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)

Discipleship in the Face of Danger

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“Intrigue, innuendo, intimidation, insinuation, those constitute the discipline of danger. Our temptation is to turn from our task to untangle the intrigue, to take time to undo the innuendo, to flee from intimidation and to fight hidden insinuation. Our safety is in doing our duty (Nehemiah 2:3), in putting our trust in God (Neh. 6:9), in standing stedfast and immovable (Neh. 6:11) and in serving in silence. The result for us will be as it was with Nehemiah, ‘the wall was finished . . . our enemies . . . were much cast down in their own eyes; for the perceived that this work was wrought of our God.’ (Neh. 6:15-16). Danger feared is folly, danger faced is freedom.”


(Edman, V. Raymond. The Disciplines of Life. Scripture Press Foundation, 1948)

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