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$250,000 Poorer and Richer

TWENTY-TWO years. That’s how long our investment in Christian education lasted. Skoog, Puck, and Evelyn attended Adventist schools from first grade through college. We had no idea that this investment would engulf our entire lives—but it did. Were we pleased? Not always. Coordinating transportation was a major problem every year. And tuition was outrageous—even for … Continued

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Following Him

Hail flattened all the fields for miles around. But not one hailstone touched my crops. You see, I return a faithful tithe. Whenever I buy a house, the Lord sees that the prices are low. When I sell one, the prices are always high. That’s because I tithe faithfully. I have often heard and marveled … Continued

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God Supplies My Every Need

When I was in college, I spent a summer coordinating a witnessing team in the Southwest. All summer long we’d been ministering and earning scholarships by selling the paperback edition of Steps to Christ and other devotional material. With the summer over, our team decided to caravan across the country to our college in the … Continued

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A Mechanical Pencil and a Lesson in Love

I was 5, going on 6, and crazy about ships and grown-up things like mechanical pencils. So to my young mind, hardly anything could have been better than to board the Queen Elizabeth in New York for the five-day voyage to Southampton, England. As the ship eased out into the Atlantic, we left the upper … Continued

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The Best Way to Fly

The business world is flooded with books, videos, and seminars about managing time. When I consider how much I have spent on these materials, I sometimes wish I had been more careful in managing my money. Nevertheless, I have learned valuable lessons in using time well. And the greatest opportunities for me came during a … Continued

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Friendship Over Rice and Beans

It seemed like the beginning of an ordinary Sabbath day. We drove the 50 minutes to our small church to arrive early. My husband dropped me off and, as usual, continued on to a church member’s house to see if anyone needed a ride. Alone at the church, I busied myself with various tasks, turned … Continued

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Fun, Frustration, and Fulfillment

“The church wants to have Water Fun Night every Tuesday this summer. Would you be willing to bring your boat every Tuesday night from 6:00 to 9:00?” The request was deceptively simple. “Sure. That sounds like fun,” I responded. But every Tuesday about 5:00 p.m., when there was still just a little work I wanted … Continued

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No Need for a Dream

“I believe the pastor of the church should lead from the front, not the rear, and should set an example. Therefore, over the next three years Wanda and I will give to our building project the funds we normally would set aside to replace my car. Please pray that God will keep my aging Oldsmobile … Continued

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To Bluff or Not to Bluff

While in college and graduate school, I noticed a marked difference among teachers in how they handled questions raised by students. Some tried to bluff their way through and provide some sort of answer even when it was clear they didn’t have one. Others immediately and frankly said that they didn’t know the answer. Ultimately, … Continued

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“I need your help, God.”

In 1958 I was 18 years old when I faced my biggest lifetime confrontation with God. Newly married, right out of academy, I was trying to make a living at the minimum wage of $1.10 per hour, working as a Linotype operator for the Garden City, Kansas, Daily Telegram. Just the day before, I had … Continued

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