Welcome, October

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 “The skies they were ashen and sober;        The leaves they were crispéd and sere—        The leaves they were withering and sere;  It was night in the lonesome October        Of my most immemorial year;  It was hard by the dim lake of Auber,        In the misty mid region of Weir—  It was down by the dank tarn of Auber,        In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.” (First stanza of “Ulalume” by Edgar Allen Poe)

The Unencumbered Divine Instrument

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"A missionary was flying over Bombay, India, and saw the massive crowds crawling like ants beneath him. At first he wanted to turn back. 'Look at all those people!' he gasped. 'I won’t even make a dent.' Then he remembered that God had not called him to save India, nor to save anyone in India, but that He had called him to preach the gospel of Christ in India to all who would listen; God would do the saving. That thought, the missionary said, got him through the frustration and depair so he could be an unencumbered divine instrument."

Horton, Michael. Putting Amazing Back Into Grace.

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