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Reveration Blog

4/8/2025 0 Comments

Self-Righteous

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​Meditation
Deuteronomy 9:5,6--You are not going to take possession of their land because of your righteousness or your integrity. Instead, the Lord your God will drive out these nations before you because of their wickedness, in order to keep the promise He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.

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4/1/2025 0 Comments

Deprived

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Alice worked in the nursery for her church in California. A toddler needed his diaper changed and in the presence of the other workers, Alice changed it. When the child returned home the parents asked him if anyone had touched him and the child said yes and let them know it was Alice. The parents called Child Protective Services and they filed a report against Alice.  The church by policy terminated her services despite the fact there were witnesses who stated she did nothing inappropriate. Alice was never told who made the accusation and was labeled as guilty of a sexual offense against a child with no means to clear her name. So, she lost her job.  How could someone with a good heart serving the Lord get treated so poorly?


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1/28/2025 0 Comments

Shooting from the Shadows

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​When I asked West Point classmate Greg, if he had ever been shot from the shadows, he wrote:
I was thinking back to a time in a position of supervisory responsibility for 50 federal employees in eight different locations, enabling almost 5,000 other federal employees. We were working hard to meet tasks and missions professionally. We even received an award for excellence at the Executive Building next to the White House.

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9/11/2024 1 Comment

Debating

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​Meditation
Jude 9--Yet Michael the archangel, when he was disputing with the Devil in a debate about Moses’ body, did not dare bring an abusive condemnation against him but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

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9/5/2024 1 Comment

Too Much Pain

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What is spiritual dishonesty?  Could it be when I refuse to tell the Lord what I honestly think or feel?  Might it involve minimizing pain before others to project hollow strength?  If the fear of what people can think of me, if the truth is told, exceeds the actuality of my condition, I’ve robbed them and myself of what it means to be genuine. In perpetuating falsehood, no one is bettered, nor can healing occur. I wonder if the means to honesty is too much pain—something Job can help us grasp.

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1 Comment

3/20/2024 1 Comment

Pretending

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Alice* presented her plan for her organization to succeed if certain political events went differently than expected.  Sadly, her presentation failed because she neglected to vet it with her peers, and her message needed to be clearer. It caused subordinates to question how in touch their senior leaders were with them.
           
​One of the junior supervisors, Becky, wept as she shared her frustration with senior leadership’s inability to appreciate their needs. Her vulnerability encouraged many in the room to speak up with similar thoughts, and the atmosphere in the room became tense and somewhat awkward. Feeling overwhelmed, Becky left the meeting. 

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7/16/2023 1 Comment

Phronesis

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​Adriano made a mistake. The Uruguayan was given $500 in pesos from his uncle to help pay for his tuition. Instead of paying the University of Montevideo, he loaned it to a friend who claimed his mother was sick and unable to pay her hospital bills.  Later, Adriano found out he had lied to him and used the money to gamble. When the school bill was due, the friend couldn’t pay him back, so he had to explain to his uncle why he dropped a class.  ​​

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3/6/2022 0 Comments

Busted

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Ralph wanted to go to the movies with his friends but attending cinemas was not allowed in his church.  So, he concocted a story and asked his mother if she would give him a ride to his friend Harold's house the next day to attend his birthday party. She mentioned they would need to get Harold a birthday gift, but Ralph said he didn’t want any presents. His mother must have known that was strange.  The next night it was pouring rain and Ralph’s mom suggested as they pulled up to a dark house that Harold's party must have been cancelled.  Ralph assured her they were in the back part of the house and ran through the rain to the front door and knocked.  When his buddy opened the door and let him in, Ralph’s mother drove off.  But the night’s adventures were just beginning. ​

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12/22/2021 3 Comments

Four Things God Hates

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​St. Augustine wrote in Augustine Confessions: 
"Thus they hate the truth for the sake of that other thing which they love because they take it for truth. They love truth when it enlightens them, they hate truth when it accuses them. Because they do not wish to be deceived and do wish to deceive, they love truth when it reveals itself, and hate it when it reveals them."
We like genuineness when it suits or helps us, but not so much when it exposes us or shows our wrong motives or conduct. Perhaps that is why there is a Jewish parable that says, “Truth is heavy, so few men carry it.”


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3 Comments

10/26/2020 1 Comment

Don't Be Exploited

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Alicia listened with rapt attention as Brother Berrie* encouraged his listeners to send as large a gift as possible to his ministry.  She was amazed at the number of people healed by Berrie’s touch and their stirring testimonies.  He was a magnificent speaker and she was certain he carried the blessing of heaven. Berrie told his listeners that by giving to him they would ensure themselves health—no sickness would overcome them. He said that God personally told him that the larger the gift his donors sent him guaranteed them a higher rewarded position in the afterlife because of the impact of his ministry.  Though she was barely managing to keep her home together as a single mom, Alicia eagerly went online and gave $150 hard-earned dollars.

