Category: Devotions
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Advent
[From Our Worth to Him: Devotions for Christian Worship by Mark Paustian. All rights reserved.] “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). I, a poor John the Baptist, made my way through a tangle of wheelchairs in a run-down nursing home. I was there to mark an…
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Give Him Thanks
The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.” The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”…
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A Life of Service
Today is World Kindness Day. This holiday was created with the intent of building a kinder and more compassionate world through the intentional deeds of kindness and love we show to others. That’s a worthy goal. It’s all too easy to view such a day with pessimism. In our self-focused society—driven by the need to…
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No Longer Any Sea
Today is World Freedom Day. This special day is an observance of the tearing down of the Berlin Wall—the vast and terrible wall of barbed wire, concrete, and watch towers separating East from West Germany, dividing friends and family members from 1961–1989. I can’t even imagine the feeling of being separated from loved ones for…
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The Way Home
Today is Marooned Without a Compass Day. With all the technology at our fingertips and in our pockets, we can know where we are at any given time. It’s practically impossible to get lost anymore! Or so I thought. For the most part, I work remotely. But once a month, I drive from Appleton to…
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Knowing Christ—Unstoppable
“I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.” (Romans 1:14,15) If there were one word to use in describing Paul after his conversion, it would be unstoppable. From that Damascus…
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Searching for Meaning
Today is Evaluate Your Life Day. From a secular standpoint, this is meant to be a day to take stock of where you are in life. How’s it going? Is it everything you’ve ever wanted and more? Have you achieved all your hopes and dreams? If you haven’t, now is your chance to reevaluate your…
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The Pastor
[From Our Worth to Him: Devotions for Christian Worship by Mark Paustian. All rights reserved.] “Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.” – Acts 20:28 Martin Luther commented that people would surely “run their feet bloody” if they thought there was a place where they might go and…