Some steps about suffering from Peter.

(Continuing from Tuesday) +++ Peter says that there is pain. Like Jesus suffered for doing the right thing, we will suffer as we do the right thing. So don’t be surprised. But he also says, be prepared. Humble yourself before God. Not humiliate, not demean. But humble. Recognize that just because we can’t explain what […]

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Chain of Rocks (Part 1)

Rich Dixon gets close to halfway through his ride: +++ Crossing historic Chain of Rocks Bridge wasn’t as simple as I imagined. A beautiful Sunday morning sunrise. Speak at a church in Alton, Illinois. Ride thirty miles on the Illinois side of the river. Cross the bridge, complete the ride at the St. Louis Arch. […]

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Sometimes suffering isn’t punishment.

(Continued from yesterday) +++ Let’s look at the texts from this morning. The night before Jesus was executed, he prayed for his disciples. It’s what we read in John 17. He talked to his father about finished his assignment. He talked about doing a good job with his followers, passing on to them everything he […]

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Talking a little about suffering.

Sometime back, I met with some other people from churches who do hospital visiting. People were talking about what they do, what they’ve learned. I suggested that we learn to say, “I don’t know.” “Why is this happening to me? What’s going to happen?” “I don’t know. “ Because often, we jump to conclusions. We […]

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A prayer for the seventh Sunday of Easter

God. We don’t want fiery ordeals. We don’t want any ordeals, actually. We don’t want to be anxious, we don’t want to be tested, we don’t want to have to be alert, we don’t want you to be gone.Because we like to believe that if you knew what was going on, you would fix it.If […]

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