The Connect Devotional - a daily devotional with CCC

The connect devotional is a great way to stay connected spiritually to what our community is learning about God right now.  It is in step with the current sermon series, studying the scripture through the lens of life application.

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Connect Devotional

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I Have Considered My Ways

I have considered my ways and have turned my steps to your statutes (Psalm 119:59). What are my "ways," anyway? My ways are my customary habits, my regular patterns my "default modes," that is, the behaviors I automatically return to, usually without thinking the "rails I run on" my inner instincts and attitudes that get translated into my daily behavior, often withou...

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Well-Rounded Athletes and Christians

Psalm 119 I was thirty years old before I began appreciating and even enjoying exercise. It's a long story as to how I arrived, but what I discovered when I got there is obvious: there are numerous approaches to moving one's body, and all are beneficial in their own ways. Yoga is a great way to work on strength of mind and body by ways of increasing strength, mobility, a...

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Check Your Notification Settings

Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous laws. Great peace have those who love your laws, and nothing can make them stumble. I wait for your salvation, Lord, and I follow your commands. Psalm 119: 164-166 I have a confession to share. When I first read through these verses, I thought to myself, "Seven times a day? Ain't nobody got time for that!". While contempla...

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In Praise of Psalms

Psalm 119 My favorite college class was on Psalms. Our first assignment was to categorize each of the psalms in a spreadsheet. We created our own categories (worship, lament, praise, etc.), and after reading each psalm we put them in the appropriate column(s). I had never studied scripture so methodically, and it was enriching in heart and mind. (It also jump-started my ...

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Reading Scripture with the Heart Verbs

Psalm 119 all of it? Throughout this summer we'll focus on making more room for God in our lives. Are there things ordinary people like us can do that would enlarge our capacity to be attentive, receptive and responsive to the Lord? No surprise: our answer is Yes! Yes, there are habits, exercises and even some "experiments" that we can try on and try out. But the goal i...

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Tried and True

Next Jesus was taken into the wild by the Spirit for the Test (Matthew 4:1 MSG). This week our third-grade granddaughter will be taken by her parents to her school where her teacher will administer the test that will determine her students' readiness for fourth grade. If Miriam passes the test, there will be two results. She will know she has learned what is needed to en...

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Golden State of Mind

Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every wordthat comes from the mouth of God'" (Matthew 4:4). We moved to the central valley of California in May 2012. Those first months in the "Golden State" were sunny, warm, and full of palm tree sightings...but they were also overwhelming. My husband was busy learning and traveling for his new ...

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Life-Giving Bread

"Jesus answered, it is written." (Matthew 4:4, 7, 10) I don't enjoy exercising, have never felt that "runner's high," but I know I need to exercise for itsbenefits. Discipline is tough but pays off in other ways, too: healthy eating, productive study habits, financial budgeting. What about spiritual disciplines or habits, such as daily devotional time, a Bible reading sch...

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More Nourishing Than a Hot Dog?

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry (Matthew 4: 1-2). When I was recently at a cookout, my eldest son, Liam, kept coming up to me. "When is dinner going to be ready?" Then, "I'm hungry!". And finally, "I'm starving!" Luckily for him, it only took me a few minutes to...

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Opening Up, Making Room!

Matthew 4:1-11 Happy Monday, happy summer! Our new sermon series is going to run all summer, so we'll have to help each other maintain focus as we enjoy a very different summer from 2020! We're so looking forward to making room for things that the pandemic seemed to squash out of existence: travel, family get-togethers, beaches, national parks, barbecues, sports, celebra...

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