Keeping Advent

Keeping Advent 5: How Firm a Foundation

December 7/First Thursday of Advent The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock.  ~ Matt 7.25 One of the valuable pieces of homeowner wisdom that my husband has impressed upon our children over the years is the danger that water poses…

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Keeping Advent

Keeping Advent 3: Wise Guys

December 5/First Tuesday of Advent “I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.” ~ Luke 10.21 No matter how many times I read this passage from Luke, it always takes me aback.  What’s wrong with being “wise and…

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Keeping Advent

Keeping Advent 2: At Your Service

  December 4/First Monday of Advent When Jesus entered Capernaum a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.”  He said to him, “I will come and cure him.”  ~ Matt. 8.5-7 The pain of the world is always with us.  We see it in the desperate faces of those…

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Keeping Advent

Keeping Advent 1: Hiking Into Time

Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. ~ Mark 13.33 On a recent trip to the Grand Canyon, my husband and I walked the South Rim, taking the trail along the canyon’s top.  When we reached the Bright Angel trailhead, he opted to stay on level ground, but I left the path and hiked…

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