Author: Sweet Tea and Front Porch Storyteller
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Held Together by the Breath of God
Daily Office Readings Psalm 102Jeremiah 20:7–111 Corinthians 10:14; 11:27–32John 17:1–26 There are mornings on the porch when the world feels both fragile and vast. The birds sing as if nothing is wrong, the wind moves through the trees like an old storyteller, and somewhere deep within, a quiet question rises: What holds all of this…
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🌿 Trust — The Bridge We Choose to Walk
For the Curious Pilgrim, trust is not naïve certainty; it is a decision to step forward without having the whole map. It is: Trust grows slowly. It is tested by time, truth, and consistency. 👉 A pilgrim learns: Trust is not blind—it is earned light in the midst of partial darkness. ❤️ Love — The…
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⛰️ Who Can Ascend the Hill of the Lord?
Daily Office Readings: Psalm 24; Zechariah 9:9–12; 1 Timothy 6:12–16 ✍️ When the Song Feels Hard to Sing “Rejoice and shout aloud…” “Fight the good fight…” “God…who gives life to all things.” These words from today’s readings call us to sing, to declare, and to honor God with thanksgiving. They remind us that life itself…
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📖 The Art of Happiness
What I Learned Reading The Art of Happiness by Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler challenged me to rethink something we often assume we already understand—what it truly means to be happy. 🌱 The Purpose of Life One of the most striking ideas is simple yet profound:The very purpose of our lives is to seek happiness.…
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“From a Distance We Judge… Up Close We Learn to Love”
Judging from a Distance In business communications, we are taught that we make three judgments when meeting someone: Before we know their story…Before we understand their pain…Before we see their heart… We decide who they are. And sadly, this doesn’t stop at the church door. ⛪ When Faith Becomes Judgment During my years in the…
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🌾 The Curious Pilgrim
From Dick Tracy to Smartphones: Living Faithfully in a Changing World Introduction: When the Impossible Becomes Ordinary When I was a child growing up on a farm in rural Mississippi, our connection to the outside world came through the Grit newspaper. Each week, it brought stories, ideas, and a glimpse of life beyond our fields.…
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What Is Love, Really? A Journey Beyond Romance
✍️ Introduction: Learning Love Without a Map I did not start dating until my senior year in high school. It wasn’t that I wasn’t curious—I was. But I was not driven the way some young men my age seemed to be. While others were pairing off, I was more interested in learning, observing, and trying…
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🌅 Curious Pilgrim – Part 3: Beyond the Label
Following Jesus in a Wider World There was a time when my faith came neatly packaged. At Bible college, I was taught to see Scripture through a clear and structured lens: It was simple. Ordered. Certain. And for a while, it worked. But life has a way of asking questions that outlines cannot answer. 🌿…
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🌄 Curious Pilgrim — Part 2
God Is Love: A Different Starting Point A Reflection on Holiness, Love, and the God I Was Taught The God I Was Taught In Systematic Theology and Bible Ethics at Free Will Baptist Bible College, I was taught about the attributes of God. God is: And beyond those: But among all these attributes, one stood…
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When Brutality Breaks Through: A Lesson I Was Not Ready For
There are moments in life when something we read does not simply inform us—it shakes us. When I was a student at Free Will Baptist Bible College, Dr. Simpson assigned each of us a book to read for English Composition. Because I was from Mississippi, she suggested I read Sanctuary by William Faulkner. At seventeen,…
The Curious Pilgrim 