Life on Planet Earth on Activities

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Author

Diana Hill

Keywords

The more you engage in meaningful activities, the more likely you are to experience discomfort.

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Author

Eugene Peterson

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Sabbath is that uncluttered time and space in which we can distance ourselves from our own activities enough to see what God is doing.

The Christian life is not a life dripping with personal satisfaction or one of basking in feeling “positive.” It isn’t a life baptized in stimulation or excitement. It definitely isn’t a life of conse...

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Author

N. T. Wright

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Scripture

1 Peter 1:3-4, James 2:14-17, Galatians 6:9, 1 Corinthians 15:58, Romans 8:11

The point of the resurrection…is that the present bodily life is not valueless just because it will die…What you do with your body in the present matters because God has a great future in store for it...

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The Difference between Avoiding Pain and Seeking Comfort?

Author

Mark Scandrette

Keywords

What’s the difference between avoiding pain and seeking appropriate comfort? I have a friend who says, “The first episode of my favorite TV show is soothing. But if I’m watching the fifth episode in a...

liturgy

God—Father, Son and Spirit; You are a

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

Scripture

Acts 4:32-35, Luke 10:25-37, Matthew 14:13-21, 1 Kings 17:8-16, Exodus 16:1-36, John 6:35, 2 Corinthians 1:3-5

God—Father, Son and Spirit; You are a God of compassion and love. Like the Israelites in the wilderness, we’ve known Your love, and experienced Your care and provision. Repeatedly You’ve answered our ...

liturgy

Adapted from Isaiah 60; Ephesians 5

Author

Jacob Traeger

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 60:null, Ephesians 5:null

Wake up! Get out of bed! Feel the sunlight on your face! Feel God’s bright glory has risen for you. But the earth is dark. Everywhere we look there is selfishness sin, greed, death, destruction. You ...

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I Once was Lost

Author

Travis Dickinson

Keywords

Scripture

Jonah 1:4, Genesis 3:8-19, Matthew 18:12-14, Luke 15:11-32, Psalm 23:

I once was significantly lost. When I was a college student in northern Wisconsin, my dad and I were hiking on a trail that was somewhat familiar to me. I had been on this trail just a few weeks befor...

liturgy

Adapted from 1 Corinthians 12 (ESV)

Author

Austin D. Hill

Keywords

Scripture

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Leader: "Now concerning spiritual gifts," brothers and sisters, "there are varieties of gifts," People: "But the same Spirit;" Leader: "And there are varieties o...

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Author

Samuel Johnson

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It must be remembered that life consists not of a series of illustrious actions, or elegant enjoyments; the greater part of our time passes in compliance with necessities, in the performance of daily ...

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Author

John R. Mott

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The missionary activities of the church are the circulation of its blood, which would lose its vital power if it never flowed to the extremities.

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Ceaseless Motion and a Sense of Achievement

Author

Thomas Merton

Keywords

Scripture

Jeremiah 17:10, Mark 4:1-41, Mark 4:19, Matthew 13:22, Matthew 13:18-23, Luke 10:25-37

Thomas Merton describes those who never experience the gift of a contemplative life. His explanation for why some people never experience this can be found in his book, New Seeds of Contemplation: [T...

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One Key Idea for Short-term Mission Trips

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

When do you schedule the “fun” activities on your short-term mission trips? JULY 2018 When I was in youth ministry planning mission trips, we often scheduled a short sightseeing adventure for the end...

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Author

Mark Galli

Keywords

The liturgy is the place where we wait for Jesus to show up. We don't have to do much. The liturgy is not an act of will. It is not a series of activities designed to attain a spiritual mental sta...

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Rituals That Replenish Energy

Author

Harvard Business Review

Keywords

Scripture

Job 24:null

Is your job demanding more from you than ever before? Do you feel as if you’re working additional hours but rarely getting ahead? Is your mobile device leashing you to your job 24/7? Do you feel exhau...

