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.

The Process of Spiritual Formation: Implementation

Posted on February 1, 2025 by salooper57

An impala can jump as far as thirty feet and clear a height of ten feet. But an impala will stop in front of a four-foot stone fence because it cannot see where its feet will land. The lion will have it for dinner… Continue reading →

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Proof of Faith (I Peter 1:6-9)

Posted on January 28, 2025 by salooper57

God loves to praise his children. He will bring up things we have long forgotten. “Oh, I loved it that day when you stopped on the interstate to help that old couple from Missouri.” “I was so proud of you when you gave your little sister those beads that you wanted for yourself.” “But Lord, I was only 5 years old.” And he will say, “Yes! Yes! Wasn’t it wonderful?” Continue reading →

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Stop Worrying About What Will Happen: Start Thinking About What You Will Do

Posted on January 25, 2025 by salooper57

That’s just the opposite of the way most people live. They make themselves responsible for outcomes, which leaves them susceptible to constant worry. They don’t make themselves responsible for actions, which leaves them ineffective and blaming others for failure. Continue reading →

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Living Backwards: 1 Peter and the Believer’s Hope

Posted on January 23, 2025 by salooper57

Do you see what was happening? The future was altering my present. Rather than living out of past hurts and losses, I was choosing to live into my future. You could say I was living backwards. That’s a skill that every believer needs to master. Continue reading →

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Decisions, Decisions (The Role of Choice in Spiritual Formation)

Posted on January 18, 2025 by salooper57

There is no spiritual growth apart from choice. That’s the way God designed it. He has endowed us with astonishing dignity: our decisions mean something; they make a real difference. As does our failure to decide. Continue reading →

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The Big Picture (John 1:1-14)

Posted on January 14, 2025 by salooper57

When he speaks, suns blaze and planets twirl, and oceans swarm with creatures; dinosaurs romp, birds sing, and dogs howl at the moon. When he speaks, people think and laugh and love. My word, your word, is a poor, thin, anemic thing. His Word is robust and teems with life. Continue reading →

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The Path to Spiritual Growth: Insight, Decision, and Implementation

Posted on January 11, 2025 by salooper57

The thing about running from God is that he’s everywhere. When you think you’re running from him, you’re really running to him. Continue reading →

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Star Trek: The Voyage of the Magi Caravan

Posted on January 6, 2025 by salooper57

When God spoke about his Son to these magi from the east, he did it in a way that they could understand. He used the language of astral ascensions and declinations. God knows how to communicate; he speaks to people in their own language. He comes to us where we are, in ways we can understand. Continue reading →

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The World Is Too Much in Us

Posted on January 4, 2025 by salooper57

How can we hear God speak in “a still, small voice” when our ears are being assaulted by the washing machine, the baby’s cries, and the incessant dinging of text alerts? Continue reading →

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Hebrews 10:5-10 (Fourth Sunday in Advent)

Posted on January 3, 2025 by salooper57

But the Son of God did not undergo incarnation – bilaminar disc formation, cell mass differentiation, organogenesis, and nine month’s internment in a womb – to make people religious. Continue reading →

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