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April 29, 2013

About Jason Collins, Homosexuality and Christianity

Jason collins

Every Monday we’ll post something to do with maintaining sexual purity. Hope it helps. — About Jason Collins, Homosexuality and Christianity Two weeks ago I posted about a then-unknown pro athlete who was shortly going to “come out” and declare his homosexuality. Yesterday NBA pro Jason Collins ended the suspense by announcing not only that he was the one, but that he’s also, in his own words, someone who “takes the teachings of Jesus seriously.” So this is how I’d respond to him if given the Continue Reading

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April 15, 2013

Walking Strong

runner

Every Monday we’ll post something to do with maintaining sexual purity. Hope it helps. — Walking Strong This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16) I’ve finally gotten back into serious workouts after a more than twenty year hiatus, and I’m glowing. Energy’s high, stress is hugely reduced, sleep is deeper, and – (drum roll) – I’ve all but lost my taste for fast foods. That may be the biggest miracle, because hamburgers and burritos have been my bad company for Continue Reading

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March 25, 2013

Armed

lily and thorns

Every Monday we’ll post something about maintaining your sexual integrity. Hope it helps. — Armed Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin. - I Peter 4:1 In 1982 I embarked on some serious bodybuilding, putting my then 27 year old carcass through a tortuous regime which I came to truly love. My trainer spent a good deal of time prepping me for the bodybuilding lifestyle, emphasizing what became the most Continue Reading

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February 21, 2013

The Dark Plunge

plunge dive

Every Thursday I’ll post an article having to do with either relational or emotional matters. Hope it helps. — The Dark Plunge “--- a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan sent to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.” - I Corinthians 12: 7 I’ve wrestled with depression since I was a teenager. I mean real depression, mind you, not the occasional “blues”, moodiness, or sadness we all experience from time to time. Depression is to a blue mood what a migraine is to a headache, which is to say Continue Reading

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February 4, 2013

Rebel Without a Clause

faith

Every Monday we’ll post something about maintaining your sexual integrity. Hope it helps. — Rebel Without a Clause The idea that this world is a playground instead of a battleground has now been accepted in practice by the vast majority of Christians. - A.W. Tozer Today I will, like you, be presented with countless opportunities to misuse my sexual self. There will be images I’ll pass on the street or the mall, unclean memories from past wrongdoings, fantasies that intrude like unwanted pop-ups on the computer. And every time Continue Reading

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January 21, 2013

Scars: Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King with Resilience

king

“For the victory to be won some of us will have to get scarred a bit.” - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. To admire is not to idealize, nor is it to be blinded to obvious flaws. So yes, I’ve read about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s alleged infidelities, and the evidence supporting the allegations is, alas, pretty solid.  Also, his political views probably tilted further left than he publicly acknowledged so no, I don’t assume everything he said was right, much less inspired. (I am in fact in disagreement with him on some points, Continue Reading

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December 25, 2012

And the Soul Felt Its Worth

Christmas Scriptures

If I tell myself I’m wonderful, I’m deluded. If I tell myself I’m valuable, I’m spot on, and attuned to one of the most important aspects of what we’ll celebrate this Sunday: the immeasurable worth God places on us, expressed that first Christmas. Christmas is about Christ, of course, but it’s not about Christ in a vacuum, since He existed long before the nativity. (John 1:1-2) It’s about Christ in relationship to the people He came for, and their value in His sight. Angels said as much when they heralded the shepherds with Continue Reading

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December 20, 2012

My Glorious Thorn

Photo Credit: McCarter Theatre Center

Every Thursday I’ll post an article having to do with either relational or emotional matters. Hope it helps. — My Glorious Thorn He told me, coming home, that he hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see. - A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens Tiny Tim emerges as one of the smartest characters in this Dickens classic. In the quote above, his father Bob remarks that Tim, while sitting in church, Continue Reading

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December 15, 2012

When Words Fail

Photo Credit: FOX News

Try describing the truth about it – its enormity, its barbarism, your astonished rage -  and words fail. They only help when conveying the facts, which are pretty simple: yesterday morning a 20 year old gunman stormed into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut, where, after killing his own mother, he proceeded to end 26 more lives, his included. 20 of them were schoolchildren as young as 5. As of this writing, that’s what we know. Those are the facts. Now the truth, harder to articulate, but summarized with partial accuracy Continue Reading

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December 4, 2012

Zombied with Children

zombies ahead

Every Tuesday we’ll post something to do with restoring marriages. Hope it helps. — Zombied with Children  The current rage of all things zombie – The Walking Dead series on AMC, zombie movies, zombie apocalypse enthusiasts - is puzzling. The creatures are, after all, nothing new, having been described in countless novels and horror films, so why they’re enjoying such popularity now eludes me. And it’s not as if they have qualities you can connect with, as some monsters do. Frankenstein’s creature had a certain childlikeness Continue Reading

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