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Jesus' model of hearing God's guidance

Lynne Baab • Wednesday January 4 2017

As we begin a new year, I’m thinking about what I desire for this year. I’d love to hear God’s guidance more clearly and more often. A story from Jesus’ early ministry is shaping how I think about this desire.

The Gospel of Mark records a busy first week of ministry for Jesus (Mark 1:14-34). Jesus announces the “good news of God” and calls disciples. He heals a man with an unclean spirit and many other people, including Simon’s mother-in-law. He casts out demons. He teaches in the synagogue on the Sabbath.

The next morning, “while it was still very dark, he got...

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Quotations I love: Five quotations about thankfulness

Lynne Baab • Thursday December 29 2016

“A thankful heart is the parent of all virtues.”—Cicero (106-43 BCE)

Another year will draw to a close in a few days, and the self-help magazines are full of ideas for New Year’s resolutions. I wonder why the recommended task of the last week of year focuses on looking ahead in the area of self-improvement, rather than looking back at the past year for the purpose of thankfulness.

I’ve started this post with a quotation that dates from a long, long time ago in order to show that the significance of thankfulness was recognized, at least by one person, in the ancient...

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Some Christmas thoughts from the Southern Hemisphere

Lynne Baab • Tuesday December 20 2016

The fruit and vegetable stand down the street offers the opportunity to order some special foods for Christmas. What’s on the list? Strawberries and raspberries. For my Northern Hemisphere readers, have you ever considered those fruits to be essential at Christmas?

Here in New Zealand, the ad flyers in December feature “Christmas specials” on picnic supplies, patio furniture and barbecues. The first time I saw one of those flyers, I had a profound sense of disorientation. Now, after almost a decade of living down under, I can see that Christmas in the summer offers some lovely fuel for contemplation.

A couple of years...

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Quotations I love: Richard Halverson on being sent

Lynne Baab • Wednesday December 14 2016

“You go nowhere by accident. Wherever you go, God is sending you there. Wherever you are, God has put you there. He has a purpose in your being there. Christ, who indwells in you, has something He wants to do through you, wherever you are. Believe this, and go in His grace, and love and power.” —Rev. Dr. Richard C. Halverson’s Benediction, U.S. Senate Chaplain from 1981 to 1994

Imagine hearing this benediction every Sunday. How would it shape the way you go into your week? How would it change the way you view your circumstances?

I first heard these words a few years...

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