Blogging 101, Anyone?

Well... surprise surprise. Technology is not my strong point. Was there ever a question? This blog has been idle because I couldn't get anything to post. Karissa, who works with me, was able to sit down and get it going again in about five minutes! It is amazing how easily a brain raised beginning in a certain decade figures out these technological things. The long and short of it is this... AnnD was off the blog for several months. Now, I'm back! Keep watching. I'll be posting.

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God The Modern Father

These are hard days. It's tough for ministries. It's tough for churches. It's tough for parents. It's tough for men, and it's tough for women. It's tough to know who you can trust and who you can't. It's tough to weed out fact from a preponderance of fiction. In general, life is hard. Did you know the Bible promises that life will be hard? In a recent conversation with Ann about the overall decline of the church... why congregations take off and then systematically shrink and ultimately dissolve... I believe the Lord dropped a relevant truth into my heart. It's not anything I haven't said before, but it is in a different context. I'm seeing a trend in making converts without discipleship. And, in the cases where discipling does take place, I fear there is some error in the teaching which could, in very large part, be responsible for the decline of the American church. ...

No Matter What

Several years ago a friend shared with me that his route to work every day took him through a toll booth....and he tried to always choose a certain booth. This is because the gentleman manning that booth was an elderly man who always had something "bright and sunny" to say to him. Every morning my friend would hear "Have a good day, no matter what!" Now, there were days my friend drove up to that toll booth with zillions of questions in his head of how he was gonna make it through a challenging day that was always before him when he arrived at his workplace. But he just kept those words in his head...and heart..."Have a good day, no matter what". Now, that's a choice, isn't it? "No matter what"???? I don't know about you, but I honestly don't find that coming naturally to me...it's a struggle to find sunshine on those cloudy, dreary mornings...'cause it just doesn't show up in my eyesight. But, that's w...

Courteous Listening

The act of being courteous takes very little effort. I’m one of the worst to get involved in what is going on at that moment in my life, probably trying to figure it out, fix it, find a solution….you know, MOVE ON WITH IT. All the while, I frequently miss what’s happening right in front of my face. When we stop and think about it, a lot of us probably come across as disinterested, impatient with, and/or bored by what others are saying. In politeness we nod, maybe touch an arm as if to say, “I hear you.” I know a lot of the time we’re sincere, but more often than not, we’re probably thinking about the next thing on our own agenda forgetting what we’ve heard only five minutes later. If I’m thinking about this, the light bulb may be going off in your head, too. Maybe all of us can put forth a more concerted effort to be effective listeners and be as truly attentive as we try to make people believe we are.

Reality Check with Ann Downing...

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