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7/17/2019 2 Comments

These Aren't My Pants!

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I heard a story on the radio recently of a policeman who was searching a man. As he went through his pockets he discovered several bags full of illegal drugs. Before he could say anything, the man gave him an exasperated look and said, “These aren’t my pants!” ​


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1/17/2017 0 Comments

Say You're My Sister

Meditation
Genesis 12:10-13—There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine in the land was severe. When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’  They will kill me but let you live.  Please say you’re my sister so it will go well for me because of you, and my life will be spared on your account.”
 
The story of Abraham would make a great movie.  Knowing how attractive his wife was and what the Egyptians were like, he was correct in being concerned.  Pharaoh’s 

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7/30/2015 0 Comments

Truth About Dishonesty

Dan Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational, wrote a New York Times Bestseller entitled The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty.  I listened to Dan speak at a conference for senior leaders at West Point, NY and was fascinated by what he shared.  He made a powerful case for how common cheating and lying is in our society and throughout the world.  

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1/4/2013 0 Comments

I Don't Know

​In the Philippines it is culturally considered embarrassing to be asked a question and to not know the answer.  So, if I am out driving and I ask a bystander for directions, I may get directions even if the person has no clue what the correct way is.  Therefore, one must always beware of heeding advice and acting on it without getting a second or third opinion.  Filipinos do not like to say “I don’t know.”  

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2/18/2012

Excited

​Have you ever made an exciting discovery?  You go and share your new found information with those who should be interested and their response is unenthusiastic.   Instead of them celebrating with you or wanting to learn more, you are met with disinterested head nodding.  The test of whether someone really cares about what you care about is their genuine willingness to get involved.

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8/25/2008 0 Comments

Ethics

A home improvement con artist swindled a 100 year-old blind woman. He rang the woman's bell, unsolicited, to offer to do any repair work needed. The woman told him that for years she had struggled with a door that was difficult to open because it rubbed against the rug. To fix the problem, she agreed to pay the man $8,000, to jack up her house.[1]
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6/7/2008 0 Comments

Connection

​If the weather is good, I love driving Bell Road!  This five-mile curvy route affords a clear view of Mount Hood, the town of Newberg, forestland and beautiful farm country. But along Bell are two spots where I lose cell phone reception.  If I’m engaged in conversation with someone, I have to keep driving until I can regain the signal before redialing.   

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3/17/2006 0 Comments

Duplicity

​Recently I needed to set up DSL over a phone line for a ministry I serve.  When I called the phone company, (which will go unnamed), to set up the service, the line was answered by a voice-automated machine. The options I was presented did not help me so I repeatedly stated that I wanted to speak with an operator. Finally, the emotionless computer relented and patched me to a real voice.  I set up the service thinking I would receive the special discount the company offered.  But the price quoted to me was different and much higher.  The salesperson explained that we would receive a substantial rebate, but in fact, we would over time lose much money because the contractual cost was too high. 

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11/5/2004

Fog

​“There is no sun,” the people cried. “Don’t talk to us about sun. Every day it is the same.   We can see only so far in front, so far above and that’s the way it is.   Life is a mist, soak it up.  What we see is far more important than what we don’t see.  What we believe is beyond us is of no consequence to what we experience. We do what we want to do and we want to be left alone.  When we die we die and so it is better to live for whatever makes us happy.

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5/27/2004 0 Comments

Distortions

​David Sarasohn, a local writer, slammed President Bush for falsely portraying events in Iraq, in an editorial in The Oregonian.  He mocked the President for ignoring the reality of life in Iraq as the media portrays it.  Shame on the Commander-in-Chief for believing the direct eyewitness account of soldiers and statesmen instead of the six o’clock news! Because I am privy to inside information to a wide array of events in that land, I am increasingly dismayed by the biased and distorted view David and most of the media portray.  It is bad journalism to daily report the number of casualties and castigate the Bush administration for every misstep while selectively ignoring every positive development that occurs in the rebuilding of Iraq’s broken infrastructure.  If loss of life is truly the media’s concern, why don’t they tally and print the number of Americans killed each day in traffic accidents in the United States? If morality is so important as to fester for weeks over prisoner abuses, why is there no outrage over drunk drivers or the daily despotic practices of lawless terrorists?    Could it be that deeper principles are at work?  I’m convinced the media is not about reporting information it is about selling philosophy—truly bad news for everyone.  

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