Count Your Blessings

Count your blessings:
one, I have new life
and the richness of those who love me.
Two, there is work for my hands to do,
and a community to empty myself into.
Three, a son with cheeks like peach-skin
slapped by a northern wind.
Four, food in abundance.
Five, deliverance from my own bondage.
And the doe and her fawns walking through
Hutcheson's valley: six.
My daughter sitting on my wife's lap -
looking fresh into my eyes,
hers a deep, cobalt blue: seven.
Too many. I have more than enough.

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Acts 2:42-47 - Questions for Reflection & Study

This past Sunday, we took a look at Luke's first summary passage in the story of Acts: chapter 2, verses 42-47. Here, Luke is presenting a billboard of what the Church looks like at its best. He is trying to convince Theophilus that Christianity is worth his attention. The early Church captures what all of us are looking for, whether we know it or not. This is a close community that truly cares for one another, where everyone truly is seen as a brother and sister, and where no one person is considered more or less important as the other. Needs are being met. There is joy in their fellowship. Take a moment to think about a time in your life when you experienced the joy and blessing of a deep, loving community? Where was it, and what made this community so different? What role did you play in this community? Luke tells us the disciples "devoted themselves" to four essential practices. The Greek word for "devoted" ...

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Life In Greencastle

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