Conversations with Small Creatures

One day on the walk home from school my son's 7-year-old buddy said, "Miss Mary -- WHY do people call animals 'creatures'? I just think that's so rude. I think it's mean to animals to call them creatures." I wasn't quite sure where this thought had come from. Up until that point the boys had been chatting about antics on the playground and a fort they were building in the bushes behind our condo. But he was intense with his delivery and I had a sense that somehow this topic mattered.

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Suffering for Jesus

Uncivil war has been declared on Christians who, in loving humility, have boldly addressed issues of sin in order to announce the cleansing power of the Gospel. As public vitriol heats up, “The Final Solution” for some could well be to treat Christians as insects that must be squashed. Certainly, believers must defend their civic and legal rights and seek the well-being of the public square. But we go forward in the strength of this divine promise, that in suffering for Jesus there is blessing, and beyond the cross there is unimaginable glory. In the meantime, we beg God’s mercy on his church and our culture and seek to love our neighbors and promote their ultimate good.

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