The Word Worker

Author: wordworkerrussell

  • The “Whatever It Is” Life

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    wordworkerrussell
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    Yesterday my kids held their annual pumpkin carving session. Because buying a pumpkin for every family member in a household of seven puts something of a strain on the already holiday stretched budget, they team up. Boys get one pumpkin, girls get the other. As you can imagine, this is not a situation that leads…

  • “We Need a King”

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    wordworkerrussell
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    How many times have you heard people complain about something wrong or unpleasant then demand that someone do something to fix that problem? Throughout history this has been a common human reaction. If we are honest as individuals, we have probably all done it at some point. The prophet Samuel accomplished a great deal with…

  • The Creek

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    wordworkerrussell
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    It wasn’t there before. I was sure of it. The tumbledown cottage was just barely visible over the creekbank, granted, and the trees were only recently bare. I might have missed it if I wasn’t paying attention. Still, that roof had to have been falling in for years to reach its current state, and I…

  • Approval

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    wordworkerrussell
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    My five year old and I butt heads. Frequently. As in, all day every day. She has extremely strong ideas of her own, and the determination to pursue them against all odds. If she doesn’t want to do something, it isn’t happening without some serious and repeated consequences. Yesterday it was her turn to run…

  • Seeing God

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    wordworkerrussell
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    Three teachers scheduled back to back have no contact before the date, but all deliver the same message from three unique perspectives. A child prays for another person for no apparent reason, and shortly afterward his parents find out the person was sick or injured. An unexpected medical bill empties the bank account, but the…

  • Floating

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    wordworkerrussell
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    I was living the dream. Traveling the world, seeing all the wonders, all while never leaving my house… it was my whole bucket list. Of course, I hadn’t actually meant never literally. It was three years to the day since I woke up to find my cabin floating on its tiny plot of land high…

  • Book Review: The Tattooist of Auschwitz

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    wordworkerrussell
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    When Lale walked beneath the lie that dressed the gates of Auschwitz-Birkenau, he intended to keep his head down and do whatever he was told, whatever he had to do to avoid being killed. He hadn’t counted on two impossible events: being chosen as the tattooist’s assistant, and falling in love in the death camps.…

  • Debtor’s Prison

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    wordworkerrussell
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    Galatians 3:21–26 (CSB): “Is the law therefore contrary to God’s promises? Absolutely not! For if the law had been granted with the ability to give life, then righteousness would certainly be on the basis of the law. But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin’s power, so that the promise might be given on the basis of…

  • The Girl

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    wordworkerrussell
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    She was there every day the sun shone, sitting against the big oak in the park with her guitar. No one ever saw her come or go, but when she played anyone nearby stopped what they were doing. They gravitated to her, faces suddenly pensive, often tearful as if their deepest longings surfaced. She always…

  • Mr. Meanie

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    wordworkerrussell
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    “I was yelling at Mr. Meanie! He just WON’T! LEAVE! ME! ALONE! I can’t do anything right anymore!” The above came from my tearful, sobbing seven year old son. He had thrown his playthings and rushed to his room growling like a cornered tiger. To an outsider it might have looked like a temper tantrum,…