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Soil Makes the Difference

NicholsNotes Soil from compost at Paths of Hope

Soil makes the difference in our gardening efforts, and heart soil makes the difference in our receptivity to God’s teaching. I relearned the soil lesson in a big way this gardening season. How many of our life-goofs do we explain away with, “Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time?” Perhaps we researched, […]

The Upward Focused Life

Telescope WEB

My choice is simple to make but perhaps difficult to implement. I can allow myself to be consumed with the details of this world, or I can strive to develop an upward focused life. I prefer to work from lists, usually hand-written, though sometimes typed into a file on my desktop computer or even, on […]

Be the Best Spork You Can Be

Garden Sporks (1)

Who really wants to be the Spork at God’s table? Wouldn’t we rather jump into a silver role, or perhaps jostle for the stainless steel positions? Even reusable picnic-ware beats becoming the humble and disposable Spork. Or does it? Be the best spork you can be. What is a spork? For those who don’t know […]

What is my mandate?

Coveralls on Rack

What is my mandate? Some believers try to clothe everyone with one-size-fits-all coveralls when it comes to ministry. We are supposed to talk the same, like and do the same things, feel the same burdens, and follow one narrow avenue of service which is often held up as the only acceptable path for a believer. […]

Depth of Character

Depth of Character

Our world holds a plethora of people who live and move with all the depth of a rain puddle in the mall parking lot. The shallow crowd flitters on, ambivalent to the stunning truth that looks, possessions, and designer labels are temporary. Depth of character seems not to matter. Deep people are rare. A deep […]