Urgency for Others
e2: effective elders e2: effective elders

Urgency for Others

“It’s time.”

My wife, Melinda, had been trying to get me out of bed for a good ½ hour, maybe 40 minutes. I struggle with early mornings, and it was “oh-five-hundred” – 5am. To be specific, I think it was 5:07 when my feet hit the floor.

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Soul Care - Urgency

When I was a youngster, I could not wait until the big Sears catalog was delivered. It was around 500 color pages that I would pour over. … When there is something that we want, we go after it with every ounce of our being. But are we seeking the right things? I was in college when I was shown the plan of salvation and…

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Our Bodies and our Ministries

About a year ago, my husband, Jim and I had a conversation about the significance of 2022 in our lives. This year we will celebrate 50 years of marriage. Of course, that led to …

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A Good Word - Urgency

e2 is bringing you a good word throughout all of 2022, hoping to build up and encourage you. Each month emphasizes a particular word, and throughout August, our focus is on urgency. … Across America, urgent care clinics dot the land. Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, urgent care clinics are filled with people …

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Resting Together

My husband, Scott, and I have two wonderful teenage boys. Though they bring us joy and love, they can also be a source of frustration and stress. They both just turned 18 and graduated high school. So…

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Acute “Not-Rested” Sickness

My heart was pounding, and my breathing was extremely labored as the blood was racing through my veins to distribute the much-needed oxygen throughout my body, especially to the oxygen-starved muscles in my legs. I wasn’t in mountain shape…

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Soul Care - Rest

The word “rest” is used in so many different ways. We go to a RESTaurant to have a meal; we use a REST area when traveling; we go to the RESTroom when necessary … But what does it really mean?

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Willing to Rest

In our culture, we have a problem with REST. I don’t think it’s farfetched to say that our lives are more hurried and worn out than ever before. Because of the speed at which we live our lives, we find ourselves emotionally drained, mentally…

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Rest: Discovering a Good Word

In my late thirties I was body-slammed by the very real consequences of my workaholic inclination. It was a long time coming. It began back in junior high school. …

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Rest to be our Best

Over the years I have found that if I don’t have the proper amount of God given rest, I cannot be at my best. I become cranky, irritable, short-fused and can’t focus. We, as a society, overwork and …

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e2: effective elders e2: effective elders

Rest

Jesus invites us: “Come with me by yourself to a quiet place and get some rest.” (portion of Mark 6:31 NIV) Have you responded to Jesus' invitation? He is waiting for you. Just a couple weeks ago …

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Real Rest

Where do you feel most “at rest” ... that place where your heart rate slows, you breathe deeply, and every anxious thought just melts away? …

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A Good Word - Rest

In my younger years, I remember hearing the initials RSVP and later came to understand that they were an important part of an invitation. Is etiquette a fast-fading part of our culture? Few people respond with an RSVP anymore when invited to a significant event. For whatever reason, little thought is given to formally respond with a ‘yes’ or a ‘thank you, but no’ to an invitation.

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Rest and Renewal

How often have you heard these words spoken by a friend, “I’m so tired,” or “I don’t have enough time to rest”? How often have you thought or spoken those very words about your own life? A more important question is, “How often do I make time to truly rest?”

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Patience & Self-Control

It has always annoyed me when people use the phrase, “The patience of Job.” To me, Job persevered! Patience means the ability to wait nicely, and Job’s situation was far from nice. …Speaking candidly, I am not a patient person.

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Patience: God was 1st

Last summer my kids and I finished a project that we had been working on for a very long time! Approximately five years ago, I learned that my grandpa’s 1951 John Deere MT tractor was still in the family. … for 30 years it sat unused and exposed to the elements. When I learned of it from my Uncle Don, I immediately asked him if I could restore it. What a wonderful opportunity…

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Developing and Cultivating Patience

Brothers and sisters … warn … encourage … take tender care … Be patient with everyone. ~Paul

Whether waiting in stalled traffic, a long checkout line…

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Soul Care - Patience

My office moved to a new location the other day – packing up one space and then unpacking, trying to get the phones and copy machine …

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Patience: Hurry Up and Wait

I am gifted with impatience. Patience is not my natural state. As a kid playing baseball, I never could wait for the right pitch. On every team I possessed both the homerun record and the strikeout record simultaneously! As a young man in Army basic training, from day one, we lived the military maxim: “Hurry up and wait!” I vividly remember Drill Sergeant Greathouse …

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Developing the Virtue of Patience

The word patience is defined as "The capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset." It is waiting with grace. Would you characterize yourself as a patient person? Or are you like me – it depends on the situation? Sitting in traffic…

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