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Trying to understand,

always evolving,

Learning more than planned.

It is hard, challenges,

this world,

Going and coming around.

Walk the path,

keep looking

For the signs of growth.

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Engaged

Pray the prayer, feel the dough, warm, sticky, full of life. Our Father, time passes, it rises, only to be punched down. Give us this day, smell it baking, see it rise, browning to done. Our daily bread, smell, texture, as it comes out, we butter the roughness. Given, broken, rising, smelling, tasting, crumbs, rough shell, all given, all made.

Hard Life

Mark 6:14-29 The commentators were wondering this week what to do with this reading of the beheading of John. Its gruesome and violent and doesn't seem to lead us on a path of discipleship. Most were suggesting to look at Ephesians instead and then it occurred to me, isn't this the point. We try and avoid hurt. We want a God who promises and easy way, a blessing filled life, after all there is such a thing called the prosperity gospel. That God will bless you if you live the right kind of life. And how many times have you run into people who have lost the faith because the going got tough? "I don't believe anymore because so and so died, was sick and what kind of a God would do that?" Where in the bible is this promise? Nowhere. We read story after story of exile, death, and trauma in the New and Old Testaments. We forget a lot of the stories which talk about the hard times, and we would like to avoid them, stop our ears to them and get them out of the way. Yet t...

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