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J.B. McKoy

A Listening Ear

As I gingerly drove one-handed a week ago, I thought I should be careful to avoid an accident, because that would be no fun at all for someone who already had a broken arm. The very next day, I headed to a store in awful rain. I saw really bad traffic ahead, so I backtracked …

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Speech Therapy

As we walked on a local trail recently, Carrie and I noticed a number of parents with small children. After one toddler cheerfully greeted us in passing, I considered the wonder of language and how we pick it up. Babies are born unable to say a word, They begin speaking only after long hearing others …

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Joy!

“A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones” (Proverbs 17:22). When my eyes landed on that verse recently, it had special relevance, since I was typing with only my right hand, due to recently breaking a bone in my elbow in a cycling fall. Joy as good medicine seemed …

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Are You Mad?

One Friday evening a little over two weeks ago, I decided to do a quick test ride of my road bicycle as part of getting ready for our much-anticipated vacation. As I approached our house, I misjudged a route, lost my balance and took a very hard fall, my left elbow crashing into the pavement. …

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Slow to Speak

I always thought it would be cool to be “a man of few words.” You, know, the tall, dark, strong, silent type idealized in movies. I’d be someone who seldom spoke, but when I did dispense a nugget of wisdom or astute observation, heads would turn. My words would be weighty and profound. Reporters would …

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Quick to Listen

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather talk than listen any day. Not that I’m in love with the sound of my voice, it just comes more naturally to say what I think than to shut up and pay attention to what somebody else has to say. But the Bible doesn’t tell us to …

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Where’s Jesus?

Our home library includes some “Where’s Waldo” children’s books which feature a lanky, bespectacled young man in a red and white shirt, hidden in detailed drawings with scores of other people and objects. The reader must find Waldo on the incredibly busy double-page spread. It’s sometimes tricky, because the illustrator has dressed other people in similar clothes, …

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These Don’t Mix

One evening for dessert, I decided I’d “be good” and lower my sugar intake by diluting my ice cream. Reasoning they were both dairy products, I mixed plain yogurt with my butter pecan ice cream. Before you rush to your fridge, be forewarned—it tasted awful! The tartness of the yogurt and the sweetness of the ice …

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On Becoming Carefree

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to worry? I don’t even watch the news (a virtual fear factory), and yet just going through life gives opportunity after opportunity for me to get caught up in anxious thoughts. Jesus recognized this challenge and invites, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, …

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The 2.5 Minute Wash

Recently we decided to visit a new automatic car wash. What a cool machine! We drove up to their conveyor, shifted into neutral, then just sat in the car as it pulled us through. After powerful streams of soapy water, we passed through a forest of suspended scrubbing strips, followed by a final rinse and a blow dry …

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