Relationships
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What I Learned When I Couldn’t Breathe
I use a CPAP machine at night in order to sleep better. It shovels air down my throat so I don’t stop breathing. On a getaway to Amherstburg a few years ago, I forgot to take it along. Twice during our stay, I partially awoke unable to breathe. Typically, when that happened, the growing fear… Continue reading
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Quick Hits: Who Sustains You?
God’s presence sustains us, but so too does the presence of others. In order to be emotionally and spiritually healthy, we need family or friends whose face tells us, “It is good that you exist. I like being with you. You belong.” In other words, we need love and we need it in the same… Continue reading
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Loving the Person We See: Part 1
Could there be a more daunting declaration in the bible than 1 John 4:20? In Works of Love Soren Kierkegaard holds this verse up before our eyes until I feel like a puppy having its nose shoved into what it did on the floor. He dissects John’s statement from every possible angle while continually… Continue reading
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Christmas Guidance Part 3: “I’d Prefer Not To”
“to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Luke 1:79 In a short book Herman Melville tells the story of, Bartleby, a mild, unassuming office clerk. Whenever he’s given a task to do, Bartleby replies, “I would prefer not… Continue reading
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Christmas Guidance Part 2: Guided people experience peace; Controlling people don’t
“to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Luke 1:79 In our last post we saw that most of the characters in the Christmas story are guided by angels. One individual is a glaring exception. His determination to control… Continue reading
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The Good Thing About Being Infatuated
“The ecstatic power of love makes beings go out of themselves.” So says one of the old spiritual writers. Love draws us out from self-preoccupation to give our full attention to someone else. We see that even in the shallow love of infatuation. The teenage boy focuses completely on the girl with whom he’s infatuated;… Continue reading