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Grateful or Grumbling?

steve-cole

Original Post Date - October 29, 1997 Helen Keller, born blind and deaf, wrote, "I have always thought it would be a blessing if each person could be blind and deaf for a few days during his early adult life. Darkness would make him appreciate sight; silence would teach him the joys of sound." Her words lead me to ask, Do we truly appreciate each day as God's gracious gi...

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Why You Don't Need More Self-Esteem

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Original Post Date - July 12, 1997 One of the most popular ideas to emerge in Christian circles in recent years is that we all need to build and maintain proper self-esteem. Dozens of best-selling Christian books are laced with this theme. It is frequently mentioned in sermons and on Christian radio shows. It is a fundamental assumption underlying most Christian counselin...

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Enjoying Your Kids While You Can

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Original Post Date - June 1, 1997 A couple of years ago, around the time of her sixteenth birthday, my middle daughter said to me, "Dad, do you remember how you used to take each of us somewhere special for our birthday, just time alone with you?" I remembered, of course. Not every year, but on three or four of the kids' birthdays, I had set aside a Saturday, or sometimes...

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Separation Versus Cooperation

steve-cole

Original Post Date - May 1, 1997 Some Thoughts on the Limits of Cooperation withOther Christians with the World One of the difficult issues for every Christian to work through theologically and implement practically is the degree of separation from professing Christians and from the world. All Bible-believing Christians would acknowledge that Christians are called to be...

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Warning: Reading This Column Could Change Your Life!

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Original Post Date - May 14, 1999 When I was 18, a friend asked me what I had been reading lately. I replied, "I don't read anything that isn't required to pass a course." He looked me in the eye and shot back, "If you don't read, you won't grow spiritually!" Wham! His words hit me right between the eyes. I asked him for a recommendation, got started and was hooked. In t...

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Some Thoughts on Consensus Leadership and Decision-Making

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Original Post Date - April 22, 1999 Consensus leadership refers to the process in a local church by which the elders make decisions by seeking the mind of the Lord, not by "voting their own mind." The mind of the Lord will be revealed by an uncoerced unanimity among the elders, reached after thorough, biblically-based discussion and prayer. In some decisions, individual e...

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Spending the Days of Your Life

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Original Post Date - January 1, 1999 What if Uncle Sam issued a sum of money to each citizen at birth? You would know the average national allotment, but not how much you had been given. It could be average, above average, or below average. You don't know. But what you're issued is all you get. You can't earn any more. When you run out, you're out! And you don't know when...

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Prayer: Some Insights From John Calvin and George Muller

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Original Post Date - October 1, 1998 I have found much help for my prayer life in two sources: Calvin'sInstitutes, Book 3, Chapter 20; and, in the biographies of George Muller (George Muller of Bristol, by A. T. Pierson [Revell];George Muller: Delighted in God, by Roger Steer [Shaw]; andAnswers to Prayer, by George Muller [Moody Press]). Six Reasons for Prayer(from Calvi...

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What American Families Need Most

steve-cole

Original Post Date - June 19, 1998 Nausea, grief, anger, fearthese were some of my feelings a few weeks ago when I heard about yet another student who took a gun to school and opened fire. I fear because I'm a parent: What if it happens at my son's school? What can we do to halt this frightening trend? Obviously the problem is linked to the overall moral decay of our soc...

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Tolerance: The Chief American Virtue

steve-cole

June 5, 1998 I once served on a jury for a drunk driving case in California. The defendant, a woman in her early twenties, was driving with a blood alcohol level measuring .20. At that time, the law stated that .10 and over was too drunk to drive. The judge gave us explicit instructions. We were to set aside our personal opinions about drinking. We were not to base our de...

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