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The True You: Abraham (Gen. 12:2-3) Chris Altrock – 5/20/18

This entry is part [part not set] of 7 in the series The True You

Little Library

            A couple of years ago a few of us from Highland visited Hangzhou, China. It was one of the cities we had identified as a potential site for a new mission work. We wanted to get to know the city and meet some of the local Christians in the house churches.

One evening we worshiped in a house church. Like so many of the informal gatherings of Christians in China, this one met in a small apartment. There were about twenty of us that night. Most were from Hangzhou. One was from Singapore. A few were from another country–American missionaries traveling through Hangzhou.

I remember seeing a small bookshelf in the apartment filled with Christian books. Before the worship service started, I thumbed through the books. These were this church’s church library, their resource room. It consisted of twenty or thirty books. These were the written materials forming their minds and hearts spiritually.

I was saddened by what I found.Read More »The True You: Abraham (Gen. 12:2-3) Chris Altrock – 5/20/18

The True You: The Fall and Redemption Promised (Gen. 3:6-7, 15) Chris Altrock – 5/13/18

This entry is part [part not set] of 7 in the series The True You

Take

Every time I see a bag of nacho cheese flavored Doritos I’m reminded of a central event in my life. That Doritos bag doesn’t just represent a food item. It represents a time when things suddenly went south in my relationship with my parents.

I was about six years old. My brother Craig and I and our best friend Robert were hanging in the hood in Sunspot, NM. The few other kids in Sunspot were still in school in Cloudcroft.They had taken the school bus or had been driven by their parents to the school in Cloudcroft.

It was the afternoon. And we three were hungry. I’d been casing a joint just down from my house. The Dickson’s house. It’s where Dee Dee lived. She was an older woman. Elementary school. Not long ago I’d seen her mom pull out to go pick up Dee Dee at school in Cloudcroft. I knew the house was empty. So, the three of us walked over to the Dickson’s (Sunspot was a verysmall town, hence the reason a trio of six year olds could walk around unsupervised). We pulled open their screen door. It was open. We tried their front door. It was unlocked. Hardly anyone locked their doors in this tiny town.Read More »The True You: The Fall and Redemption Promised (Gen. 3:6-7, 15) Chris Altrock – 5/13/18

The True You: Creation (Gen. 1:27-28, 31) Chris Altrock – 4/29/18

This entry is part [part not set] of 7 in the series The True You

Lisa Wingate’s novel Before We Were Yoursis based on the true story of the Memphis-based Tennessee Children’s Home Society. From the 1930’s to the 1950’s, a woman named Georgia Tann stole or purchased children from the poor or from single mothers and then placed them in an orphanage where they were neglected and mistreated. She then sold the children to wealthy families.

Wingate tells the story through the eyes of a fictional woman named Avery Stafford. The Staffords are a wealthy and influential family in South Carolina. Avery has been groomed to serve in high society and to carry on the family legacy. But when her grandmother’s health fails, Avery discovers that her family has a forgotten connection to the Tennessee Children’s Home Society. Her grandmother was one of those children stolen from a loving family and adopted by another. This new information about her past changes the way Avery sees herself. As she learns this revelation about her past, it alters her perspective on herself and her life in significant ways.

A lot of people these days are digging up information about their past. Many of them are doing this intentionally, not accidentally. We seem to be hungry for more of our story.Read More »The True You: Creation (Gen. 1:27-28, 31) Chris Altrock – 4/29/18