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All the Way Home

  I woke up last night with a song on my mind. I don’t know why it was on my mind, but it was. The strange thing is that it was a song that I have not heard in about 40 years. Our church youth ensemble used to sing it when I was in high school. We traveled each summer and did concerts at churches in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. Last night, I woke up with one of those songs stuck in my head. The song is “All the Way Home.” The version that we did was sung by a group called Truth. My rebellion I called freedom Took my birthright in its hand And I woke up in the pigpen Of a distant, alien land. On the road back home to Father I’ll not stop along the way I was born to higher purpose I’ll not waste another day Won’t be camping on the border Just in sight of what I’ve known It is all the way or nothing Yes, it’s all the way back home. The song is obviously about the prodigal son from Luke 15. In addition to the song being stuck in my mind, I also felt compe...
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He Came!

  He came. He really came. The prophets said it would happen. It finally did. The long-awaited Messiah came into the world. He came as a baby born to a young Jewish virgin. He came to a little town called Bethlehem. Angels announced it. Shepherds were amazed by it. Mary marveled at it. Tiny fingers and toes. Cries from a manger. The Word became flesh and lived among us. God became man without ceasing to be God. Why? “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). He came to die on the cross for sinners. He came to take the place of sinners. He came to redeem. He came to seek and to save. He came to reclaim. He came to save sinners. That is what we celebrate this week. That is what Christmas is really all about. It is about God sending His Son into the world to save sinners. “ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). He was sent. And He came! Merry Chri...
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The Journey

  It was the longest, most difficult journey of my life. It was my second mission trip to Haiti. I was with a team of about 10 other people. We traveled from near Port au Prince to the Mole St. Nicholas area in the back of a large truck. There was a wooden bench on each side. The bed of the truck was surrounded by a large metal frame. Look up a Haitian tap tap and you will get the idea. We were told that the trip would take about 6 hours. We rode for 17 hours in the back of that truck. The roads were terrible. There was a metal bar located just above my beltline that hit my back hundreds of times on the journey. As the day wore on, the hot Haiti sun began to heat up that metal cage. It was almost unbearable. And that was before we made it to the desert. There was sand everywhere for hours. As we met other vehicles, the dust coated us. It got on and in everything. The roads were so rough that the metal cage began to fall apart. Every time we stopped, we were told it would take 4 m...
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