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illustration
Receiving the Message
When the telegraph was the fastest means of long-distance communication, a young man applied for a job as a Morse code operator. Answering an ad in the newspaper, he went to the address that was liste... -
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What Hath God Wrought?
In the crypt of the Capitol, there hangs a bronze plaque commemorating the inventor of telegraphy, Samuel Morse…In 1825, Morse returned to Washington to paint a portrait of the Marquis de Lafayette, t... -
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Our Bodies Need Silence
Your body knows about schedules. It gets used to those times of day when it says, Feed me right now. I’m hungry, and those times of night when it says, Get me to bed. I’m exhausted. Your body will spe... -
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Communications are much clearer if you recognize that there are three kinds of feedback: appreciation, coaching, and evaluation. -
blog
Sermon Illustration Tuesday (11.13.18)
We swim in an ocean of feedback. Each year in the United States alone, every schoolchild will be handed back as many as 300 assignments, papers, and tests. Millions of kids will be assessed as they tr... -
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The Evangelist Wasting his Time
As a college student, I was returning to school one year on a Greyhound bus. One of the other passengers was a middle-aged man who seemed to be making the rounds, engaging various people in quiet conv... -
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Asking and hearing people’s opinions has a greater effect on them than telling them, ‘Good job.’ -
illustration
Looking for Feedback
Praying to an invisible God does not bring forth the same feedback you would get from a counselor or from friends who at least nod their heads in sympathy. Is anyone really listening? As Ernestine, th... -
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The Essential Confession
I actually want to believe that when it comes to communication, my biggest problem is outside of me, not inside of me. I want to think that it’s my kids, my wife, my neighbors, my boss. I want to thin... -
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Listen to your Life
Listen to your life. All moments are key moments. I discovered that if you really keep your eye peeled to it and your ears open, if you really pay attention to it…Taking your children to school and ki... -
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An Ocean of Feedback
We swim in an ocean of feedback. Each year in the United States alone, every schoolchild will be handed back as many as 300 assignments, papers, and tests. Millions of kids will be assessed as they tr... -
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The Gift of College Students
I have been moved to a different course of action, however, inspired largely by my daily exposure to college students in a great university during the course of a preaching and teaching ministry that ... -
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arrives in the world, scattering a song in the silence of the night: eternity utters a day. -
liturgy
Gracious God, we confess that we do not
Gracious God, we confess that we do not always listen to your calling for us. Instead we carry on with our busy lives, not being mindful of your voice, calling us to live for more than ourselves. Plea... -
Quote
We talk about our work all the time. It is rare that a conversation with a person we have recently met does not at some point lead to the inevitable question, What do you do? by which we mean, how do ... -
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Any manifestation that reveals Jesus’ true identity occurs because the power of God is at work upon the eyes, ears, and hearts of the recipients -
liturgy
Prayers of the People, Form VI
The Leader and People pray responsively In peace, we pray to you, Lord God. Silence For all people in their daily life and work; For our families, friends, and neighbors, and for those who are... -
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The Gift of Tears
The “gift of tears” written about by the desert elders and several centuries later by St. Ignatius of Loyola are not about finding meaning in our pain and suffering. They do not give answers but inste... -
liturgy
Prayers of the People, Form V
Deacon or other leader In peace, let us pray to the Lord, saying, "Lord, have mercy" ( or "Kyrie eleison"). For the holy Church of God, that it may be filled with truth and lov... -
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The Good News or the Bad News
I read in a book recently about a young pastor who was fired from his church over a theological controversy. When he went to share the news with his wife, he said, “I’ve got good news and bad news, wh... -
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A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life depend on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have r... -
Quote
Feedback Has A Branding Problem. -
Quote
Contemplation is also the response to a call: a call from Him Who has no voice, and yet Who speaks in everything that is, and Who, most of all, speaks in the depths of our own being: for we ourselves ... -
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“Hello, I’m Busy”
I read an anecdote once about a woman from another culture who came to the United States and began to introduce herself as “Busy.” It was, after all, the first thing she heard when meeting any America... -
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The more I understand people and their needs, the more I am persuaded that God has uniquely designed the local church to respond to those needs. -
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A Christmas Surprise
There was a woman who was baking her Christmas cookies and she heard a knock at the door. She opened the door to find a man who was dressed in pretty tattered clothes, and he was obviously poor. And h... -
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Getting the Ball Rolling
Surprisingly, the most common complaint we hear about feedback is, “I don’t get enough.” This tells us that despite feedback’s damaged brand most of us still crave it and intuitively know that it’s a ... -
Quote
What use could this company make of an electrical toy? *President of the Western Union Telegraph Company, in 1876, rejecting an opportunity to purchase Alexander Graham Bell’s patent on the telephone -
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A Savior Who Was a Spitter
Some time ago, I read about the work of a Wycliffe Bible translator in a remote village in Papua New Guinea. When the opening chapters of Genesis were first translated into the native language, the at... -
illustration
We Need Conversation Partners when Discussing our Work
When it comes to our work we likely need at the very least three conversation partners. Two of these should ideally be peers—perhaps one who is in a similar line of work (e.g., a fellow nurse who know...
