By DANNY MINTON Several years ago, I came across a story where caregivers from a special needs group home started bringing the clients to a worship service. The group would take up a full row toward the rear of the auditorium. As with many individuals with special needs, they can, at times, like small children, not sit still or be
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By DANNY MINTON Churches are made up of all kinds of people, people with various social status, people with a wide variety of financial stability, inherently kind-hearted people, people who worship God on Sunday and the ways of the world on Monday, spiritually strong people, people who struggle with their faith, people who are needy and asking for help and
Read moreBy JIM NICHOLS Especially with younger people, one cannot always be sure when they are listening. Their facial expressions and body language may well look distracted, but their ears (and hearts) may be listening well. I was with the 13-year-old and the 15-year-old out for lunch, just the three of us. The conversation was just general chitchat. Speaking to the
Read moreBy JIM NICHOLS The two trees are rather like twins in many ways. They stand next to one another, separated by perhaps thirty feet. One of the trees is on the edge of our yard and the other is across our neighbor’s driveway in about the center of their front yard. Judging from the similar ages of our two houses,
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By DANNY MINTON When I was young, my friend and I would climb a tree and jump from the branches like we were parachuting from a plane. There were two levels–a low jump of about four feet, and when we were brave enough, a six-foot drop. When I was young, another friend and I would ride around the elementary school
Read moreBy JIM NICHOLS Sometimes it is best just to do what is requested. The request was simple. “I have to move out of my house at 5:30 tomorrow evening. I cannot do it physically by myself; I need some help.” Moving from one house to another is complicated. The fact that there are sometimes positive outcomes might smooth out the
Read moreBy NANCY PATRICK I only recently heard the term “enneagram.” I felt a little behind the curve when I discovered that most of my family already knew about it, so I jumped at the chance to attend ACU’s Summit this fall when I saw a two-day course on enneagrams listed in the program. Before you get bored and quit reading,
Read moreBy JIM NICHOLS A news report recently identified interesting results. A large number of college students (2,700) from five countries—three from Western cultures and two from Eastern cultures—took a common survey. The content of the survey forced the students to narrow down which characteristics they considered most important as they chose a lifetime mate. The survey took a progressive approach
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By DANNY MINTON Once they stepped foot on dry land, the journey began. The waters closed behind them, and a long walk lay ahead. There were as many as 2 million of them on what was meant to be a short trip, a trip to a new and glorious promised land from God. The grumbling and complaining started almost as
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