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Showing posts from June, 2019

Holy Ground

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I have a house!

I wasn't so sure it was going to happen this week (or maybe at all), but I officially have a house! After spotty communication with my lender, getting insane last minute documents submitted, two different closing dates, and two different closing times yesterday, I finally signed all my paperwork. There was very little pomp and circumstance. There were no real estate agents involved, my lender wasn't local and the seller lives out of town. It was just me and the attorney I have known since I was in fifth grade sitting at a table going through the forms. Not that I wanted it, but there wasn't even a picture with the big house photo frame that sat in the office. The seller's sister gave me the code to get in the house and my keys were in the kitchen drawer. After finally getting my papers signed, I picked up some Sonic because I was hungry and it was after 2:00. I went to the new house because it felt like I should, so I ate my first meal at the house standing up

It’s never too early to teach that bad choices lead to bad consequences

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Part 2 of an interview with Marty Machowski, Author of Don’t Blame the Mud Click here to read part 1 of the interview. For young readers and families,  Don’t Blame the Mud  (New Growth Press) paints a vivid and accurate picture of sin and God’s plan of redemption. Written by best-selling children’s author Marty Machowski, this beautifully illustrated picture book teaches children how to recognize the lure of temptation and the truth that bad choices lead to bad consequences. One day, Max takes the muddy path along the creek home, disregarding his mother’s reminder to keep his school clothes clean. After crashing into a mud puddle, he tries to hide his mistake and discovers the stain of his sin goes deeper than the mud he can wash away. In this lovable, relatable, and heartwarming tale, Max learns his heart needs to be cleaned, and Jesus is the only one who can wash away his sin. By clearly articulating the gospel,  Don’t Blame the Mud  helps parents create an envir

Mark: How Jesus Changes Everything

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A Reminder of How Jesus Changes Everything New release in The Gospel-Centered Life for Students series helps readers find the message that was right in front of them the entire time Finding the gospel in the Old Testament can be a little bit like uncovering a mystery. However, it should be pretty obvious in the four gospels of the New Testament, right? Sometimes we suffer from what author John Perritt describes as gospel amnesia. In the day to day of life, it’s possible to forget we are loved and accepted by God who sent his son to die for us. In Mark: How Jesus Changes Everything (New Growth Press, June 24, 2019), Perritt points readers toward a better love and appreciation for their compassionate Savior and suffering servant. Part of The Gospel-Centered Life for Students series, this twelve-week accessible study for young adults was created for one-to-one discipleship, small group, or large settings. Rather than a message of moralism,  Mark  introduces studen

Leaning on God in the Midst of Life’s Great Difficulties

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Carlos and Rosemarie Evans share their inspiring story of standing together Sustaining a military marriage is hard work, especially when deployments keep a family separated for prolonged periods of time. The strain is intensified when the serving spouse is injured in the field. According to the PTSD Foundation of America , an estimated two out of three marriages fail for troops suffering from combat trauma. Carlos R. Evans and Rosemarie Evans are well aware of the difficulties, having experienced them personally. In Standing Together: The Inspirational Story of a Wounded Warrior and Enduring Love (written with Cecil Murphey/ Kregel Publications/June 25, 2019/ISBN: 9780825444975/$17.99), they share their inspirational story of facing severe injury, rehabilitation, post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction. Theirs is a true story of hope and courage in the face of astonishing challenges. Carlos Evans grew up in a family

Boldly Yet Humbly Declaring the Truth

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Part 1 of an interview with Steve Brown, Author of Talk the Walk: How to Be Right without Being Insufferable It can be difficult to be a Christian in today’s culture. Not only is the outside world hostile to Christians and their faith but the voices that speak loudest don’t always speak for the masses. There are a lot of assumptions out there about what Christians do and don’t believe. With all this hostility, speaking up about issues related to faith can be intimidating. However, in his new book Talk the Walk: How to Be Right without Being Insufferable (New Growth Press), Key Life Network founder Steve Brown calls Christians to step out and speak up about what they know to be true. This attitude-altering book invites Christians to cultivate both boldness and humility in communicating gospel truth. By uncovering self-righteousness and spiritual arrogance, Talk the Walk shatters stereotypes and helps believers consider how they present the good news without watering it d

