questionable backgrounds. And it’s not a small segment of the population, but people from all...
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Resisting God
It was a long time before humans figured out how to accomplish flight. The earliest attempts at human-powered flight took their inspiration from birds in nature. If birds can apparently defy the law of gravity,...
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Labor and Rest
In the area where I grew up, the school year began after Labor Day. The holiday marked the unofficial end of summer and the return to school routines. The idea of Labor Day began as...
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Seeing Jesus
Imagine that you’re going about your business, when Jesus bursts in unannounced and says, “Come on, let’s go!” What would you do? Would you get up and follow, without knowing where he’s taking you? Would...
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Who, Me?
Sometimes God works in our lives in ways that we do not anticipate. But always God works to call us to be people who follow the way of Christ. During our worship over the next few weeks...