Author Ava Pennington
Author Ava Pennington

The People of Christmas: The Hostile

Keep prayer out of schools. Don’t talk to me about Jesus. Believing in God is fine for you, but I don’t need a crutch. How could you believe in a God who allows bad things to happen to good people? Jesus. There’s something about that name…but not always in a good way....

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The People of Christmas: Those Who Trust

I trust the sun will rise tomorrow morning. I trust gravity will keep my feet anchored to the floor when I get out of bed. I trust the light will turn on when I flip the electric switch. There is a slight chance that one or all of those things may not happen. But...

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Powerful Names

Names can ignite treasured memories or they can bring to mind people and experiences we’d rather forget. When I hear the name Barbie, I think of the iconic doll from my childhood. Elizabeth reminds me of the Queen of England. Sandy reminds me of…tragedy. Two years ago...

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Exceeding Expectations

NASA surprised itself. Thirty-six years ago, Voyager I was launched for a four-year mission to Saturn. Exceeding expectations, it recently exited our solar system—the first manmade object to do so. Living up to its nickname, "The Little Spacecraft That Could" has...

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Privacy is Dead

Privacy is dead. When George Orwell wrote about “Big Brother” watching in his novel, 1984, I wonder if he imagined today’s culture. The NSA has the ability to monitor internet and telecommunications Unmanned drones have been claimed to monitor our activity Cameras...

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Me vs. the Hackers

They kept coming. For every fifty I swatted, two hundred took their place. There was no way I could survive the onslaught…of spam. When I turned on my computer, my inbox was filled with 62,465 “undeliverable” error messages. I began deleting, but the incoming waves...

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Male Pronouns Are Important

Blatantly sexist. Hierarchical. Offensive. Oppressive. Domineering. What would provoke such harsh declarations? The writer of those words goes on to identify the reason: “capitalized, masculine pronouns in…every description of God.” These severe pronouncements...

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Puppy Perseverance

“Big” is relative. The smaller we are, the larger everything else appears. A few years ago, during a visit to my childhood church, I gazed in amazement at how tiny the classrooms were. I didn’t remember them being that small when I was eight years old. Basketball nets...

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Joy to the World

The gifts are wrapped and tagged. Cookies are baked and decorated. I’ve watched Christmas made-for-TV movies until even I’ve had enough…and that’s saying something! You see, I’m one of those people. You know, the ones who play Christmas carols in July and put up their...

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The Wait for Emmanuel

What is the longest you’ve waited for something you wanted? In this age of instant gratification, wait is a four-letter word in more ways than one. The oven takes too long, so we microwave our food…then stand in front of the microwave, counting off the seconds because...

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