The Bachelorette: Hannah B. - Week 7

As usual, I'm running a bit late getting started with my post because I was fixing something to eat, waiting for my computer to start back up, then needed to forward an email I just got to someone. I'm going to have to eat during commercials because I didn't want to burn my tongue. Warning from the previews: I may do some slut shaming. I don't know what else to call it. But we'll jump on in. They are in Latvia where Hannah hopes she gets a fresh start and reminds her why she is here: To find love and be romanced by these men. She wants these things in a man: Goes on adventures with her and makes her feel loved. In regards to her fresh start, it sure as heck would have helped if she had gotten rid of Luke. Oh to be young and stupid, and think you are in love. (Like I would know, but I digress.) The men are chomping at the bit to see Hannah. Once they gather around the room and start chatting, Luke talks about not getting to spend enough time with Hannah l

Ring of Fire

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This week's video comes from VBS this past week. I taught about Elisha where an army of fire surrounded and protected God's people from the Syrians. Cue my idea to re-write the words of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire."  It's in middle of the video here.  RING OF FIRE Fear is awful thing, You can be scared of most anything. Fear is a big fat liar, Throw that fear in a ring of fire. Throw your fears in a burnin’ ring of fire. Send them down, down, down, As your prayers go higher. Let them burn, burn, burn, In the ring of fire, in the ring of fire. Throw your fears in a burnin’ ring of fire. Send them down, down, down, As your prayers go higher. Let them burn, burn, burn, In the ring of fire, in the ring of fire. Elisha’s servant was really scared, But he served a God who really cared. Elisha said, close your eyes, Open and see the good guys. Syrians went down in a burnin’ ring of fire. T

900 pounds of kitty litter vs. 25 boxes of Readers Digest books

Knowing I had posted about needing boxes, a Facebook friend from church called me a couple of days ago saying that one of her friends had posted that she had boxes available. Thirty boxes in fact. Winner, winner, chicken dinner! The woman with the boxes had ordered 30 packages of 30 pounds of kitty litter. Each package came in it's own box (yes, if you are doing the math, that is 900 pounds of kitty litter) with a lot of brown paper packaging to fill the rest of the box. Boxes all the same size makes for stackable and brown paper is better than newsprint that gets everywhere (Mom has been saving newspapers). So, today, we started packing all of said boxes. Twenty-five of them were filled with Readers Digest books. I have too many books for crafting purposes. Let me also add that I had started packing some other boxes BEFORE those 25. We loaded them all in the Crafty trailer along with the boxes of cut books that I still had here at my house. We overloaded trailer. Dad had t

American Christian Warrior

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 Our VBS at Westhill Church of Christ this week was "American Christian Warrior" themed. (Think an offshoot of "American Ninja Warrior." Here's a quick glimpse of the week. I taught Tuesday and will share "Ring of Fire" night this weekend.

Mark: How Jesus Changes Everything blogger sign-up

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For review copy and interview information, contact: Audra Jennings -  audra@newgrowthpress.com  - 903-874-8363 NOW AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW! Click here to   request a copy. By signing up to receive this book, you are agreeing to: 1. Post a review on your blog or website within  30 days  of receiving the book. 2. Post your review on the New Growth Press website as well as other consumer websites (Amazon, GoodReads, etc.) 3. Share your review via your social media accounts. 4. Email your review link to  audra@newgrowthpress.com  so that we can share your review via our social media accounts as well. A Reminder of How Jesus Changes Everything New release in The Gospel-Centered Life for Students series helps readers find the message that was right in front of them the entire time Greensboro, NC  – Finding the gospel in the Old Testament can be a little bit like uncovering a mystery. However, it should be pretty obvious in the four gospels of the New Testam