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Discerning Sense of Call By Paying Attention to Our Bodies

Author

Ruth Haley Barton

Keywords

Scripture

2 Timothy 1:9, Ecclesiastes 3:1, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Psalm 23:3, Philippians 2:13, Romans 12:1-2

As I have worked to clarify my calling, I have learned to pay attention to my energy levels in response to different activities. If I experience a particular activity as being inordinately draining, I...

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My First Experience of Unhurried Time with God

Author

Alan Fadling

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 5:16, John 10:null, James 5:16

I’ve often shared the story of my first experience of solitude and silence at the beginning of 1990. It was led by one of my mentors, Wayne Anderson, as part of a class I was taking at Fuller Seminary...

liturgy

Graduation Charge and Blessing

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Our God has loved you from before your birth until today. Though unseen, he has cared for you and protected you every day. We rejoiced when he called you to repentance and redeemed you for the sake of...

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What is the Christian Imagination Deficit? How Do We Fix It?

Author

Brian Brown

Keywords

There Are No Ordinary Things J. R. R. Tolkien tells a short story about an ordinary fellow who just wants to finish a painting. Over time, he is constantly distracted by the requests of his neighbors...

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A Life Changed by a Stolen Gideon Bible

Author

Andy Cook

Keywords

Steve May tells the story of “Dee,” who grew up in east Tennessee in an affluent, but unchurched home. Dee’s time at college involved as much wild living as it did studying, and soon her life became a...

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The Line Runs Through: Sermon Illustration Tuesday

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Forgiveness

Scripture

Romans 12:2, 1 Peter 3:8-9, Proverbs 4:23, Ephesians 6:12, Romans 7:21-23, Jeremiah 17:9

If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the lin...

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Author

Jess C. Scott

Keywords

Consumerism

“Nin knew how much humans loved money, riches, and material things—though he never really could understand why. The more technologically advanced the human species got, the more isolated they seemed t...

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The Christian Self-Actualization Plan

Author

Ashley Hales

Keywords

Scripture

Galatians 5:13-14, Matthew 16:24-25, Romans 12:4-5, Philippians 2:3-4, Ephesians 2:8-10

In her excellent book on following Jesus in the suburbs, Ashley Hales describes one of the ways in which our discipleship has been influenced by modern secular trends such as the desire for self-actua...

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S.I.T. For the week of 6/3

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

God's Voice Speaking through the Frustration My first conscious experience of hearing the voice of Jesus occurred when I was a college student. It grew out of a period of genuine frustration. Bec...

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Living in Transition

Author

William Bridges

Keywords

I became interested in the subject of transition outer changes around 1970 when I was going through some difficult inner and outer changes. Although I gave up my teaching career because of those chang...

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Keeping Time

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Did you know that the first group of people to use clocks were Christian monks? Monks desired the ability to pray around a rigorous and exact prayer schedule. Benedict of Nursia, the great architect o...

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God’s Voice Speaking through the Frustration

Author

Richard J. Foster

Keywords

Silence

My first conscious experience of hearing the voice of Jesus occurred when I was a college student. It grew out of a period of genuine frustration. Because of my poor academic training and a less-than-...

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How Do Screens Impact Happiness? A Scientific Study

Author

Jean Twenge

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 55:2, Philippians 4:8, Romans 12:2, Colossians 3:2, John 15:11

In an article for The Atlantic, social scientist Jean Twenge shares the results of a study on the activities of American teenagers and their impact on happiness. Some of these activities included scre...

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Happiness: Acquire, Retire, and Aspire

Author

Max Lucado

Keywords

Happiness

The oft-used front door to happiness is the one described by the advertising companies: acquire, retire, and aspire to drive faster, dress trendier, and drink more. Happiness depends on what you hang ...

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I Would Take Half

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Galatians 6:2, Romans 12:21, Micah 6:8, Isaiah 1:17, Proverbs 31:8-9, Psalm 82:3-4

The British romantic poet Lord Byron (George Gordon) grew up with the disability of clubfoot, which kept him from engaging in many of the activities and joys of childhood. He was nevertheless, a perso...

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