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The Gift Of Family

This is part of the series The Gifts Of The Holidays: Celebrating Thanksgiving And Christmas. Read more from the series!

I am very family centered.

I get teary when I watch a family movie with my wife and kids. I choke when I see a strong family loving one another.

And I love spending time with family.

The Gifts Of Thanksgiving

Family is important. More so now than it has been in my life in the past. I’ve been brutally reminded of the mortality of this life with the loss of my brother and my father.

Now, it’s only my mother, a brother and myself. Seems sad…

Granted, I have several families through the years that have “adopted” us. We have grown very close, and will always be so.

But it’s not the same.

One of the things that scares me about 21st century American culture is the complete lack of priority of the family. The breakdown of the family is a dangerous path that will lead us to where we do not want to go.

America, and the world, needs to retrace our steps and re-realize the importance of family.

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Memorize The Sermon On The Mount – Week 41

“Watch out for false prophets.”

That’s how Jesus starts out this week’s passage.

Check it out: Matthew 7:15-17.

Matthew 7:15-17

Jesus goes on to talk about good fruit versus bad fruit, and how we can know people by their fruit. But this fruit discussion follows immediately after the false prophets statement.

I’ve heard people refer to the fruit in a lot of different circumstances. Most of them fit, sort of. At least they make logical sense. But very rarely do I ever hear this discussion with it referring to false teachers.

I wonder if we take this too far out of context sometimes.

But, now that I’ve noticed this distinction, I bet I don’t misuse Jesus’ idea here any longer.

And I bet I pay closer attention to the fruit I display, too.

What passages of Scripture have you heard taken out of context, however well-intentioned it might have been? Let me know in the comments.

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The Gift Of God’s Provision

This is part of the series The Gifts Of The Holidays: Celebrating Thanksgiving And Christmas. Read more from the series!

I will admit it: I’m sometimes a product of our society.

As American’s we have been blessed. Sure, I’m not wealthy by American standards. But compared to the rest of the world, I’m rich beyond imagination.

And I take that for granted.

The Gifts Of Thanksgiving

What I often don’t remember is that everything I have has been granted to me by God.

He provides.

I could list out all the needs he provides for my family and me: food, clothing, shelter, love…

But what I’m poignantly reminded of frequently are all the little things God provides for me.

The wants. Above and beyond the needs.

One of God’s names in the Old Testament is Jehovah Jireh. It means “The Lord will provide.”

How true! Even in the little things.

Most of us know the story of Abraham going to Mount Moriah to sacrifice his only son Isaac. Isaac must have been pretty confused.

He asked, “The wood and fire are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

Abraham trusted that God would provide, even though it didn’t seem like he would. He replied, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”

Remember what happened? Abraham was willing to obey God no matter what. Isaac was on the altar, Abraham had the knife in the air, and the angel of the Lord stopped him.

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Power Poses

I stumbled across this video earlier today.  It has some interesting information.  I’m not certain just how much I agree with it, but I’m willing to put it to the test. 

After watching this video, what are your impressions?  You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

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Two Different Photography Shoots

I recently had some personal photos taken, planning to use several of them for my blog. They turned out so well, I can’t seem to pick the ones I like the best. I think I’ve narrowed it down to 20 or so…

All of these were taken by Jenni Lee Photography. I highly recommend her.

The first five were shot in June 2011. We jumped a fence into a hayfield near my sister’s home, hoping to us that as an excuse if we got in trouble: “My sister lives right there…” Turns out it was her field.

The remaining shots were taken in October 2001, in downtown Mountain View, MO. It’s a nice little town, with several back alleys and great locations for portraits.

Which shot (or shots) do you like the best? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Jeff Randleman

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The Gift Of Gratefulness

This is part of the series The Gifts Of The Holidays: Celebrating Thanksgiving And Christmas. Read more from the series!

Sometimes the state of America saddens me. It seems as if we’ve lost our way.

We love to celebrate, but one of the most important holidays seems to be largely overlooked. Stores move from Halloween to Christmas. Families use the day to gorge themselves and watch football.

And the whole idea behind Thanksgiving is ignored.

The Gifts Of Thanksgiving

We’ve forgotten how to be grateful. Instead, we view life as if we deserved everything we have; all the gifts, blessings, and good things.

We feel entitled.

We shouldn’t.

We should live with an attitude of thankfulness.

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Blog Series: The Gifts Of The Holidays

The holidays are a special time for my family. Both Thanksgiving and Christmas have come to bear special meaning for us. We have several traditions in place surrounding both days that help us to avoid the all commercialization, and instead to focus on qualities that demonstrate the true meaning of them both.

This series, The Gifts of the Holidays, is a series of posts that I will write this year, describing those characteristics, as well as some of our family traditions, both old and new, that we enjoy.

This page will serve as a landing page for each of the posts in this series. From here, you will be able to navigate to each post.

The Gifts Of Thanksgiving

The Gifts Of Thanksgiving