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In: Advent 2017, Bible Journaling, Recess with Jesus

I was overwhelmed this week by these words of the Prophet Isaiah… Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. (Isaiah 53:4 NIV) He was wounded and stricken for you and me. He took MY punishment and YOUR punishment because of OUR sin. How do we respond to that? It’s a gift beyond imagination. The ONLY real response to that kind of gift is to love God with all of our heart, soul, and mind. And not stopping there but to love others with the same kind of costly love. Not just to obeyRead More →

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In: Advent 2017, Bible Journaling, Recess with Jesus

For followers of Christ the joy of Christmas is in understanding the bigger picture. Watchful Waiting Joy is an attempt to help us focus our eyes on Truth and to intentionally apply it to life beyond Advent. I am so glad you’ve joined me here. May you be blessed and spurred on as you journal your reflections on God’s gift of love to us. Watchful Waiting Joy Advent Bible Journaling Focus – Week Two  Expensive Love My son has been working hard on an extravagant gift. He’s labored and toiled over it for hours, spent crazy amounts of money on it, and grown frustrated whenRead More →

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In: Advent 2017, Bible Journaling, Recess with Jesus

  But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. 1 Peter 3:15a Hope has been on my mind and heart for months. And yes, it is the subject of our Watchful Waiting Joy Bible Journaling focus for week #1 of Advent. More and more I feel the hopelessness of the people in my neighborhood. This past fall an older man shot his wife and then killed himself. Over the time we have lived here two others have been murdered, families curse and fight,Read More →

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In: Bible Journaling, Recess with Jesus, Taking After My Father

serendipity noun ser·en·dip·i·ty \ˌser-ən-ˈdi-pə-tē\ : the gift of finding valuable or agreeable things not looked for; the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way I just really love that the kids’ definition of “serendipity” calls it a “gift.” And that’s what this is. Once upon a long time ago, scrapbookers came up with the idea of using up scraps of paper to make little squares of awesomeness to use on their scrapbook pages. With a couple of hours of kind of mindless work, a thrifty crafter could clean up a pile of hard to throw away scraps! Those new sheetsRead More →