Author: Andrew Bors (Andrew Bors)

By Ward Shope 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  (Phil 4:6-7) These are anxious times.  No matter where you are in the...

By Shannon Keenan Most of the time we hear about adoption from the adoptive family side, but I am here to tell you that the other side, the birth family side, can be just as beautiful and just as redemptive.  After all, God is in the business of redemption. In 2018 I found out I...

By Ward Shope I don’t know about you, but the Shopes can be easily persuaded to watch a movie “based on a true story.”  It sounds authentic, real.  On the other hand, there probably should be some sort of rating system that tells you how close the actual story is to the movie’s story.  Frequently...

By Nancy Unks We all know what ‘virtual’ means. We do virtual meetings and virtual classes and virtual visits every day. Our many virtuals would not be possible without computers and the Internet. So I was surprised to run across a definition for the word in a pre-Internet dictionary that sounds very 21st century; it’s...

By a New Life Member Everyone knows that there are two topics that should never be discussed in mixed company…religion and politics. Lately, it seems like society has tossed that particular rule right out the window. You can’t go anywhere without hearing someone talk about the state of the nation and the upcoming election, often...

By Justin King, Elder at New Life Brothers and Sisters, Over the last six months, I’ve had a growing concern for the church. We are being driven by the spirit of the culture, not by the Spirit of the LORD. The result is a lack of love.  We are quick to tear down people, especially...

By Ward Shope I grew up in a family where my parents took us to worship and Sunday School every week. Yet, other than dinner grace prayers that we learned from rote (5 children had 5 different rote prayers), I don’t remember talking much with my parents about Jesus. Faith was private—even for us as...

By Nancy Unks Trying times. Challenging circumstances. The new normal. These are common descriptors we hear for the Covid-19 pandemic. Common effects range from torturous togetherness to lock-down loneliness and isolation insanity. Who would have thought that the middle of a pandemic would be a good time to sell a house and move more than...

By Ward Shope When we arrived at the New Hampshire cabin on vacation this summer, it was incredibly still.  There was no traffic noise, no bustle of people, not even the sound of birds when we first arrived.  No leaf fluttered, and only the sound of small insects rubbing their wings or legs could be...

By Debbie Shope Reading is one of my favorite summer indulgences.  I recently finished a relatively harmless mystery novel. I say ‘relatively’ because it had 438 pages but didn’t really tie up all the loose ends until somewhere around page 420.  Now, I know being able to keep your reader hanging on for that many...

By Ward Shope “Everything in moderation” is the oft-quoted sensible phrase which originates from the Greco-Roman era.  Certainly this sage advice has its strong points.  If I don’t eat cookies in moderation, I’m likely to wind up resembling the same roundness as the cookies.  If I don’t exercise in moderation, my body is likely to...