Greeting Card Headaches

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Finding the right greeting card can be so frustrating.  

 Like, where is the "I'm sorry you got arrested and will probably spend the rest of your life in prison ... but even though this terribly affected our family and friends forever, I love you anyway and hope you have as merry of a Christmas as you can, under these circumstances" kind of card?

 Oh, the headaches of trying to find the perfect card!
(And, no, I'm not joking.  I mean, yes I am, to a degree.  But in a "if I don't laugh about it, then I'll cry" kind of way.)

Most Popular Posts of the Week:

#3: My Panic Attack, June 2016 (repost)

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[Reposted from June 2016.  Sometimes, just when you think, hope, and pray that things are finally going to start looking up for you, everything gets worse.  So much worse.  As seen in the last numbered post , I started off 2016 with the word "hope," thinking that maybe it meant the year would be better than the previous ones.  And then ... I had the worst summer of my life.  A real life-changer, heart-changer.  I guess maybe "hope," for me, was the kind in Romans 5:3-5 .  It's starts with suffering, which brings perseverance, which creates character, which develops hope.  Hope in what exactly?  I'm not sure.  Maybe just hope that God is always with you, no matter what.  Hope that He will work all the good into bad.  Hope that you'll make it through one more day .  And so here it is - my panic attack.  The terrible summer that came after starting off my year with "hope."  If you've ever had a panic attack, maybe...
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Sermons by Tony Evans (repost)

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Tony Evans is my all-time favorite pastor.  He always gives messages that convict, challenge, and comfort.  Find some great sermons on  his YouTube channel and be encouraged.   There are so many great ones to choose from.   You can't go wrong with any video of his.  I found him to be the most biblically-accurate preacher (especially as I researched Calvinism and found out how wrong it is), who is also great at helping us practically apply God's truths to life. [Update: I removed the list of sermons I originally had here because most links were broken.]
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List of Calvinist Preachers, Authors, Theologians, Websites, etc.

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I  found a lot more names to add to my list of known Calvinists (found in my various  "How to Tell if a Church, Pastor, or Website is Calvinist"  posts).  But instead of adding this huge list to all those posts, I am going to put it here, and I'll just provide a link on those posts to this one.  [FYI: I added a note at the bottom of this post on May 5, 2021.] So here it is, a "master list" of known Calvinists to help you be careful and discerning about who you listen to and where you get your theology from.  There are plenty more Calvinists out there, but these are just the names that I ran across the most.   These are either definite, self-professed Calvinists or "most likely Calvinist," in my estimation.  (I haven't heard of most of them, but it's good to know their theology before I do.)   After finding these names in various places online, I looked up each person to see if they are Calvinist.  If they did not self-identify ...
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Anti-Calvinism Links

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This is the last half of the post "What's The Best Way To Make People Agree With Your Calvinist Views."   But I put it here in its own post so that it's easier to find. These are some links to posts which are against Calvinism, the belief that the Bible teaches God has predetermined from the beginning of time who goes to heaven and who goes to hell.  It's no secret from my writing that I strongly disagree with this view.  I believe the Bible clearly teaches that God offers us all salvation, that Jesus's death paid for everyone's sins, and that we have to decide if we will accept Him or reject Him.  And here is some of what others have to say about Calvinism: (FYI, I haven't read everything in all of these yet and I don't necessarily agree with every point they make, but I needed to link to them before I lost them online.  And for the record, I came to my belief about what the Bible says by reading the Bible, not extra-biblical books or articles...
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My "When Anxiety Strikes" Playlist

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In the post "Getting through the 'broken' times," I said that I had made a CD to listen to when anxiety hits.  It has some of my favorite Christian songs on it.   Here are as many of the songs as I could find online, plus some extra.  Listen to some of them when anxiety threatens you.  It really does help to hear godly truths spoken out loud (and to speak them out loud yourself).  And personally, I think godly music helps repel evil, giving you some extra spiritual protection when you are most vulnerable.  They don't like to hear God being praised and Truth being sung! (FYI: Videos are constantly being removed from online.  So if the video is no longer available, type in the name and artist and see if you can find it.  I simply can't keep up with replacing links.) From The City Harmonic: Love, Heal Me  - The song that inspired the title of one of my blogs, Love, Heal Me - my heart's cry for the past year. Fell Apart  - One...
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Calvinism: Abusing God's Sovereignty to Defend Its Heresy

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I believe that many - if not most - Calvinists are Calvinists simply because they think it means believing that God is sovereign.  They say "Well, I believe God is sovereign, so I guess I'm a Calvinist then."  (I think this is how many people get trapped in Calvinism.) And so they think that if you aren't a Calvinist or if you are an anti-Calvinist (as I am!), then you do not believe that God is sovereign, that you are rejecting God's authority and control, that you are elevating yourself above God. But this is not necessarily true.  Many of us anti-Calvinists are not anti-God's-sovereignty; we are simply against the Calvinist's misunderstanding of sovereignty. You see, Calvinism defines sovereignty as God must cause and control everything that happens, that nothing can happen that He doesn't actively cause.  And so therefore, there can be no free-will.  People cannot have the ability to make decisions because if there is one decision that God does...
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#1 Wrestling With God, 2015 (repost)

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[ I wrote this post in August of 2015.  But I am reposting it because I need to read it again.  I guess I need to read it again because life sometimes feels like one big "wrestling with God" match.  Wrestling with faith.  With life.   As I look back on these past several years, I am kinda amazed at how things turn out.  Or ... how they don't, I should say.  How real and raw and messy life can be sometimes.  These next numbered posts are taken from over these last few years, showing the progression of life, of the unexpected, of the "wrestling with God, faith, and life" moments.  This one goes up to August 2015, how beaten up I've felt over the years up till then.  And then comes the post about the hope I had that 2016 would be better.  And then comes 2016 - the worst summer of my life.  A life-changer for me.  And then, well, I'm not sure yet what I am putting after that.  But I'm reposting these because it's fasci...
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More Anti-Calvinism Memes #8

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I think these are the last of the Anti-Calvinism memes for now.  When I get creative, I'll make more. Hmm!?! So you're a Calvinist? That would be great ... That face you make ... So let me get this straight ... See, nobody cares! Still waiting ... Calvinism:  One does not simply ... Look at this Calvinist world ... When A Calvinist Hears ... Tell me again ... The bookcase I told you ... WRONG! Santa Claus A "Secret" Will Hard To Swallow Pills How Calvinism Was Created and Two Calvinists Talking...   (Yeah, yeah ... I know ... they're childish and mean.  But I couldn't help it.  They basically wrote themselves.  If it makes you happy, you can choose to substitute "Free-Will" in there for Calvinism.  But I like these the way they are.  Makes me giggle.) Then why fight it ... . When it turns ugly
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It is a dreadful thing ...

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"Then [Jesus] said to them: 'Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  There will be great earthquakes, famines, and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven."   Luke 21:10-11 Any of this sound familiar, kinda like newspaper headlines? I'm not sure how much time we have left, but I wouldn't wait too long. "Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near."  Isaiah 55:6 "But wait," you say, "isn't God all soft and squishy, all about making us happy and giving us what we want?" “I gave you empty stomachs in every city and lack of bread in every town, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord...  "I also withheld rain from you when the harvest was still three months away... People staggered from town to town for water but did not get enough to drink, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord...  "Many times I struck your gardens a...
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