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	<title>Partakers.Net &#187; Christianity</title>
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	<link>http://partakers.net</link>
	<description>Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus</description>
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		<title>Hero Worship Part II</title>
		<link>http://partakers.net/2011/06/hero-worship-part-ii/</link>
		<comments>http://partakers.net/2011/06/hero-worship-part-ii/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 27 Jun 2011 02:31:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>beakennedy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Christianity]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://partakers.net/?p=1530</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Ten days ago, I wrote about Hero Worship.  In the process of writing that post, I linked to Michael Card&#8217;s web site.  When I arrived there to get the correct url to link to, I found that he was coming to Ohio with a conference called Biblical Imagination Series.  A little whisper in my mind said, &#8220;go there.&#8221;  So I went. Beginning Friday night, the next 26 hours were quite a journey through Luke &#8211; the Gospel of Amazement -  as we all learned a little bit about how to engage with the Scriptures in a way that is both biblical and that bridges the gap between heart and mind.  One thing I discovered in the process is how that bridge has been made in my life &#8211; it is the visual picture that is formed in response to either the words of scripture, or more often when the right question is asked about the scriptures.  If I don&#8217;t have a picture, I don&#8217;t really understand in my heart.  I also realized how powerful these pictures are &#8211; not just for me, but for those I share them with.  This is something I&#8217;ve been hearing for years &#8211; every time I hear Mark Gostlin teach on Word Pictures. (I&#8217;m starting to think I&#8217;m the slowest student on the planet since I have to keep retaking the class!)  In fact, a lot of the scriptural pictures I have that bridge the gap between my head and my heart came out of....]]></description>
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		<title>Finishing Well</title>
		<link>http://partakers.net/2011/06/finishing-well/</link>
		<comments>http://partakers.net/2011/06/finishing-well/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 17 Jun 2011 16:17:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>beakennedy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Christianity]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://partakers.net/?p=1503</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[One of the questions from this week&#8217;s Bible study asks: Who do you respect and admire as someone who &#8220;finished well&#8221;?  What is it about their life that you respect the most? Without question, the first person who comes to mind is my Aunt Mimi.  On a long drive from Atlanta, Georgia, to Independence, Missouri, when I was 14, she and I had a lot of time to just talk.  Right at that critical time when I was already rebelling against God and was starting to bring some very destructive things into my life, she told me that God had a plan for my life.  I had forgotten about that until I saw her last January take the face of one of the next generation and hold it in her hands right in front of her own and tell him the same thing &#8211; &#8220;God has a plan for your life.&#8221;  How many other kids that she adopted as her own did she encourage that way? Lots, I&#8217;m sure. Last January when she was still recovering from a broken pelvis, my sister and I had the opportunity to spend some time with her.  While she was still in quite a bit of pain, the thing that bothered her the most was not being about to participate in her Bible Study Fellowship group.  She was determined to get back on her feet and serving the Lord as quickly as she could (and she did).  She didn&#8217;t like being sidelined one little....]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Hero Worship</title>
		<link>http://partakers.net/2011/06/hero-worship/</link>
		<comments>http://partakers.net/2011/06/hero-worship/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 16 Jun 2011 05:07:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>beakennedy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Christianity]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://partakers.net/?p=1481</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In the ladies&#8217; Bible study tonight, the question was asked, &#8220;How do you define success?&#8221;  There were a lot of answers &#8211; no right or wrong on that one.  I said that my definition of success is to be like Christ, and I&#8217;m a miserable failure.  To my mind, if I were actually like Christ, I would have arrived.  There&#8217;s nothing more I could hope to achieve.  Not going to happen in this life, but it&#8217;s actually not an entirely hopeless ambition as John states in his first letter: Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2) There is coming a day when I will have my desire, and maybe along the way, I can have it in small measure. I&#8217;ve been thinking all evening about what it actually means to be like Christ, and a number of things are coming to mind: He was filled with the Holy Spirit without measure. He was truly humble. He always did the Father&#8217;s will, always said what the Father told him to say.  He was obedient to the point of death. He willingly served those who should have served him, those who never thanked him, and even those who hated him and betrayed him. He loved without reservation, without self-interest, and sacrificed everything for those he loved. He....]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>A House of Prayer</title>
		<link>http://partakers.net/2011/05/a-house-of-prayer/</link>
		<comments>http://partakers.net/2011/05/a-house-of-prayer/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 23 May 2011 05:17:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>beakennedy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Christianity]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://partakers.net/?p=1472</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When my husband and I came back from Marion to live in our own house again, I was pretty sure that rather than slip back into the comfort of my old church, I was now supposed to get to know some of the people and churches closer to home.  During our previous years in this house it had occurred to me more than once that if I was ever talking to one of my neighbors about Christ, I had absolutely no idea if there were any churches nearby that I could recommend to them if they didn&#8217;t want to travel 15 miles to go to church with me.  Suffice it to say that I now know there are at least 2 Gospel preaching churches in my own little one-stop-light town. But on a similar note to my post in 2009 about looking for a church in Marion, I think I&#8217;ve found the place where God is going to park me for a while, and for a lot of the same reasons that I was attracted to my church in Marion.  The overwhelming impression after barely a couple of months there is that this is a house of prayer.  That&#8217;s because every time I turn around these people are praying for each other.  Both my first pastor and my pastor in Marion would also gather the church around individuals to pray for specific ministries or needs.  In fact, the church in Marion sent me out with just such a prayer when....]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Skeptics and True Believers</title>
