Ordinary Grace Blog
The Latest Posts
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How We Witness
“He was a devout man who feared God …gave alms generously …and prayed constantly to God.” –Acts 10:2 The words above refer to a man named Cornelius. Luke tells us that he was a centurion, an officer in the Roman army. By implication it also meant he was a Gentile, a term that
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One Perfect Mom
“As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you.” –Isaiah 66:13 In May of 1986, I traveled to Phoenix, Arizona for the summer. That isn’t the time of year most people choose to visit since temperatures regularly top 110 degrees. I was in town to take part in a unit of Clinical Pastoral
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The Stranger
“Then one said, ‘I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.’” –Genesis 18:10 I firmly believe that God is always at work. The Bible makes clear that such activity can happen in dramatic ways, but I suspect it occurred then and now far more often in
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Returning Home
“Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” –Luke 8:38a The verse above comes from a day when Jesus healed a man described as having many demons. That transformation was so dramatic that neighbors who had known the man for years asked Jesus to leave. They didn’t understand what had occurred
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Telling the Story
“For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received.” –1 Corinthians 15:3a Year ago, a friend of mine met a young woman whom he liked immediately. It was one of those times when two people were instantly comfortable with each other and soon they began to spend every
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The Ones Who Inspire
“We want each of you to show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope to the very end.” –Hebrews 6:11 Without even counting two full-time vocational chapters, my working life has been quite diverse. During the summers between school years I bagged groceries and mowed grass, worked as a lifeguard
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When Patience Wins
“Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” –John 20:29 Before my final year of seminary, I worked as an intern at a church in Prince George, Virginia. One of my roles was to plan and oversee the congregation’s youth ministry. In
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Going for Broke
“Be on your guard against all kinds of greed” –Luke 12:15 While living in North Carolina, I had a friend named Jack with whom I regularly played golf. We did so as part of a quartet consisting of that 70 year old who still worked in the uniform rental industry, a retiree named Bill who
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A Life of Temperance
“Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one.” –1 Corinthians 9:25 For a short time after college, I lived in a small town west of Charlotte. During my one summer there, the biggest local topic was a referendum coming up in November. What was
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Strengthening Our Bones
“A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.” (NIV) –Proverbs 14:30 In the spring of my junior year in high school I ran for president of the student government association. Looking back, I’m not sure why. I had never been involved in the SGA before. Perhaps I took that