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The tongue has the power of life and death. Our words can reroute a life that is going bad or it can crush the spirit. Like a scalpel in the hand of a surgeon, it can heal; but that same scalpel in the hands of a careless child can harm and even kill. God desires that we use our words to heal. Proverbs gives several great images of the power of words. Proverbs 16:24 compares kind words to a honeycomb. In the Bible, the honey from a honeycomb was considered the "chief of all sweet things" and was even used as medicine. Our words can be like medicine to the people that hear it. On the contrary, our words can be like poison. God desires that we are a people that consider how to encourage one another. Make it your goal today, to seek out and encourage someone who needs it. PETE

Can you guess what this picture is? I'll give you a second. O.K., time is up...it's a birthday candle. When we look at a detail or a close-up of something, we can have a bunch of different opinions to what it might be. Most of the time, we get it wrong. This is what happens when we judge others. Judging others is when we evaluate or form an opinion about someone based on what they said or what they did. Most of the time, we get it wrong. When we judge, we hurt others, we hurt ourselves, and we grieve God. Christ commands us to not judge, but to first look at our own hearts, confess our own sins, and only then can we confront with gentleness a brother or sister caught in sin. Read over Matthew 7:1-5 and let me know what you think about judging others. PETE

Matthew 5:38-42 addresses the issue of retaliation. Christ's exhortation is hard because it goes against intuition. When someone hurts us, it is our intuition to figure out how we will get even with them. Christ is clear that the righteous person is a person that demonstrates humility and selflessness. Followers of Christ are to not only not retaliate, but we are to be gracious to those that hurt us. Maybe there is someone in your head right now that has insulted you or hurt you in some way. I image also that you have thought to yourself how you can settle the score (even if it means given them the 'cold shoulder'). Our ability to be gracious to those that hurt us show our act of trust in God. Christ exhorts us to "Go the extra mile" for others, can you go out of your way to bless others? Forgiving others and being gracious to others is how we say "God, I'm hurt but I'm trusting that you will take care of me, comfort me, and bring me closer to you through this hurt, help me to forgive this person and find opportunities to bless them." To be able to say this to God will lift a huge weight. Try to say it today. PETE

Rock Pictures: Senior Trip Pictures!