Peace

6 The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling[a] together; and a little child will lead them. 7 The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. 9 They will nei…

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Stories

One of my favorite things about this season of Advent, especially when my kids were younger, has always been the very many opportunities it presents to share stories. Unpacking family Christmas decorations and ornaments prompted stories: like the large wooden Santa who hangs on our front door every year (my husband and I bought it at a craft show, for our very first Christmas together). Or the…

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God is our Salvation

I am writing this one day after the largest gun massacre since Sandy Hook and just a few weeks since the attacks in Paris. Our country continues to be at war and continually battles the evil of terrorism. Trust and hope can be hard to come by in such times as these. It can be easy to be skeptical. Words like Isaiah’s, “the Lord is my strength and my shield,” can sound a bit hollow. The tragedies and a…

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Journal Prompts Week 2

Greetings friends! This is an addition to the Advent Devotional blog that we didn't have last week, but we're learning as we go so I thought I'd give it a shot! Each weekend, I'll throw out some questions that will hopefully spark some journal entries, or even better some discussion among a small group! 1) From Ed's post this week: Does the knowledge that you are not God fill you with joy, fear,…

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Gnats and Camels

23"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others. 24You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel! Jesus can be firey in the New Testament. For as much as we like to paint him as a…

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