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Scraps of Life

I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.  2 Samuel 24:24 As we eat, our dog sits there, giving us his sad eyes, waiting for a morsel to fall from the table. I don’t think his palate is able to discern that we eat the best, giving him…
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The Chaos of Addiction

The Lord is my rock and my fortress. . . 2 Samuel 21:2 In my addiction, I found my only comfort and happiness in a pill. The unstable pill of course, was not capable of supporting such a weight. I lost the joy and meaning I previously found my relationships, my job and my faith.…
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How to (and How not to) Say Sorry

Let not my lord hold me guilty . . . For your servant knows that I have sinned. 2 Samuel 19:19-20 As addicts have usually caused much injury in the lives of those around us, we have had much to apologize for. We should be good at it, but because it is our nature to follow…
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Asking the Painful Questions

Then the king arose and took his seat . . .2 Samuel 19:8 Recently, I broke a tooth and required a temporary replacement while the permanent fix was being made. As the temporary tooth was discolored and misshapen, I was self-conscious enough that I avoided smiling and apparently I talked funny, trying to hide the…
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How to Talk to an Addict

I know that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, then you would be pleased. 2 Samuel 19:6 The most common question I get is, How do I talk to the addict in my life? How do I make him get help? As I came across today’s passage, I realized that Joab’s confrontation…
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Metastatic Sex

. . . Being stronger than she, he violated her and lay with her. 2 Samuel 13:14 The problem with cancer is not that it purposefully tries to kill its host. The problem with cancer is that it does what it wants, growing, multiplying and spreading outside of its boundaries. Cancer lives only to propagate…
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The Long Dark Night

And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. 2 Samuel 12:16 When at the bottom of my addiction, in the darkness of realizing that I had killed everything good in my life, it was difficult to see any light. The world was black, and hope was a joke. It was in…
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Forgiveness and Consequences

The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless . . . the child who is born to you shall die. 2 Samuel 12:13,14 Someone recently asked me if forgiving meant forgetting. I don’t think the question was about literally forgetting, but rather, Does forgiveness mean we are supposed to live as…
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Who Is the Villain?

Nathan said to David, “You are the man!” 2 Samuel 12:7 After watching the most recent superhero movie, my son was irritated that the story made us sympathize with the villain. The identity of the villain was never in question to us – he was the one attempting to kill half the world – but from…
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Lie, Cheat and Steal

Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die. 2 Samuel 11:15 For the addict, intoxication is only part of the problem. The drug use is certainly caustic behavior, but for it to continue, the addict usually must lie, cheat and steal.…
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