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Zacharias and Elisabet: Luke 1:5-25
This passage gives the background on the childless couple, who are from the priestly lineage, and explains how Gabriel the angel came to Zacharias while he was on duty in the temple and told him he would have a son. Here are some interesting things I found.
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Margaritas and Thesauruses – The New Testament in Greek.
Did you know that Jesus told twin stories about a margarita and a thesaurus? Seriously. Really. You can read it for yourself in Matthew 13. I discovered this because yesterday morning I was doing some reading of the Greek New Testament on some subject or other, and the words jumped out at me. The words…
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Power Clashes, Jesus and Humility
Power Frames, Power Clashes In his book, Pitch Anything, Oren Klaff describes his “frames”. (These are not to be confused with the memory frames I have written about in other posts.) He says that a frame is “the instrument used to package authority, strength, status. Everyone uses frames, whether they realise it or not. They…
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How Jesus Won Every.Single. Frame Clash
I’ve been thinking deeply on Oren Klaff’s frame theory, and have already come to the conclusion that a) Jesus won all of his frame-clash and b) Jesus expected his followers to mature to the place they could also win every frame clash. What was Jesus’ secret? If we check back on the first page of…
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Exceptional Leadership (in Six Steps)
The simple power of these six steps calls for deep meditation: MIX: Who are your people? When/where/how are you regularly mixing with them. I’m beginning with my own immediate family. Beyond that, I’m not sure. But I know that ‘Mixing’ requires listening, setting aside my own agenda. It requires at least three people in conversation…
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Four Frames of Hope – Reframing Memories part 3
“We need to talk about this differently,” I said. “We both feel so emotionally exhausted from the last year that we see everything dark and despairing.” I’d taken Erin out for coffee, specifically to have this conversation. “What do you suggest?” she asked. “We need to take a different perspective, and realise what actually went…
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Holding On – A Story of Loss, Courage and Friendship
About six months ago, I deced to write Ant’s story. It’s been rolling around in my head for a long time. At one stage I wrote a screenplay for a short film based on the same plot. I got some great feedback, but I didn’t continue with it, because life happened, and writing is really,…
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The four ugly frames – Reframing memories part 2
I’ve been thinking lately about ‘reframing memories.’ (You can read an earlier post here.) My thoughts come from the idea that the colour of a frame will often hilight details of a similar colour inside an artwork. For example, a red frame will draw the viewer’s attention to the red elements and details the painter…
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In silver and blue – Reframing memories part 1
I’ve been thinking for the last few weeks about “reframing” memories. You’ve been given a painting on bare canvas. It’s highly detailed, and the artist has used a wide colour pallet. In fact, there’s so much going on in the painting that it’s hard to know what to look at. You want to mount the…
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The Hard, Lonely Work
I had already been at the task for the better part of an hour, and I was about six words in. The libary was closing at ten o’clock, and it was a race against time and against my mental reserves.
This is Jotham - Author 