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B
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D
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E
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F
- Failure
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G
- Games
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H
- Habits
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I
- Ideas
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J
L
- Labor
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M
- Making a Difference
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N
O
P
- Pain
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R
- Rain
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S
- Sabbath
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- Sustainer
- The Saints
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- The Soul
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T
- Tabernacle
- Taking God for Granted
- Taking Stock
- Taking Up the Cross
- Targets
- Tasks
- Taste
- Taxes
- Teachers
- Teaching
- Team
- Teamwork
- Technology
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- Tenderness
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- Thinking
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- Time
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- Tired
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- Tongue
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- Transgressions
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- Translation
- Treasure
- Trees
- True Worship
- Trust
- Trust in God
- Truth
- Turning a Blind Eye
- Turning People Away from Jesus
U
W
- The Weak
- The Work of the Holy Spirit
- Wages of Sin
- Walls
- Wandering
- War
- Warning Signs
- Warnings
- Waste
- Wasting Time
- Weakness
- Weakness of Will
- Wealth
- Weariness
- Weather
- Weekend
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- Welcoming
- Western Culture
- Wholeness
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- Wilderness
- Wine
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- Witnesses
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- Women
- Words
- Work
- Work and Rest
- Work-Life Balance
- Workaholism
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- World
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- World Peace
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Y
Top_level_categories by Reference
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Deuteronomy
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Esther
Psalm
- Ps 1 (3)
- Ps 2 (3)
- Ps 8 (1)
- Ps 9 (2)
- Ps 13 (1)
- Ps 15 (4)
- Ps 16 (2)
- Ps 18 (1)
- Ps 19 (2)
- Ps 23 (5)
- Ps 25 (1)
- Ps 27 (4)
- Ps 30 (1)
- Ps 31 (1)
- Ps 32 (2)
- Ps 33 (1)
- Ps 34 (9)
- Ps 37 (4)
- Ps 41 (4)
- Ps 42 (5)
- Ps 46 (9)
- Ps 49 (2)
- Ps 51 (12)
- Ps 56 (1)
- Ps 60 (1)
- Ps 62 (2)
- Ps 63 (1)
- Ps 65 (2)
- Ps 67 (1)
- Ps 68 (1)
- Ps 72 (2)
- Ps 73 (5)
- Ps 78 (4)
- Ps 82 (2)
- Ps 85 (3)
- Ps 90 (11)
- Ps 91 (3)
- Ps 92 (1)
- Ps 95 (2)
- Ps 100 (5)
- Ps 103 (7)
- Ps 104 (3)
- Ps 106 (1)
- Ps 110 (1)
- Ps 115 (4)
- Ps 116 (2)
- Ps 118 (3)
- Ps 119 (12)
- Ps 121 (1)
- Ps 122 (2)
- Ps 126 (3)
- Ps 127 (9)
- Ps 128 (2)
- Ps 130 (2)
- Ps 131 (2)
- Ps 133 (4)
- Ps 136 (3)
- Ps 139 (16)
- Ps 141 (2)
- Ps 145 (1)
- Ps 146 (1)
- Ps 147 (2)
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Solomon
Isaiah
Ezekiel
Joel
Amos
Zephaniah
Zechariah
Matthew
- Matt 1 (1)
- Matt 2 (2)
- Matt 3 (1)
- Matt 4 (10)
- Matt 5 (19)
- Matt 6 (20)
- Matt 7 (7)
- Matt 8 (2)
- Matt 9 (3)
- Matt 10 (2)
- Matt 11 (2)
- Matt 12 (3)
- Matt 13 (5)
- Matt 14 (4)
- Matt 15 (1)
- Matt 16 (8)
- Matt 17 (2)
- Matt 18 (5)
- Matt 19 (5)
- Matt 20 (1)
- Matt 21 (2)
- Matt 22 (2)
- Matt 23 (7)
- Matt 24 (1)
- Matt 25 (18)
- Matt 26 (1)
- Matt 27 (1)
- Matt 28 (2)