As you might recall Kristy, Rod, Anna and I spent 15 days over in Israel walking the ground where our Bible took place. It was an awesome experience. We were able to sit where Abraham encountered God. We walked the path the Israelites took while wandering in the wilderness. We saw several places where Jesus [...]
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A few years ago, The River Church began a partnership with Children’s Hopechest to begin caring for orphans in Oditel, Uganda. There wasn’t any infrastructure to care for these orphans. There wasn’t any community support. There was only chaos and fear. All that was needed was a community of people to come alongside of them, love them, build [...]
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This is probably my favorite time of year. The weather is starting to make its final turn into summer, we see a lot more of the sun, the grass becomes green and lush and the trees are preparing to burst forth with buds and blooms. I have an apple tree in my back yard. Every [...]
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Read that title again. The giver is better than the gift. Yeah right. Try to convince any red-blooded American kid that on Christmas Eve. Or at the birthday party. Or any other time where gifts are given. Shoot, it’s not just hard to convince kids of this. It’s nearly impossible to convince adults too. For [...]
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When we read Gen. 1: 1-2 we begin to see some unique qualities in regard to what happens when God speaks. We notice that God’s response to a big chaotic mess is to speak. He sees something not as He would like it and so God speaks into it, and changes its DNA. When God speaks [...]
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When we read Gen. 1: 1-2 we begin to see some unique qualities in regard to what happens when God speaks. We notice that God’s response to a big chaotic mess is to speak. He sees something not as He would like it and so God speaks into it, and changes its DNA. When God [...]
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Snow. I love it. It seems like to easy a topic to blog about, but I’m going to state what has already been stated a million times. Snow is the perfect compliment to Christmas. Christmas is the season of newness and forgiveness. Because of Christmas and the work the messiah went on to do we [...]
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The Kingdom of God, God’s Kingdom, The Kingdom of Heaven. Preachers have talked about it. Books have been written about it. Jesus Himself even said it was at hand.[1] And yet it seems to be ever elusive. We try to find it. We see glimpses of what it could be. But when asked what it [...]
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When I, Rod, was a child my dad was diagnosed with Hepatitis C. We prayed for him. He went to the doctor. It was gone. I have a friend who had a slipped disc in his back. We prayed for his back. His back was fine. Maybe this was all God’s Kingdom being loosed on [...]
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I read a crazy stat the other day. Americans spend over $480 billion (yes I said billion!) each year on weight loss. That’s each year! Holy Cow! Gym memberships that go unused. Treadmills for the home that become laundry racks. Diet programs that never work. $480 billion. Each year. Oh my. This is really sad. [...]
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