Category: From the Heart!
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It’s a Constellation?
In Psalm 109, David cries out to God ‘whom I praise’ (v.1). He is in conflict with ‘wicked and deceitful people who have opened their mouths against’ him (v.2) with ‘lying tongues’ (v.2) and ‘words of hatred’ (v.3): ‘They repay me evil for good and hatred for my friendship’ (v.5). This is a great starting…
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True, Lasting Peace…
It is the year 2022, but it feels like what the 1960’s and early 1970’s must have been like. There is so much division, so much anger and hate. One person points at the next as the source of all the nations problems. The Right points at the Left. Republicans point at Democrats. There are…
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Servant or Son?
I grew up in Riverside, California. My family lived in a historic home near Fairmount Park. We didn’t have air conditioning so during hot, smoggy summers I spent as much time at the Karate Studio as my instructor would allow. That was three times during the week and several hours on Saturday. While at the…
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Butterflies & Rainbows
Before I had a personal, one-on-one encounter with Christ, I was angry. I was violent and didn’t know why. I put myself in situations where I could have been hurt badly or even killed. It didn’t matter…nothing really mattered except doing something that would momentarily hide the pain I felt. After I accepted Christ into…
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Trust me…just take the first boat.
Before I was finally cleared for spinal ablation surgery for my neck, I was hopefully addicted to pain medication. The pain had gotten so incredibly ferocious, I was taking 3,600 milligrams of Gabapentin per day, synthetic morphine every 4 hours, and Norco ever 4-6 hours. After surgery my doctor didn’t say anything about tapering the…
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100% is not enough…
Back in the late 1970’s I coached a college men’s tennis team. The college had never won a league championship and never had any top players. The athletic director and I managed to recruit a decent group of players, but they were certainly not a team. Over the course of a year (starting months before…
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A Dangling Glove…
When I was the chapel pastor at Liberty Christian School, I would lead worship and then gave a message to a couple hundred Junior High and High School students every Friday morning. With my messages, I used props whenever possible because with them, I was able to keep the students attention longer. I was teaching my…
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Wally fell from a 30’ tower…
There’s a Christian, western themed adventure camp in Newberry Springs, California called Ironwood. I was introduced to the camp many years ago when my oldest son was in 5th grade. For several years after, he and I would attend the “Father Son” camp. When my youngest son Bradley was old enough, he and I would…
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I Do…
I have often mentioned that I didn’t grow us in a family that showed their affection. My sister and I knew we were loved, but saying, “I love you” or hugging just wasn’t done. This left an emptiness inside of me. I became angry and bitter. I couldn’t identify it at the time but I…
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Climb up on my lap…
Children have a ‘simple purity’ about their lives. They have an uncomplicated approach to life and relationships. They want to have fun and enjoy themselves as much as possible. They are carefree and without concern. Life is just not that complicated to children. As adults, simply we make life too complicated. We can make our…
Living Life by Design 