		<link>http://partakers.net/2011/05/skeptics-and-true-believers/</link>
		<comments>http://partakers.net/2011/05/skeptics-and-true-believers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 16 May 2011 02:53:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>beakennedy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Christianity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[featured]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://partakers.net/?p=1432</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[My friend and pastor, Ryan Strother, posted an article on his blog this week that got me thinking.  At this point, atheism is still the largest segment of my life &#8211; 20 years more or less.  Christ stopped me in my tracks in December 1997, and I fully committed my life to him in January 1999.  During that 13 months, He very patiently destroyed every argument I had raised against Him.  Twelve years later, I can still clearly recall the whole logical structure that under-girds atheist thought and describe it for my Christian friends who find atheists a bit mystifying.  I can still describe exactly how an atheist thinks about deities of any sort and the people who believe in them.  But I can no longer believe those things myself.  It&#8217;s like the old dot-matrix pictures people used to make.  Close up, it just looks like a jumble of dots, but once you gain the right perspective and see the pattern, you can never again unsee it no matter where you view the picture from.  I can recall a world without God, but I&#8217;ve seen Him now, and I can&#8217;t unsee Him, even if I wanted to try. On the other hand, I didn&#8217;t lose the skeptical stance when I became a Christian.  The reality of Christ and the Truth of what God has said in the Scriptures are as solid as bedrock to me, but beyond that, I have no sacred cows.  Sacred cows are meant to be barbequed,....]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Random Snapshot No. 541 and 542</title>
		<link>http://partakers.net/2011/01/random-snapshot-no-541-and-542/</link>
		<comments>http://partakers.net/2011/01/random-snapshot-no-541-and-542/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 23 Jan 2011 17:33:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>beakennedy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Christianity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Random Musings]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://partakers.net/?p=1405</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Birds have eyelashes I never realized that before we got Spunkmeyer. Sometimes I can see them in pictures of birds, but most times not. Not only do they have eyelashes, but they like them to be very gently rubbed, or at least Spunkmeyer will tilt his head right over upside down and backwards in order to put his eyelashes right by the finger you&#8217;ve been stroking his neck with. Don&#8217;t know if birds can show emotional expressions or not, but if they can, then Spunkmeyer is in pure ecstasy when he&#8217;s having his little eyelids rubbed. Why do I go to church? Riding to church this morning, and a really neat song by Keith and Kristen Getty came on the radio &#8211; See What a Morning. The last words of each stanza are &#8220;For He lives: Christ is risen from the dead!&#8221; I thought, &#8220;That&#8217;s why I go to church.&#8221; I suppose there are all kinds of reasons that going to church might be a more or less pleasant experience (I tend to like it), but that&#8217;s the &#8220;why do I do this&#8221; answer and the only one that really matters. However, it is my goal to someday belong to a church where THIS song is sung: Speak O Lord Speak, O Lord, as we come to You To receive the food of Your Holy Word. Take Your truth, plant it deep in us; Shape and fashion us in Your likeness, That the light of Christ might be seen today....]]></description>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>It&#8217;s alive, but . . . .</title>
		<link>http://partakers.net/2010/05/its-alive-but/</link>
		<comments>http://partakers.net/2010/05/its-alive-but/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 22 May 2010 19:32:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>beakennedy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Christianity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Arrangment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Atheist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cell Structure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chaos]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christian Radio Programs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Clincher]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Clue]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Craig Venter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dirt]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dna]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dna Instructions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Genetic Code]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Genetic Databases]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Handful]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Joke]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Living Organisms]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Monday Through Friday]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Os X]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Primordial Soup]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[R C Sproul]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Radio Station]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Renewing Your Mind]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Scientist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Scientists]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Scratch]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Soup Line]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Talking God]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tweaking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://partakers.net/?p=1205</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[At least Craig Venter is honest in saying his team didn&#8217;t create life from scratch, even if some of the media are getting carried away with it.  He has an interesting result, for sure, but even the statement that they have synthesized man-made DNA is a little suspect to my mind.  Everything I&#8217;ve read says quite plainly that their genetic code is based on information contained in already existing genetic databases.   The experiment gives a little more understanding that &#8220;life&#8221; is more than a specific sequence of DNA instructions, but what exactly is it?  The instructions (the operating system) or the machinery (the computer) or something else? Neither the DNA nor the cell structure can &#8220;live&#8221; apart from each other, but Mr. Venter has definitely proved that, at least in this case, with a little tweaking you can switch Windows 7 for OS X and still have a working computer. I still remember one of the first Christian radio programs I was exposed to after the miraculous radio station change in December 1997 &#8211; R. C. Sproul&#8217;s Renewing Your Mind.  The very first series that came on the next time I was driving to work for a total of 6 days (Monday through Friday, then Monday &#8211; I could hardly wait for that weekend to be over because I wanted to hear the &#8220;clincher&#8221; of the argument so bad) was called &#8220;Creation or Chaos.&#8221;  The question R.C. asked that still rings in my mind was, &#8220;How do you get life....]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://partakers.net/2010/05/its-alive-but/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Almost missed it</title>
