Author: Higher Up IDEALS
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When God Shows Up
How do you explain the inexplicable? How do you see the Unseen? How do you teach about the Unknown? These are questions that go through my head on a weekly basis serving as a minister. I guess the short answer to all of those questions is faith. But what exactly is faith? In Hebrews 11,…
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America in Denial – Perils of a Strength Overdone
Sometimes it seems as if America is bent on surviving itself to death. Like an ostrich with a lion on its tail, who can’t see a way out other than to close its eyes and hope the threat goes away, our country is living its collective life with its head in the sand fearful that…
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WWJD + MAGA ≠ DACA
So I am friends with a guy whose parents took him to another country when he was a baby because his homeland was a hostile place for them. Despite not having much, this family worked their way to stability and eventually, when my friend grew up, he decided that he would dedicate his life to…
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Homelessness as an Indicator of Our Society’s Priorities
“They put all of society’s problems on us. They make money from criminalizing us. Every time they lock us up, money goes into someone’s pockets. That’s why they are making it so hard for things to get better.” – Known Unknown It’s been nearly two years since I heard the above words and yet I…
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What Do We Do With This Christ?
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to God’s purpose. For whom God foreknew, God also predestined to be conformed to the image of the Christ, that He might be the firstborn of many. Moreover, whom God predestined, these God…
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All I Owe You is Everything
Love for One Another (Romans 13) 8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet’; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, ‘Love your…
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Christ Is A Demonstrable Verb
Lately I don’t feel that comfortable in my skin. And that is a good thing. In some ways, I feel like what I imagine a butterfly or moth must experience when they are making their way out of their cocoon or chrysalis. I’m trying to spread my wings, but I am coming up against some…
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Trading My Religion for a Cross and a Commandment
A couple of days ago I responded to an online discussion question that compared religiosity and righteousness. Honestly, I rarely comment on these kinds of questions because I don’t have much interest in having someone call me a socialist or something just because of how I interpret certain teachings from scripture about what it means…
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Don’t Let Death Get In the Way
How Would You Live if You Knew You Couldn’t Die? Death is so annoying. That’s how I feel about it right now. It is annoying, because for so many of us, the fear of it is a distorting filter that obscures our ability to live a true life or to relate to others who are…
The Roofless Church 