Author Archives: salooper57

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About salooper57

Husband, father, pastor, follower. I am a disciple of Jesus, learning how to do life from him. I read, write, walk, play a little guitar, enjoy my family.

What Are We Doing When We Worship?

Posted on December 5, 2024 by salooper57

Some people think of church as if it were a spiritual or emotional filling station. I’m running low, so I’d better go to church, or I won’t make it through the week. But that makes it all about me, which makes worship impossible. Continue reading →

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Grateful People Know These Two Things About God

Posted on November 30, 2024 by salooper57

You may think: “I already know that. God is strong. God is loving. Everybody knows that.” But our worry and our ingratitude testify that it has not gone from doctrine to practice, from head to heart. Continue reading →

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Created to Worship

Posted on November 28, 2024 by salooper57

The Fall of Adam shattered us. It broke our relationship with God and with each other. It damaged our ability to think. Our mind and will and emotions are all out of order. Humanity suffers a kind of spiritual PTSD to this day. If you think there might be something wrong with you, you are not mistaken. You are suffering from “The Fall.” Continue reading →

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A Poster Child for the Jesus-Way of Life

Posted on November 23, 2024 by salooper57

Everything Christians do and say reflects on Jesus and on his Father. We are all influencers. The Christian is a poster child for Jesus’s way of life. Continue reading →

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He Is Able (Ephesians 3:20-21)

Posted on November 22, 2024 by salooper57

You want God to get you out of a tough spot. He’s planning on getting you into heaven. You want to avoid embarrassment. God is planning on bringing glory down on your head. You want your kid to be okay. He wants your kid to be amazing. Continue reading →

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Sealed with a Quark: Creation and Its Mysteries

Posted on November 16, 2024 by salooper57

If the neutron mass were 0.998 of its actual value, there would be no atoms at all. That ratio is fine tuned to an unthinkably small fraction. It is the difference between the “weight” of one quark and another. Continue reading →

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God Wants to Empower You (Ephesians 3:14-17)

Posted on November 14, 2024 by salooper57

I’ve met parents who do not empower their children, even when they are twenty or thirty years old. I could almost believe they preferred their children to remain weak so they could control them. God is not that kind of parent. He wants his children to become strong. Continue reading →

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Jesus, Don’t You Care?

Posted on November 9, 2024 by salooper57

Again, those telltale words: “Don’t you care?” There is something in us that is not quite sure that he does. Continue reading →

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The Christian’s Duty to Pray for the Next President

Posted on November 2, 2024 by salooper57

I see no contradiction in both praying for our rulers and yet also praying against them. – Christopher J. H. Wright Continue reading →

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Know the Unknowable (Ephesians 3:17-19)

Posted on October 31, 2024 by salooper57

We tend to think there are smart people who comprehend things and there are strong people who get things done. The smart people wore glasses, walked around with their noses in books, and got beat up a lot when they were kids. And of course, it was the strong kids who beat them up Continue reading →

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