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Jordan's extended family is huge: grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, step-cousins, the spouses of cousins, and cousins' children. Despite all of its many members, however, this extended family is a close one. They all live in nearby towns, and they all play important roles in each others' lives. When Jordan tells stories about his family, listeners just get confused. It feels like Jordan is rattling off a huge list of names, and his listeners can never remember who is related to who. But Jordan can't help it. He can't leave anyone out! Each name he recites is, to him, more than just a few syllables. Each name represents a person with individual wants, needs, desires, problems, joys, and concerns. Lindsay likes things just so. Bailey likes to play football. Hannah Jean makes the best jam in three counties. So although it would be easier, maybe, to group them all together -- "my cousins" instead of Lindsay, Bailey, Hannah, and the rest -- it wouldn't be doing justice to the distinctive individuals that make up that group of people Jordan loves.
Leah T.
1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11
Novelist Sue Miller also has written a biography titled The Story of My Father: A Memoir. Her story focuses primarily upon her father's last years when she took care of him while he suffered from Alzheimer's disease. Her father was James Hasting Nichols, a noted church historian who taught at theological schools in Chicago and in Princeton.
As her father's disease progressed he became another person. At times he would become completely disoriented, even violent. She found that reading scripture, especially the Psalms, and singing familiar hymns helped to soothe him.
Then one day she recalled a cross-stitched message that hung on the wall in his Dean's office, and she knew the secret of his life. In part the message read: "We are not our own, we are God's; let us therefore live for him and die for him."
In similar words, Peter also affirmed, "We are not our own."
Richard H.
1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11
Image is everything these days. Consider Hollywood. People literally spend their entire careers making sure someone else looks good in the eyes of the public. Actresses can spend literally three quarters of a million dollars on average to make themselves look stunning on the red carpet. Everything is geared toward making yourself stand out in the crowd.
Perhaps it is because it is so ingrained in the world to seek advancement that we are called as Christians to be humble (5:6). Perhaps going against the grain and humbly loving others as Christ loves them is what will really get the world's attention, not what we wear to an awards show.
Craig K.
John 17:1-11
Quilt making is a giant undertaking. Forget about cutting out all the tiny pieces and the hours of labor to stitch them into pleasing designs. Forget about the careful measuring and tracing and trimming and matching. Forget about finding the perfect backing and just the right kind of batting. Even ignore the careful stitches that hold all the layers of a quilt together. The hardest part about quilt making is finishing it. It's more fun than work for most of the project. All the cutting and measuring and stitching is exciting and active, and patterns emerge quickly as tiny pieces zip through the machine. But at the end? All the fun part is finished. The body of the work, the part that takes the most creativity, is lying there, completed, on the table. Now it's time to finish. Finishing takes patience. It can be tedious to slowly hand-stitch the edges of the quilt. It can be difficult to make sure the corners are square and the fabric lies nicely. Yes, quilting. It is nice work to begin, but it can be messy work to finish.
Leah T.
John 17:1-11
Dr. Baruch Blumberg received the Nobel Prize for developing a vaccine against the hepatitis B virus. Acquiring research money, and when successful having a pharmaceutical company willing to market the vaccine, was difficult. This is because of the small profit margin for a vaccine. As Blumberg describes it, "Vaccines are not an attractive product for pharmaceutical companies in that they are often used once or only a few times and they ordinarily do not generate as much income as medication for a chronic disease that must be used for many years." That is to say, an extended illness is in the best interest of the pharmaceutical industry. Sadly, it is an admission that the pharmaceutical industry would rather treat an illness than prevent it.
Jesus came to give eternal life. The eternal life which he spoke of is to be forgiven of our sins. The eternity to which Jesus referred begins the moment we confess our sins and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. But that sense of eternal life permeates more than just forgiveness, it extends to all aspects of living. It also means we should endeavor to heal physical and emotional illnesses as well -- a lesson lost on the pharmaceutical industry that desires illnesses to prevail, rather than receiving the saving grace of a vaccine.
Ron L.
Leah T.
1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11
Novelist Sue Miller also has written a biography titled The Story of My Father: A Memoir. Her story focuses primarily upon her father's last years when she took care of him while he suffered from Alzheimer's disease. Her father was James Hasting Nichols, a noted church historian who taught at theological schools in Chicago and in Princeton.
As her father's disease progressed he became another person. At times he would become completely disoriented, even violent. She found that reading scripture, especially the Psalms, and singing familiar hymns helped to soothe him.
Then one day she recalled a cross-stitched message that hung on the wall in his Dean's office, and she knew the secret of his life. In part the message read: "We are not our own, we are God's; let us therefore live for him and die for him."
In similar words, Peter also affirmed, "We are not our own."
Richard H.
1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11
Image is everything these days. Consider Hollywood. People literally spend their entire careers making sure someone else looks good in the eyes of the public. Actresses can spend literally three quarters of a million dollars on average to make themselves look stunning on the red carpet. Everything is geared toward making yourself stand out in the crowd.
Perhaps it is because it is so ingrained in the world to seek advancement that we are called as Christians to be humble (5:6). Perhaps going against the grain and humbly loving others as Christ loves them is what will really get the world's attention, not what we wear to an awards show.
Craig K.
John 17:1-11
Quilt making is a giant undertaking. Forget about cutting out all the tiny pieces and the hours of labor to stitch them into pleasing designs. Forget about the careful measuring and tracing and trimming and matching. Forget about finding the perfect backing and just the right kind of batting. Even ignore the careful stitches that hold all the layers of a quilt together. The hardest part about quilt making is finishing it. It's more fun than work for most of the project. All the cutting and measuring and stitching is exciting and active, and patterns emerge quickly as tiny pieces zip through the machine. But at the end? All the fun part is finished. The body of the work, the part that takes the most creativity, is lying there, completed, on the table. Now it's time to finish. Finishing takes patience. It can be tedious to slowly hand-stitch the edges of the quilt. It can be difficult to make sure the corners are square and the fabric lies nicely. Yes, quilting. It is nice work to begin, but it can be messy work to finish.
Leah T.
John 17:1-11
Dr. Baruch Blumberg received the Nobel Prize for developing a vaccine against the hepatitis B virus. Acquiring research money, and when successful having a pharmaceutical company willing to market the vaccine, was difficult. This is because of the small profit margin for a vaccine. As Blumberg describes it, "Vaccines are not an attractive product for pharmaceutical companies in that they are often used once or only a few times and they ordinarily do not generate as much income as medication for a chronic disease that must be used for many years." That is to say, an extended illness is in the best interest of the pharmaceutical industry. Sadly, it is an admission that the pharmaceutical industry would rather treat an illness than prevent it.
Jesus came to give eternal life. The eternal life which he spoke of is to be forgiven of our sins. The eternity to which Jesus referred begins the moment we confess our sins and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. But that sense of eternal life permeates more than just forgiveness, it extends to all aspects of living. It also means we should endeavor to heal physical and emotional illnesses as well -- a lesson lost on the pharmaceutical industry that desires illnesses to prevail, rather than receiving the saving grace of a vaccine.
Ron L.
