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    Could this be the most convicting verse about peacemaking?

    I can’t stop thinking about what I read this morning in Jude: “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way …” Jude 1:14-15 What could have been so awful? So sinful?   “These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.” Jude 1:16 I can’t stop thinking about this. What is so awful? Complaining and being ungrateful. 

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  • Grace in Daily Life

    “The kind of things that came out of this savagery …”

    Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis: “Four days ago, my city was ruthlessly attacked. There’s no explaining the savagery involved here. . . . I’ve spent the last several days looking at hundreds of hours of videotape. I got to see how brutal the attack was, over and over and over again. “More important,” he said, he watched how first responders and ordinary citizens put people back together. “Tourniquets,” Davis said. “Stemming the bleeding with their hands. Putting a man who was on fire out with their hands. These are the kind of things that came out of this savagery. It makes me proud.”  So worth the read: Police, Citizens and Technology Factor into Boston…

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    Amanda W. Won!

    Thanks to Random Number Generator, Amanda W. is our winner for the video series! Please just make sure I have your mailing address, Amanda, and I’ll have that mailed out to you hopefully tomorrow.  Congrats and thanks everyone for joining in the fun! Blessings, Tara B. 

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    Exploding Water Heater & a Hole Being Cut in my Office Wall … (Poor Fred!)

    Fred told me he was thinking of my summer in Outer Mongolia this morning because the water in his shower was SNOW-CAPPED-MOUNTAIN-FREEZING-COLD water, poor dear. Then he went down to our basement to investigate the problem and found a FLOOD. (It gets worse.) And a dead water heater. (We knew this was coming one day because water heaters don’t last for sixty years.) And the only way to remove the water heater and put in a new one required a giant HOLE to be cut in the wall of my office. All of which would be very bad—but I am cringing a THOUSAND times because I left my office in…

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  • Sin & Repentance

    How to Put Sin to Death

    (Grateful for The Resurgence and especially Bob Thune for this outline …) “Precious little is written or taught these days on how to put sin to death. But thankfully, our forebears spent some ink on this issue—the most notable work being John Owen’s marvelous treatise On the Mortification of Sin …  This outline was organized for preaching, so it is not exactly correlative to Owen’s layout. However, it does preserve the general logical flow of the original. For those who prefer a more thorough and analytical outline, including some of the more memorable quotes from Owen’s pen, you can download my 12-page reading summary in PDF format.” Bob Thune WHY MUST WE MORTIFY…

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    Tara in Real Life

    I called a church recently on a conciliation-related matter and I was blessed by the most fun conversation with the church secretary. After I introduced myself (and asked for the pastor), it started out something like this: “Tara Barthel? Tara? Barthel?” (Yes.) “You’re a real person!?” (Smiling. Yes.) “We just did your video series and we loved it! I can’t believe I’m speaking with you in real life.” (Well, I’m super happy to get to meet you too. And yes, I’m a real person. My three year-old just came in, climbed on my lap, and spilled something all over me …) What a nice way to start the day. I…

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