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 By David Sproule

Being consistent is one of the hardest things for a person to do. When a child is in school, often their behavior when the teacher is out of the room is not consistent with their behavior when the teacher is in the room. That translates to the adult life, when behavior while the boss is out of the office is not consistent with behavior while the boss is in the office. Consistency is tough!
Parents also struggle with being consistent. It is difficult, sometimes, as a parent to be consistent in how, when and why we discipline our children. Sometimes, we are not consistent in how we handle situations. Sometimes, we are not consistent from child to child in what we allow or what we do not allow. Consistency is tough!
This is also true as a Christian, as a preacher and as an elder. Our human struggles with consistency do not vanish when we are baptized or when we take a leadership role in the church. All Christians struggle from time to time with being consistent in their behavior. We do not always behave the same "outside the church building" as we do "inside the church building." We do not always handle situations, trials or mistreatments consistently. The way we deal with a matter one time may differ from how we deal with it again later.

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545

By Mike Riley

In today's digital world, it's sometimes difficult to keep up with the abbreviated terminology that accompanies today's fast-paced, youth-oriented electronic communication. For example, in the "Instant Messaging" (IM) world, the text-message language, "laughing out loud" becomes "lol." The phrase, "By the way" becomes "btw." And regrettably, some people are using "omg" for "Oh, my God!"

This last phrase seems to be on the lips of many who receive startling news. But as Christians, we need to stop and think before we utter this or any other phrase that flippantly uses God's name (cf. Exodus 20:7).