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	<title>MikeRamsdell.com</title>
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	<description>The personal blog of Rev. Mike Ramsdell</description>
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		<title>Thoughts on control issues</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I knew someone some years ago whose mother left a great deal to be desired. The mom often used guilt to try to control her daughter. On top of this, the mother had never been much of a mother, even abandoning her daughter for a number of years. After that she would drop in and [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://mikeramsdell.com/2012/02/02/thoughts-on-control-issues/</link>
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		<title>Thoughts on control</title>
		<description><![CDATA[When my brother and I were about 11 and living in Biloxi, Mississippi, we lived near what we called “the woods.” There we spent weeks one summer building a fort. We built a small, boxy space, surrounded it with stacked pine logs as a fence around it, protected it with traps (holes we dug covered [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://mikeramsdell.com/2012/01/26/thoughts-on-control/</link>
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		<title>Thoughts on democracy</title>
		<description><![CDATA[“We the People” These words, “We the People,” begin the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution. When they were first penned at the end of an arduous and costly Revolutionary War, at a very contentious Constitutional Convention, they were words that officially began the new government of the United States made up of just 13 colonies. [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://mikeramsdell.com/2012/01/19/thoughts-on-democracy/</link>
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		<title>Thoughts on how Christianity changes the world</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Jesus, Politics, and 24-Hour News: I was talking to David, our Teaching Pastor, this week about this special series, a subject that can be sometimes polarizing and argumentative. Any time pastors preach on this kind of topic, there can be some fear and trepidation. We can be misunderstood or disagreed with, especially when politics is [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://mikeramsdell.com/2012/01/12/thoughts-on-how-christianity-changes-the-world/</link>
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		<title>Thoughts on thinking outside of the box</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Typically the journey for many of us is building a comfortable box that works for us. When we are kids, parents put us in a box that we struggle to get out of, to find our own way. When we get on our own, we spend a great deal of energy to get our own box in place [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://mikeramsdell.com/2012/01/05/thoughts-on-thinking-outside-of-the-box/</link>
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		<title>Thoughts on New Year&#8217;s Resolutions</title>
		<description><![CDATA[“Now faith, hope and love remain &#8211; these three things &#8211; and the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13 Every January our culture has a conversation about New Year’s resolutions . . . should we or shouldn’t we? Should we make promises to ourselves, to others, even to God? Often the reason we don’t is [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://mikeramsdell.com/2011/12/29/thoughts-on-new-years-resolutions/</link>
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		<title>Thoughts on the invitation of Christmas</title>
		<description><![CDATA[In the story of Christmas, we have what is called by many “The Incarnation.” The son of God is born through a miracle of the Holy Spirit and a young woman named Mary. This child named Jesus was born “to save his people from their sins.” This is a promise made by God long before. [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://mikeramsdell.com/2011/12/22/thoughts-on-the-invitation-of-christmas/</link>
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		<title>Merry Christmas!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Merry Christmas, Few words say more than these two, as they speak of joy in the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, good tidings of great joy the angel’s sang. As I often say, we are drawn to the Christmas story because of its simple beauty and its powerful hope. Christmas is special for many [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://mikeramsdell.com/2011/12/15/merry-christmas/</link>
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		<title>Thoughts on defining what Christmas is</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Christmas ? the season is upon us, and it is moving fast. It always does, especially with the countdowns we hear on the news most nights and the tasks we have to get done. It’s like getting on a bullet train that will come to a screeching halt on Christmas Day. One writer put it [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://mikeramsdell.com/2011/12/08/thoughts-on-defining-what-christmas-is/</link>
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		<title>Thoughts on Christmas</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I am anticipating a great Christmas season with one of the best parts sharing it with my church family. We have just begun the Advent season with an important emphasis, The Gift of Christmas! When we think of Christmas, we most often think of Jesus’ birth as a gift of God, as well as the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://mikeramsdell.com/2011/12/01/thoughts-on-christmas/</link>
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