Connection Church

Simply connecting people to God, friends and the community

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Where I Belong, Who I Am

"Do not urge me to leave you or to turn back from following you. For where you go, I will go, and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God." (Ruth 1:16) I love Ruth’s opening words to this very familiar passage. Given the intensity of the moment, the direct command from Naomi, and Ruth’s detailed and no nonsense response, I tend to read this passage…

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Orpah’s Choice

In the book of Ruth we read of Naomi at the crossroads of Moab and Bethlehem. This Israelite widow stands there with her two widowed Moabite daughter-in-laws, Ruth and Orpah. The moment is tense and deeply emotional. They were family, they had lived together for 10 years on their homestead in Moab. Naomi had shared her way of life, her God, His laws and commands, taught them the Jewish…

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God’s Assassin

You have a sword! Use it! Armed and ready – assassins running into enemy territory striking down key targets and rendering the strongholds of the kingdom of darkness defeated! That’s what today’s blog is all about. It sounds like something right out of a fictional novel or fantasy book. But we don’t have to illicit such imaginative work, we can look to something far more concrete, the Word of…

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I Hope The Bread is Good!

Elimelech, Naomi, and Sons From the biblical account of Ruth we are introduced to her husband, a man named Elimelech. Ruth and Elimelech lived in Bethlehem, yes, that little town of Bethlehem. Elimelech’s name means “God is my king”, which is significant, and I will come back to shortly. The town in which they lived, Bethlehem means “house of bread”. Unfortunately, there was not more bread in…

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Disarming the Enemy From Within

Everyday Confession “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” James 5:16 ESV Confession—it’s good for the soul. We’ve heard that phrase all our lives, yet outside of Catholicism and some Orthodox traditions, confession is rarely practiced in the church. But what if James…

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Grace is Scandalous

Raining Down the Blessings on Your Children Grace is scandalous. Grace appears reckless. Grace raises questions—especially from those who don’t receive it. Mostly because they don’t understand it, either mentally or experientially. But this is the very nature of grace. It’s amazing. After all, isn’t that why we sing Amazing Grace? Why is it amazing? Because it’s unexpected. You didn’t earn…

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Chicken Lips

I’m not a fisherman. It’s not for lack of trying—I’ve fed plenty of fish, lost countless lures, and spent hours in serene, picturesque spots soaking lines in the water. But catching fish? That’s another story. I’ve heard all the advice: It’s the location, the time of day, the lure, the reel, the jig… or maybe the bobber. Friends have even promised to take me to their fish-heaven where I’d…

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When God Closes the Door

In 1986, Dallas Holm’s song “When God Closes a Door” swept through the Christian music scene, bringing a message of hope in a time of widespread fear and uncertainty. The world was reeling: the AIDS epidemic was at its peak, tensions of nuclear war loomed with talks of “nuclear winter,” the Space Shuttle Challenger had exploded, and the Chernobyl disaster left a scar on humanity. Even Coca-Cola’s…

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Communion: More Than Tears and Remembrance

I was a passionate young believer. Not that most adolescent Christians aren’t, but there was something about the way my peers called me “Rev Kev” at the age of twelve that underscored just how seriously I took my faith. Communion, in particular, was a deeply emotional experience for me. As I sat there holding that small piece of cracker, we were told to reflect on it as the body of Jesus,…

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Let the Wind Blow

As a Mid-Western preteen, I would often stand in our backyard, plant my feet firmly into the dirt, face the wind, and try to resist the powerful winds when they would blow during the summer. Straight-line winds bursting across the American plains always provided excellent tests of how strong both nature and I could be when face to face like that. The rush of experiencing the pressure against my…

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A Study on Hebrews 6:18-20:

Hope as an Anchor for the Soul Scripture:“God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled…A Study on Hebrews 6:18-20:

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Trusting A Sovereign God

“I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things.” Isaiah 45:7 ESV Introduction: Understanding Isaiah 45:7 Life has a way of throwing curveballs at us, doesn’t it? Sometimes, everything seems to be going great—life is full of light, and we feel blessed. Other times, we find ourselves in the middle of a storm, wondering why God…

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When You’re Running on Empty: A Lesson from Isaiah 37:3

1. Context and Meaning of Isaiah 37:3 Isaiah 37:3 comes at a time when Judah is facing an overwhelming threat from the Assyrian army. King Hezekiah, who has tried everything to protect his kingdom, is now at the end of his rope. In this verse, Hezekiah describes the situation as a “day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace.” He uses the metaphor of a woman in labor who lacks the strength to deliver…

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If It Befits, I Sits!

Befits… such a strange word! It is a word that sounds like it is from a time, long, long ago. Because it is from long, long ago.

This word has its origins in the middle of the 15 century and is used to express that something belongs or is appropriate, something makes sense together. Look at this example below;

It was a gown befitting a princess.

What should a princess be wearing? A gown.

What…

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Watch Your Mouth

Today I was reading from Proverbs 18:21 NLT

“The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.”

When this scripture talks about the tongue bringing death it is referring to the ways in which we gossip, rumor, complain, lie, or backbite one another, even the way we speak negative, untrue things about ourselves. When we are busy bad mouthing each other, or…

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Sleeping and Waking

I’ve never really struggled with sleep; sleep comes easily and quickly. There are times that my wife will have started speaking to me shortly after we’ve gone to bed only to discover that within moments of my head hitting the pillow, I’m already very asleep.

Neither have I struggled with waking, at least not terribly often do I struggle with getting myself to wake up. After I hear the alarm, I’m…

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A Very Uninnocuous Verse

A Very Uninnocuous Verse

Innocuous: 3. not interesting, stimulating, or significant; pallid; insipid: an innocuous novel.

Perhaps I’m the only strange person who, when reading the gospels, thinks “where’s the chapters and verses that tell of Jesus and the disciples doing really mundane daily activities? Where’s the accounts of Peter sweeping the floors or Matthew grocery shopping?” Certainly there were moments of humdrum…

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