Category: Neighbors
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Fight, Mom, Fight
“The saddest thing in life is that the best thing in it should be courage.” – Robert Frost – My mom is strong. She is fight-Mike-Tyson-with-her-oven-mitts-on strong.Carolina-reaper-on-her-eggs-chased-down-by-truck-stop-black-coffee strong.Raised-my-brother-and-my-sister-and-me strong. The latter taking the belt. words + photographs MARK APPLEGATE Mom was diagnosed in 2009 with, in the words of her doctor, “a mild case of…
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God Told Traci Prater, “No.”
“But each day the Lord pours His unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing His songs, praying to God who gives me life,” (Psalm 42:8). Stage IV colon and liver cancers were never in my playbook. Yet neither was a surprise to God. While a Stage IV diagnosis can mean death, God…
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Calling, Commitment, and Cambodia
LOOKING AT THE FIELDS Working alongside her father in the Kansas wheatfields was a daily chore for my wife, Carmen, during her childhood. When she was 13, riding in the family work truck and gazing at the crops, it seemed like another summer’s day as her mind shifted toward the upcoming months and the necessary…
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Planting a Church Where It’s Illegal for Churches to Gather
If you would have told me this would have been my life, I might have naturally thought we were talking about being in some foreign context; maybe one militantly opposed to the Gospel because of the country’s animistic or communistic background. Never in my life would I have thought we were talking about Canada. Yet,…
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For God So Loved The World
I don’t even recall my life before John 3:16, just like I don’t recall my life before helping with family chores or before my deep infatuation with ice cream. The fact of “For God so loved the world” was as known to me as my hard and fast 7:30 p.m. bedtime. words + photographs…
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Forgotten Ones
FIVE weeks into the COVID-19 lockdown, I received an unusual text. It was from an unknown number, but that was normal. The organization I work for was running an emergency food bank. The message came in through the emergency number, but it happened to be redirected to my personal cell. Usually those messages read, “Are…
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A Love Like His
I love chocolate ice cream. I love the Kansas City Chiefs. I love my wife. All of those statements are true, but the meaning varies wildly. While I do enjoy chocolate ice cream very much, it does not hold the same place in my heart as my affection for my wife. words + photographs JOSHUA…
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Love Can Change Someone’s World
It is in this month that we are reminded of love. The first thought in many minds is that of Valentine’s Day and romantic love. Romantic love is indeed a beautiful thing and makes a relationship lively and meaningful. Romantic love reminds us of our uniqueness to our partner and is to be celebrated. words…
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Joshua Manning Loves His Neighbors
I grew up in Southwest City, Missouri. Most people wave at you when they see you driving down the road. People are friendly to a fault. When I met someone who did not know me in town, I would usually list off my older relatives. When they determined I was Walter’s grandson and Galen’s son,…
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Love Allows Purpose In Pain
Now I want you to know,brothers and sisters,that what has happened to mehas actually served to advance the gospel.Philippians 1:12 I asked Chris Rees to my senior prom in 1991. It was our first date. I was 17; he was 19. Our families had known each other for years, and we attended the same church.…
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Foster/Adopt: Teresa Flora
If we had an hour and two cups of tea, I would tell you a remarkable miracle story. words + photographs TERESA FLORA The story’s main characters met at the age of 13. Married at 18. Did the normal married people stuff. He was a preacher; she was a nurse. They had three perfect sons,…
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My Exchange Year
Hi, I’m Thomas. I’m the exchange student from Taiwan. I live with the Teague family in Springfield, Missouri, now. In my first day of the adventure in USA, I feel so nervous and excited on the plane. I knew after that day, I had 10 months to finish everything just by myself. It’s a huge…
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Waiting for the Unrealistic
“Your idea is unrealistic and will never work,” commented a classmate after I shared my paper with my grad school class in 2005. I wanted to build a holistic center that would address all aspects of health in a war-torn country or among those who have experienced trauma. Perhaps I should have been discouraged by…
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Ethiopia: The Giving Community
From a young age, I felt drawn to Africa. I loved learning about Africa through any means I could. From 2018 to 2020, I spent two amazing years living in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I learned many things in Ethiopia through the culture and the youth. words + photographs TAMMY SALMON Ethiopia is a community-focused culture, which…
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Katrin Scott
Melinda* had been asking me for months to cook up something so we could serve it together at the Veterans Coming Home Center, a drop-in day center for the unsheltered in Springfield, Missouri. Since she was the sweetest woman on the planet, it was too hard to tell her no. I agreed and the rest…
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Three Bracelets
Three bracelets. One copper. One silver. One gold-plated. words + photographs GRACE LEE The copper bracelet was the first one I started wearing, and it says, “Faithful.” I felt like I was doing what He wanted me to, and yet I didn’t matter. That He really didn’t care about me. It seemed as though everywhere…
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#GiveLocal: Family Through Faith Farm
“I hope our food brings joy,” says Andrew McGowan, founder and farmer at Family Through Faith Farm. “I am a foodie. I love what great food can do to someone emotionally.”
Homegrown Journal 