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Many of the men who read this blog are familiar by now with the Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng and his difficulty with the Chinese government. He has displayed great courage in his fight for freedom of expression. Chen, who is blind, is part of what is called the “weiquan movement.” It’s a group of lawyers, activists, intellectuals and…
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Devotions from Judy’s heart On our trip to Colorado we went past the dome of the sports arena of the University of S.D. in Vermillion. Many years ago when Kurt played football for Augustana, we were at a game there. We sat in the bleachers and the players bench was almost beneath us. We were…
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Devotions from Judy’s heart This morning I read from Rom. 1 as Paul expresses his longing to see the Romans that they would be mutually encouraged. When we get together as brothers and sisters in Christ, isn’t that what it is about… to encourage one another in the faith? As we have been traveling, I…
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Devotions from Judy’s heart Yesterday I read a quote from Margaret Campbell that describes what I saw today. “God’s measureless, boundless love is personal and can be seen all around me. …This day is for gifts of God: color, light, taste, music, the bird singing outside the window-the goodness of creation.” We have seen so…
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Devotions from Judy’s heart Often it is on our darkest times that we are closest to God. When we left home before 3 a.m. this morning, we went slow on our gravel road and had a near-miss with a porcupine. We were aware of deer and other obstacles on the road and had to stay…
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Devotions from Judy’s heart We are warned in scripture not to compare ourselves with others or we are without understanding. ( II Cor. 10:12) But isn’t it easy to compare ourselves, our possessions, our looks, our families, our professions etc with others? Yesterday as I went for my prayer walk, I counted 17 mailboxes side…
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Devotions from Judy’s heart We often think we are in control of our lives but then something happens that can change our lives dramatically…soon we realize we never were in control and we are weak in ourselves. I think it is most comfortable when life is predictable but yet we grow more during the times…
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Devotions from Judy’s heart Yesterday Al and I were eating our lunch out on the deck and was a beautiful day. But all of a sudden I saw a big black spider crawling on his back and neck. I brushed it off of him and stomped on it. Because we live in a tick infested…
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I had an experience today here on the lake, that I knew I had to write about on this blog. As most of you know, Judy and I have a small retreat house on the lake where we live. I call ourselves a “monk” and a “nun.” This gives us a focus as to what our…
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Yesterday was a beautiful day and I took a walk to my neighbor’s. On the way I noticed an area that had many fallen trees that had been there for quite some time. It made me think of people who have died or fallen like those trees and are no longer alive, yet they…