Stories to tell

I have stories to tell the world in words and images

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Thoughts on Worship

Two friends from college have lost their husbands in the past 2 months. The men that they promised to love until death separated them have died.

My heart hurts for them. I have feared being numbered among them with all of John's health challenges, and yet, by God's grace, he is still here.

And then this morning, worship was all about how I am here knowing God moves, and how "we need a move." And somehow, it felt really empty. It didn't feel like an offering to God nearly as much as a demand. Even the song about being sorry about coming to worship with the wrong heart felt so self centered to me. These beautiful women of faith are somewhere grieving, and what we sang about was our response to God. Not His all sufficient power. Not his unmoving amazing grace, but our feelings or awareness of it.

Maybe, I was in the wrong frame of mind. Probably, I was misinterpreting the lyrics. Even the Psalmists focused not only on God's person, but also on their own response to it. But it this moment, thinking of my friends, of the struggles in my own family, worship felt shallow.

Lord, comfort the widows. Let them feel your presence in their grief. Help them know they aren't alone. Protect their hearts. Guide their steps, and provide for them. Help me to come to worship you with an open heart and mind, and with the correct attitude. Forgive me when I make worship all about me. Let my heart and mind be fixed on you. Amen.

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Philly Steak and Cheese... my way

Ingredients:

1 Sweet Onion

1 green pepper

4 tsp vegetable OIL

8 slices Provolone Cheese

1.25 lbs Thin Top Round Steaks, sliced into strips

Salt

Pepper

Garlic Powder

Directions:

1. Preheat 2 tsp of oil in two skillets to medium heat.

2. Slice peppers, onion and steaks thinly (as desired). Dump peppers and onions into one skillet, and adjust the temperature to cook them down slowly, until they are soft and tender.

3. Pour sliced steak into second skillet and season with salt, pepper and garlic powder. While steak and peppers and onions cook, stir both pans almost constantly. When steak is cooked (will be done before the peppers and onions) drain on a plate with a paper towel. Once peppers and onions are cooked, add steak to the pan and stir to incorporate all of the flavors.

4. Turn on oven to broil (high). Place 4 hoagie rolls on a baking sheet, and fill with the steak, onions and peppers. Cover each roll with 2 slices of provolone cheese, and broil in the oven until cheese is melted, and bubbly.

PERSONAL NOTES:

You might add Worchestershire Sauce to season the steak as it cooks, for richer flavor. You might also want a different cheese. Experiment with your faves. I think gouda would be delicious!

[lbwilson294]

A Study in Contradictions

I believe that police officers are mostly good men and women doing the best they can, and I hate the murder of unarmed African American men and women at the hands of authorities whose job it is to protect and serve.

I hate how Donald Trump treats Americans who are not his political donors or allies, and I am skeptical that a Biden led congress and White House are the best thing for America.

I am proud that the NFL is playing Lift Every Voice and the Anthem, and I support our troops.

I love people whose lifestyle I disagree with.

I support demonstrations, and I condemn rioting.

I know that the answer to all of the pain and suffering of this world is Jesus, and I understand that other people don't believe the same.

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I don't have an answer, but I think that it is an important question in an age when even the church puts an emphasis on self care. Somehow, this seems opposite to the mandate to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus.

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Reflection on Psalm 51

The heart's authentic response to God's gracious redemption is an attitude of praise and a desire to see others redeemed. Psalm 51:13-15 Then I will teach transgressors your ways And sinners will return to you. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, And my mouth will declare your praise.

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Jesus didn't tell us to make believers. He called us to make disciples, and disciples are followers and students of the way of God.

Flickering Pixels by Shane Hipps

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Design for ministry event sticker

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Every day is a new box, boys. You’re the one who decides if it’s a gift or a coffin.

Sons of Anarchy

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We all do damage. Character is decided by how we repair it.

Sons of Anarchy

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The light shines brightest in those it consumes.

-Destiny

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I'm done listening to dead men.

Jax Teller, Sons of Anarchy

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Copyright LWilson #design

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Chronic Illness

My love, my only love, is sick.  He’s a Type 1 Diabetic, and has severe neuropathy.  He’s lost most of his vision, all of the feeling in his feet, and his ability to do the work he loves for a living.  He hurts in ways he never tells people.  

I can’t begin to describe how it feels to have conversations about life expectancy.  If you’ve had those conversations, you know the gaping hole  they leave in your life.  I can’t imagine my day, much less my forever, without him, and trying leaves me breathless.

Everyone copes with these things in their own ways.  I don’t know how to cope. 

 I don’t know how to feel or what to say.  

I’m not sure who to talk to, so I don’t talk.  

I don’t know what to pray for, so I just ask God to understand my tears. 

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11 Steps to a Perfect Logo

Check the rest here: http://youandsaturation.com/

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Love this.

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You never know when you're making history.

Donna Jean Godchaux, Muscle Shoals

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modern gods

we’ve found in our mirrors the pagan gods worshipped as avidly as those of old. we give all we have to satisfy them: our dignity to feed their lust, our energy to sate their ego, our money to abate their apathy...

it’s no wonder that we drown in hopelessness: no one knows better than the reflection the powerlessness of a self made god. in self there is no trust, no truth-- a deity who can’t arrange the events of a moment much less control the chaos of a lifetime

if we look around we can see the patterns: the beauty in the dew of morning, the brilliance of a noonday beach, and even in our narcissism we gods must wonder. is someone else in charge of this destiny? should someone else be getting the glory?