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January 7, 2013

Wanting to Will

hands

Every Monday we’ll post something about maintaining your sexual integrity. Hope it helps. — Wanting to Will  “Draw me, and we will run after thee.” - Song of Songs 1:4 God initiates; we respond. So whatever we do by way of worship, service, or obedience, it’s done only because He first gave us the desire, then the ability, then the opportunity. Paul summed it up nicely: “For it is God who worketh in you, both to will, and to do of His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13)  So ours is no fifty/fifty contract between two Continue Reading

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December 19, 2012

The Director’s Cut

Photo Credit: CAPA

Every Wednesday we’ll post something to do with doctrine and recovery. Hope it helps. — The Director’s Cut Men's courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead. But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change. Say it is thus! Why show me this, if I am past all hope?  - A Christmas Carol When a DVD comes out labeled “Director’s Cut”, then you’ve got me. Because of all the things in a good film I appreciate, my loudest kudos go to the Director who brings it all together. It’s his Continue Reading

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November 12, 2012

Remembering and Honoring Veterans

Veterans Day

There’s honor in fighting, assuming the situation calls for it and the fighting is fair. So our Veterans Day remembrances and appreciations are good and relevant, and my hat tips while my heart says Thank You and Thank God for You to our Vets. Today’s the day for reflections on both the nobility of sacrifice and the misery warfare brings. Not that I know, not really. Scratch that – not at all. I never fought, and to this day I don’t know how to feel about that. When I was 18 (1973) we still had the draft and the lottery system, under Continue Reading

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October 29, 2012

Ten Tips for Maintaining Sexual Integrity

integrity

Every Monday we’ll post something to do with maintaining sexual purity. Hope it helps. — Some time ago I wrote this in response to the question of what steps a man should take to “keep it clean.” Considering the amount of stimulation and temptation we’re confronted with daily, common sense tells us to be, and stay, prepared. Here are ten ways we can help make that happen. Ten Tips for Maintaining Sexual Integrity Tip 1: GET REAL Recognize that sexual temptation is unavoidable in our sex-obsessed culture. Erotic images on Continue Reading

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October 3, 2012

Beastly

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Every Wednesday we’ll post something to do with doctrine and recovery. Hope it helps. — Beastly So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.  - Psalms 73:22 David was having one of those  days, one of those Everybody’s got it good but me, Life’s unfair, Why bother days? days. It began, as such days usually do, with envy. “For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” (vs.3) A righteous man is a struggling man, because he strives against his own passions to do, Continue Reading

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August 17, 2012

The Gay Marriage Debate: Winning, Losing or Dropping Out? (Part 7)

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The Gay Marriage Debate: Winning, Losing or Dropping Out? (Part Seven or an Eight Part Series. Full list of links to all posts in the series at the end of this article.) From Apologies to Apologists It seems we’re forever swinging to or from extremes. That’s true of much of life, church life in particular. At times we see the Christian population with its nose buried in End Times writings; other times you’d think, by the lack of attention paid to it, that the Second Coming was a discarded myth. Sometimes we’ve sought political Continue Reading

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August 13, 2012

I Know I’ve Got a Problem. Now What?

pilgrim progress

Every Monday we’ll post something to do with personal purity. Hope it helps. — “I Know I’ve Got a Problem. Now What?” Then said Evangelist, “If this be thy condition, why standest thou still?” He answered, “Because I know not where to go.” — Pilgrims Progress I’ve yet to have a Christian man walk into my office and ask, “Is porn wrong? Is an adulterous affair OK? Can I sleep with my girlfriend?” My clients haven’t wondered what’s right or wrong. They come in knowing they have a problem, but wondering, Continue Reading

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April 23, 2012

Perfecting

HiRes

Every Monday we’ll post something to do with maintaining sexual purity. Hope it helps. — Perfecting “The Lord will perfect that which concerns me.” (Psalms138:8) I’ve every reason to give up on myself today. It’s only been a few hours since I woke, and in record time I’ve managed to snap at my wife, curse the list of To Do’s, whine about money, covet every fifty-something man who isn’t me and brush morning devotions aside because, after all, there’s too much else to do and God doesn’t seem to be taking my calls Continue Reading

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April 12, 2012

What’s Satan Got Against Me, Anyway?

gargoyle

Every Thursday we’ll post something to do with Relationship and Purity. Hope it helps. --- “What’s Satan Got Against Me, Anyway?” We don’t know too much about him, but what we know is sobering and instructive. He’s a created being who fell from grace (Isaiah 14:12); he enticed the first humans into disobedience (Genesis 3:1-4); he’s an adversary to all of us (I Peter 5:8); he has specific devices that can be known (II Corinthians 2:11); his future is sealed and we’ll someday be relieved of him and his wiles. Continue Reading

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March 30, 2012

Random Ramblings #38: The Hunger Games – Some Practical Afterthoughts

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Every Friday we’ll take a break from topical posts and will post some random personal thoughts.  — A Cuppa Joe - Random Ramblings from a Fellow Struggler Last Friday I posted some thoughts on The Hunger Games, a film generating large revenues and no small amount of national discussions. Not having seen it when I posted (it was opening that day) and now having watched it with my family last night, I’m left with some pretty strong impressions. It’s a disturbing story, hands down. Parents especially will find it hard to digest Continue Reading

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