Tag: religion
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A walk by the Wallkill
The Wallkill flows north and it flows slowly and crooked but this time of year it does not seem to be flowing at all. This river is old, they say many mastodon bones have been uncovered along its banks. What that means for sure is this river has been here longer than we can officially…
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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Merry Christmas to all from Pilgrims Pondering Ministry. Thank you so much for pondering with me this year. After much analysis, only this remains, Pray constantly. Fully receive circumstances with gratitude. Be a good steward. Fear God and keep his commands. Spread the good news, for it is good and the only way! For this…
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Emmanuel: God With Us
Luke 2:8-14—Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid,…
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Isaac Jogues: The Missionary Who Walked Back Into the Fire
The Thirty Years’ War was raging in Europe, fueling a near–cold-war divide between Protestant and Catholic powers. France, under Catholic monarchs like Louis XIII, was aggressively Counter-Reformationist, using the Jesuits as intellectual and spiritual shock troops to reclaim ground lost to Protestantism. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, the New World was a chaotic frontier. French, English,…
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70,000 fathom ladder
The 70,000 fathom ladder – A man spent years climbing a huge ladder. People cheered him on, told him it led somewhere important. So he kept going step after step, never looking down. When he finally reached the top, he found nothing there. No platform. No door. No destination. Just empty air. Then he looked…
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He Chooses Mercy, We Witness Mystery
Sovereignty means that God possesses absolute power and authority to do whatever He wills. Providence is the exercise of that sovereignty with perfect wisdom, love, and purpose. God does not simply control everything; He orders everything toward His perfect will. Providence is His sovereignty in action. Always purposeful, redemptive, and unfailing. Job declared, “I know…
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Dust to Dunamis
In God’s economy, there are no coincidences. The Ascension took place on the Mount of Olives, the very ground where Christ will one day set His feet again, as Zechariah 14:4 promises. Today, the Dome of the Ascension sits as a marker. The disciples never set out to make it a shrine or tourist site,…
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Present with Christ: In the arms of eternity
When Job went through loss, he asked God for an explanation. But God never gave him an answer. Instead, God gave Job a revelation of Himself. And that was enough. Before we try to solve everything with logic or search endlessly for explanations, the best place to begin is simply getting to know God’s character…
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The whole duty of man
It doesn’t take a lifetime of study, a degree, or a thousand books. Sometimes, just one moment, one phrase, one verse, one realization is enough to change everything. Paul was not uneducated or uninformed. In fact, he was the opposite. He was a scholar, a Pharisee, trained under Gamaliel (Acts 22:3), zealous for the Law,…
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A walk in the woods (shaupeneak ridge)
At the foot of Shaupeneak Ridge, before the climb begins, there is a field that rolls out like a great green sigh. Not flat, not orderly, but rumpled with small hills and dips as if the earth once shifted. Here where the ticks dance in the tall grass, before the trees gather to form the…
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