My Happy Place

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  “The floor was carpetless. The whitewashed walls were in parts scrawled over with strange diagrams, and in others covered with shelves crowded with philosophical instruments, the uses of many of which were unknown to me. On one side of the fireplace, stood a bookcase filled with dingy folios; on the other, a small organ, fantastically decorated with painted carvings of medieval saints and devils. Through the half-opened door of a cupboard at the further end of the room, I saw a long array of geological specimens, surgical preparations, crucibles, retorts, and jars of chemicals; while on the mantelshelf beside me, amid a number of small objects, stood a model of the solar system, a small galvanic battery, and a microscope. Every chair had its burden. Every corner was heaped high with books. The very floor was littered over with maps, casts, papers, tracings, and learned lumber of all conceivable kinds.” “The Phantom Coach” By Amelia Edwards (1831–1892)

The "Stoning" of Richard

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I didn’t want to go to the Department of Motor Vehicles to preach this morning. I was full of justifications for not going, but I went anyway and prayed that God would anoint the time. I walked with purpose over to the people waiting in line and asked them, “Are you here for your lotto tickets or for the DMV?” They laughed.

I greeted each person waiting in line with a warm “Good morning” and handed everyone a Gospel tract. A woman at the end of the line handed the tract back to me. “I’m not interested,” she said. I took it back and thought, That’s okay; she’ll soon be hearing the message anyway. Taking my position adjacent to the line, I began to preach.

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