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SERMON: Constrictive Criticism |
According to the old western ballad, "Home on the Range", the range was a place, "where never is heard a discouraging word, and the skies are not cloudy all day." Fanciful thought. Never hearing a discouraging word would be pleasant. But that really wasn't true in the old west and it's certainly not realistic in our lives either.
We can't expect our lives to be totally free of discouraging news. The doctor may tell us we have a certain illness - but we need to hear about it in order to seek proper treatment. The mechanic may give us a bad report about our car. That too, is unfortunately necessary so repairs can be made.
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EDITORIAL: Conservative and Liberal View-points Can Work Together
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We have begun to suspect that Reality is made up of multiple realities, operating simultaneously. You know, that Reality may not be one thing; that realities change-even Natural Law changes-and that with this change our appropriate concept of "objective perspective" changes, too. This is a very radical idea. It is not what most people believe. Most people perceive solidity around them. They see the universe as singular.
They seek isolated solutions to isolated problems, and they assume that once a problem has been solved it will not come back again. They believe that we can, by observing the unchanging, static universe, draw conclusions that can also be treated as static and unchanging.
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OPINION: Shopping at Thrift Stores…
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I like shopping at thrift stores. When I buy things second-hand, I accomplish three things at once: I get to be parsimonious, I avoid creating a demand for more “new stuff” in the world, and I generate a little cash for a charity at the same time.
Yesterday, I furnished my new apartment completely with purchases from the second-hand store. I took home furniture, plates, silverware, a microwave - everything I needed, and it all cost about $100.
Two kind store employees even helped me to load my large items into my car.
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GOOD NEWS: Here and There Eight
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A family's car ran out of gas on a midwestern road. And it was decided that the father would walk the long distance to the nearest service station while the mother remained with the children. It was a sweltering hot day. The man hauled a heavy steel gas can while trudging past a construction site where the workers were lounging eating their lunches.
Pricked by compassion, one of the workers threw his keys over, offering the man his truck. A couple hours later the grateful family returned with the vehicle.
And afterward, all the family members felt a special appreciation in their hearts whenever they passed by a construction site.
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FICTION: Stone House, Part One Of Three
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A good, stiff wind blew across the beach from the southwest, and made a foot-high fog of sand. Hardy Bancroft found the walking difficult. He was cold, too. He knew now that he should have worn a coat, but the day had been so warm for mid-September that Hardy had never dreamed the beach would be so cold that night.
He shivered violently as he struggled vainly to gain pace. The wind was cold, and the night was black, and the beach was lonely, but Hardy was happy.
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ADVICE: Dear Angel
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My son, a very stubborn person of sixteen, and I are having an argument over the way he is treating his teeth. He brushes them at least six times every day and obsesses over how white they aren't. He uses an electric toothbrush and it seems to me he brushes for many more minutes than the three minutes my electric toothbrush recommends. The truth is Roddy has gorgeous teeth which didn't need orthodontia like his brothers and they are as white as any teeth I have ever seen. He uses teeth whitening toothpaste one time and a prescription fluoride toothpaste his dentist prescribed after my son nagged him the next time.
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