Month: December 2024

Last Regular Post

This is my last regular blog post for encouragingpress.com.

I first began blogging seriously in 1998, working on multiple platforms.  It’s been a wonderful outlet.  But blog readership has fallen off tremendously.  Almost everyone reading these posts has come here via a link on social media somewhere.

I’m going to focus on newsletter content and occasional articles.  You can sign up in the sidebar. 

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Insight from a Spider Bite

Something bit me on the ankle – most likely a spider – while talking with a neighbor one evening.  By the next morning there was a blister 2 cm wide and 0.7 cm high (yes, I measure things).  I drained the blister 6 times over 2 more days, noticing a growing black spot in the middle.  The necrosis left a shallow crater about 0.2 cm wide, and then a thick scab grew over it. The skin in the area felt too-tight. 

The scab came away after 12 days, with fresh pink skin underneath.  No crater.  No black spot. I might have a faint scar from this. The too-tight feeling is gone. Healing appears to be complete.

How does the body know how to repair damage?  Old cells are removed.  New cells replace them, but the repair growth knows when and where to stop.  Scientists have learned a lot but there are still mysteries here. 

I suspect there are fractal insights here about how social organizations work.  At least, healthy social organizations where forgiveness and reconciliation are functioning. 

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An Important Reset to Beat Overfamiliarity

I’ve been using the same wide-margin Bible for my morning reading for the past 12 years.  I used a Bible for 14 years before that.   They’re wonderfully marked up, full of notes and scribbles.  They’re comfortable. It feels good to see my notes.

I decided to get a fresh Bible for my morning reading, sensing the beginning of another phase of life.  I  gave into reality and purchased a large print edition.  I miss my notes, but it’s also refreshing to read anew, underline, annotate, capture thoughts as I’m meditating on passages.  Over-familiarity sometimes gets in the way of listening and learning.

(Before you ask what translation I recommend… the answer is whichever one you will read.  God is perfectly capable of communicating through the words if you’re willing to listen.)

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