Tag Archives: Gifts

Good and Beautiful Gifts

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To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here During a memorable episode of his long-running radio show, A Prairie Home Companion, Garrison Keillor recounts a quarrel in his fictional hometown of Lake Wobegon, Minnesota. It isn’t a garden variety disagreement.  The local pastors have had a serious falling out.  The very souls entrusted with bringing peace, unity, and purity to the… Read more »

Being Who We Were Made to Be

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To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. “I think this is the neatest gift you have ever given me.” My wife spoke those words to me about 25 years ago on Christmas Day.  While every husband yearns to hear such praise, what Mary Sue had just unwrapped was a 16-inch blade Stihl chainsaw.  She was beaming.  Mary Sue grew up loving tools. … Read more »

Shadow Missions

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In 1979, the Charlie Daniels Band proved that a song about fiddles could become a national hit. The Devil Went Down to Georgia is the account of an epic fiddle-playing contest between Satan and a young man named Johnny.  Who is the ultimate virtuoso?  The stakes are high – Johnny’s soul.  But as Daniels lets us know at the end… Read more »

Gifts vs. Character

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Samson is one of those Bible personalities who has been able to accomplish the near-impossible: make Sunday School interesting for elementary school-age boys. He was absurdly strong.  His exploits were gloriously public.  He singlehandedly leveled the playing field between the Israelites and their unfriendly next-door neighbors, the Philistines. But Samson’s story, which covers four chapters of the book of Judges (13-16),… Read more »