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Blessed Assurance – Change agents

The world is always changing. Each day dawns a new 24-hour period which is different than all the days before, and different from all the days afterward. Weather changes, we age, our health changes (usually in small but measurable ways), our skin sloughs off (at least every 28 days), our hair turns grey and/or thins, our “to-do” list changes with things accomplished crossed off and new things added, the amount of daylight changes and hopefully our knowledge base changes through us getting a bit smarter about life. It’s why I don’t understand someone who looks at me with all seriousness and says, “Nothing ever changes!” or “She is never going to change!” The truth of the matter, as I have detailed above, is that everything changes all the time. Even people change – sometimes not quickly enough or in the way that we might prefer, but people do change. In fact, it is the basis for the belief in a God who can help us to change by loving us into something new and better. Think of how despondent we would feel if we really lived a life in a world that never changed. I can’t imagine anything more awful than that – in fact, I believe that would be one of my definitions of hell.

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Eyebrows, artificial intelligence, and Frank Zappa

When most people hear “School of Rock,” they think of the 2003 Jack Black movie where he hijacks a classroom of private elementary school students, steers them away from classical music toward the raw power of rock ‘n’ roll, and enters the group into a local Battle of the Bands. It’s a cute flick that still holds up today, but I was lucky to be a part of a somewhat similar experience in my youth.

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Roadside History – Saint John’s Church Waldrop

St. John’s Church Waldrop overlooks the Marquis Road. It is a small classical revival building from 1845 that was built by James R. Magruder and his carpenter Malcolm Crawford. The two men are also credited with building West End, a nearby plantation house in the Green Springs National Historic Landmark District. St. John’s today serves an active congregation dedicated to its place of worship and the preservation of its place in history.

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Blessed Assurance – Money lessons

Think back to when you were first taught about money…what do you remember? For me it was learning how to save money. I would get money as birthday gifts, tooth fairy leavings, an allowance, odd jobs for people. Mom and dad would ask that we give 10% to the church and then put the rest in the bank in a savings account. I can remember pulling up to the bank with the old pneumatic tube system and putting my money and my passbook into the tube and watching it whisk away like magic. My passbook would return with not only the new deposit added, but the new total in my savings account! It was a feeling of pride to know that I had money in the bank that I could use for things that I wanted (i.e., a bike, a puppy, a new baseball glove, etc).

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