		<link>http://partakers.net/2010/02/almost-missed-it/</link>
		<comments>http://partakers.net/2010/02/almost-missed-it/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:16:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>beakennedy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Christianity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Photography]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://partakers.net/?p=1160</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This morning we awoke to a world of sparkling white fluff covering everything. Luckily I got off work in time to throw on a hat and coat, hop in the car, and capture a bit of it.]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Christmas Thoughts</title>
		<link>http://partakers.net/2009/12/christmas-thoughts/</link>
		<comments>http://partakers.net/2009/12/christmas-thoughts/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 25 Dec 2009 03:20:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>beakennedy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Christianity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bit By Bit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christmas Thoughts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Eternity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fairy Story]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Figgaro]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Glory To The New Born King]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hark The Herald]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hark The Herald Angels]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Haunting Sense]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hymns]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Joy To The World]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life Peace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Longing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New Born King]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Peace On Earth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reconcilliation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Righteousness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sense Of Wonder]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Whole Lot]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Worm Food]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://partakers.net/?p=1114</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s still surprising to me that something that happened 12 years ago can still evoke the same sense of wonder now that it did then. It was right before Christmas, December 17th to be exact, that God suddenly showed up in my life again after a long absence. To this day, I can&#8217;t listen to the familiar hymns of Christmas without reliving those first weeks of hearing the words for what seemed like the first time and realizing bit by bit that this was no fairy story as I had long believed, but it had really happened. Hark! the herald angels sing Glory to the new-born King! The new-born King? King? I&#8217;ve been treating him like dirt my entire life . . . Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled! I remember attending a performance of The Marriage of Figgaro in about 1985. The music was wonderful, but the opera part wasn&#8217;t doing a whole lot for me, mostly because it was in another language. Somewhere toward the end, though, everything changed as the music alone just reached right into my soul and pierced all the way through to something I didn&#8217;t even know existed. Suddenly my eyes were full of tears and I just wanted . . . . There were no words for what I wanted, but that haunting sense of longing for something I couldn&#8217;t even name never really left. What I wanted then, and wandered lost for another dozen years trying to find....]]></description>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>More Reasons to Go Green</title>
		<link>http://partakers.net/2009/12/more-reasons-to-go-green/</link>
		<comments>http://partakers.net/2009/12/more-reasons-to-go-green/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:17:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>beakennedy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Christianity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Atheism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Birds And Bees]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Boiling Water]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Comparative Religion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conclusions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Decade]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Girlfriend]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Methodology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Moral Call]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nature Changes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[People]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pot]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Quotes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Religion Study]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spending Time]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stu]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://partakers.net/?p=1104</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Reading another article at SciAm today &#8211; The Moral Call of the Wild: A study suggests that spending time in nature changes our values. The basic gist of the article is a new study has &#8220;shown&#8221; (I&#8217;d have to see more about the structure and methodology of the study to remove the quotes) that people who spend more time in the natural world are more other-focused and less self-focused. They suggest that the trend of our society spending less and less time outside with the birds and bees over the last 30 or 40 years is correlated with us becoming more and more self-focused, and that time spent in nature actually changes our values. Interesting concept. I&#8217;ve always loved being outside. For a time in my teens and 20s, I would get distinctly anxious if I couldn&#8217;t spend enough time in the outdoors. I still get mildly depressed in the winter when the light level drops and bounce back again in the spring, but the angst I used to experience has gone away since I became a Christian. What I really found interesting about the article, though, was one of the comments by &#8220;Babbin&#8221; &#8211; Since when is caring about others more important than caring about yourself? Wow! Like since the whole of recorded history, dude! When I decided to officially embrace atheism just after high school, I did my own unofficial comparative religion study (I would do this again later, officially, in college which simply confirmed the conclusions I....]]></description>
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