Atheists who love hymns
A friend emailed about an atheist she knew who came to church. He came with his wife in order to listen to the hymns. Although he wasn’t a believer, there was something about the hymns that drew him..
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Spiritual training- A game plan for Christians
I could feel my heart pounding in my ears. Marcelle was ahead of me, setting the pace. I blinked through beads of sweat to focus my gaze on her back. It was dark.
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Struggles of a Christian teenager
It's always hard to be different from the main 'popular' crowd but as I get older, it's more acceptable now than it was in my playground days, to be myself. But even in a grown up world, people still look at those who choose to be different.
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The Lord of the Rings and 'quality'
Caught in my mind recently and swirling around in my head during these last few weeks has been a particular quote from The Lord of the Rings. The Sunday Times in the UK has been quoted as saying that the whole of the English-speaking world is divided into those who have read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and those who are going to read them.
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Crying golden tears
The rain comes slowly. It meanders down from the clouds in syncopated bursts of rhythm, thankfully in no hurry to water the grassy patch on which I’m huddled.
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Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes and the f-word that comes to mind
It was your usual Friday afternoon; I was standing in line at the supermarket buying treats for the weekend. Of course, I had chosen the line where there was a toddler throwing a high pitched temper tantrum.
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What do these stones mean?
The story begins with a new generation of God's people, led by Joshua, about to cross the Jordan River to take hold of what God has promised them. God rescued the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, he sustained them in the desert, and finally they are entering the Promised Land.
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Waiting
Must I WAIT? Can’t I do it NOW? Can I please have it IMMEDIATELY? Recently I’ve been hearing a lot of such questions from my four year old who has been finding it hard to wait. He even tries to get out of waiting by being as polite as he can.
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A captivating dream
A few years ago I did the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge. This is a 160 km cycle around Lake Taupo in New Zealand. This was, by far, the longest cycle I have ever done. And I did it on my mountain bike!
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Pūrākau people: Preserving who we are
I spent my early teens, my 'awkward years' in England. As if puberty wasn't bad enough already, I had the added discomfort of sporting a southern English accent, living with the pressure of trying to be good at football and being exposed to way too much garage music.
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Boredom, the curse of today
God wants to build character in us through perseverance. He wants us to follow a divine quest, to create good stories and not to avoid boredom, but to live a life that doesn't understand the concept.
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Growing smaller
I live in a shed. It's not as exotic as it sounds; it's an insulated sleep out. At one point in its life it was a dingy garden shed, forgotten about in the corner of an old lady's garden, buried in pine needles.