Category: Uncategorized
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For years Paul had lived on the move. Roads connected one city to another. Letters followed behind him. Reports arrived from places he could not visit often enough. New communities appeared in towns that had once known nothing about him. Much of that work required movement. This letter feels different. When 1 Timothy opens, the…
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The bottle contained a perfectly respectable ship. It also contained a perfectly unnecessary storm. Nobody understood how this happened. The bottle certainly didn’t. The ship had never left the shelf. The water had never met actual weather. The sailors had never received a forecast. Yet every Tuesday afternoon, the situation became dramatic. One sailor would…
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The messenger had almost reached the city. The road behind him stretched across hills, fields, and smaller villages that would never be mentioned in the letter itself. Dust covered his sandals. The scroll he carried had been folded and sealed days earlier. Soon it would be opened. Soon it would be read aloud. The believers…
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The robot discovered the manual on a Tuesday. This was unfortunate. The robot had been operational for forty-three years. Several important decisions had already been made. Poorly. The manual was surprisingly thick. Page one contained a sentence that changed everything. “For best performance, occasional maintenance is recommended.” The robot stared at the page. Then at…
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Earned Bread The Thessalonians had spent much of the letter hearing about larger things. The Lord’s return. The man of lawlessness. Deception. Perseverance. Prayer. Yet Paul now turns toward something remarkably ordinary. Work. At first glance, the subject feels almost too small to stand beside everything that came before it. Yet Paul treats it with…
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The duckling had a question. It arrived shortly after breakfast. And immediately complicated the morning. “Why am I black?” The other ducklings looked down at themselves. Then at him. Then back at themselves. Nobody seemed qualified to answer. Their mother continued walking. This suggested confidence. Or distraction. The ducklings could never tell. For several days…
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Borrowed Lanes A relay race is one of the few competitions where success depends upon more than individual strength. A runner may be fast. Exceptionally fast. Yet the race can still be lost if the baton is dropped. The victory belongs not only to the runner carrying the baton but also to the one who…
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Some creatures believe wisdom arrives quietly. Grandma disagreed. Wisdom, according to her, occasionally arrives carrying a pillow, a praying sheep, and several questionable decisions. The sheep had insisted on practicing balance. Nobody knew why. The sheep didn’t know why either. It simply felt called to the activity. Grandma supported this dream immediately. Literally. For the…
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The lamb had fallen onto a narrow ledge. This created paperwork. Not official paperwork. Emotional paperwork. Four sheep stood at the top of the cliff staring downward. The lamb was technically alive. Which made the situation urgent. A meeting was called immediately. The meeting lasted twelve seconds. Most of it was staring. One sheep suggested…
