The Kiss

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  “Ryabovitch pulled the bed-clothes over his head, curled himself up in bed, and tried to gather together the floating images in his mind and to combine them into one whole. But nothing came of it. He soon fell asleep, and his last thought was that someone had caressed him and made him happy—that something extraordinary, foolish, but joyful and delightful, had come into his life. The thought did not leave him even in his sleep. When he woke up the sensations of oil on his neck and the chill of peppermint about his lips had gone, but joy flooded his heart just as the day before.” The Kiss By Anton Chekhov (1860–1904)

Hope and Change

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Some thoughts from my friend, Dr. John Williamson at the First Baptist Church of Ridgeway,
SC:

"Last Tuesday, our nation inaugurated a new president amid shouts of 'hope' and 'change.' I don't mean to sound cynical, but didn't we hear this before about two years ago, and two years before that, etc. Any candidate wins an election by promising hope and change. No one has ever
run on a platform of: 'Let's keep everything just like it is.'

For the Christian, our hope for change is not found in any human political leader as well intended as he or she may be. Our hope is in the Returning Lord, 'Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence' (I Peter 3:15).

I'm also very glad that our God never changes. 'I the LORD do not change' (Malachi 3:6). Whatever He was; He still is! Whatever He said, He'll still fulfills."

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