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7 Bible Verses To Reflect On This Independence Day

7 Bible Verses To Reflect On This Independence Day

7 Bible Verses To Reflect On This Independence Day
As the school year comes to a close, students often face a mix of emotions—excitement for summer, but also stress and exhaustion from the final stretch. However, the Bible offers wisdom and encouragement to help you stay focused and finish the year with strength and purpose.
The end of the school year can bring challenges, but with faith, you can overcome any obstacles and press forward with confidence. Let these seven Bible verses inspire you to keep going and finish strong.
Independence Day is a moment to honor freedom, reflect on the sacrifices made for it, and renew our purpose as citizens of both this country and God's Kingdom. These verses offer a spiritual lens on liberty and responsibility.
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In the following list, we highlight 7 Bible verses that speak to faith, freedom, and responsibility:
7 Bible Verses To Reflect On This Independence Day was originally published on praiseindy.com
1. Galatians 5:13
2. John 8:36
3. 2 Corinthians 3:17
4. Psalm 33:12
5. 1 Peter 2:16
6. Micah 6:8
7. Romans 6:22
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My husband was bitten by a rat. Here's why it made me grateful.
My husband was bitten by a rat. Here's why it made me grateful.

Boston Globe

time2 days ago

  • Boston Globe

My husband was bitten by a rat. Here's why it made me grateful.

We both stared for a moment and then scampered home to tend his wounds. Advertisement Until recently, my husband and I lived in Brighton, where the rats are dumpster denizens with mangy fur, scars, and all the desperate energy of creatures that live on trash and the remnants of student pizza parties. The first time I saw a Roslindale rat, I did a double take: shiny fur, clean noses, little white paws. They're almost cute. They're basically pets, fed from the shaken-off bird seed beneath the feeders in almost every yard. I didn't fear them, not like I did the ones that swarmed on trash day in Cleveland Circle. Clearly, I should have. One of them bit my husband. Just like the woman in the Fenway, we went to the hospital. The staff were quick and professional, if trying their best not to show their horror or bemusement. Me too. They were also surprised to learn where we lived: on a residential block in Roslindale, with no dumpsters, only a mile from the hospital in which we sat. 'Here?' one of them said. Yes, here. Advertisement My husband was given the largest penicillin pills I've ever seen, which he took multiple times a day for the next few days to prevent In between visits from hospital personnel, my husband filed a 'Rodent Activity' report in the Boston 311 app on his phone while I asked permission to tell friends and family. Guess where we are? Guess why? Within an hour and a half, we were back home, my husband's ankle was bandaged, and his prescription was waiting at the pharmacy. The next morning, two city employees, both of them something like rat catchers, called to get the full story and detailed location, and to let my husband know they were coming by our neighborhood that day. One of them explained through a thick Boston accent that his crew sometimes got bitten by rats whose nests were being cleaned out, but that an unprovoked bite was 'supah weahd,' which it was. Advertisement But maybe not? Maybe not anymore? Everything about that night was supah weahd, but it made me grateful. Thank God for Boston, where the rats bite, but there's good health care. Thank God for Boston, where the 311 alerts are monitored and not one, but two city officials promptly took action. Actually, three city officials: A week later, my husband got a call from someone in the public health department to see if he was Rat Bite Feverish. He wasn't. He's fine. For that matter, thank God for Massachusetts, which runs the Health Connector through which I buy our health insurance. For years, my husband and I have been adjunct instructors, unbenefited for the benefit of the university's bottom line. So it is far from a perfect world. The rats are biting, unprovoked. But I consider myself lucky to live in a place where public services are still for the benefit of the public. And what became of my husband's adversary? After the hospital, we drove by the scene of the crime. It was maybe midnight. The rat, formerly lying motionless on its side, was gone.

Disgusted God Puts Giant Overturned Glass Atop Humanity
Disgusted God Puts Giant Overturned Glass Atop Humanity

The Onion

time6 days ago

  • The Onion

Disgusted God Puts Giant Overturned Glass Atop Humanity

THE HEAVENS—Moments after spotting hordes of the minuscule creatures skittering across the face of the earth, the Lord, Our Holy Father, reportedly became disgusted Thursday and placed a giant overturned glass atop humanity. Heavenly sources confirmed the Almighty cursed in surprise when He first spotted the massive swarm of human beings crawling through Creation, but He soon scrambled to overturn a 70-million-foot-tall drinking vessel and contain the planet's infestation, trapping the enormous mass of 8.1 billion squirming pests inside. 'Gross, gross, gross, they're getting all over the place!' said the visibly nauseated deity, who after a short search around His Kingdom retrieved a 10,000-mile-wide paper plate He could slide beneath the glass to ensure the scampering throngs didn't escape. 'Ugh, I hate the twitchy way they move. And the tiny hairs all over their bodies. Plus, they're always kind of moist. Totally creeps me out.' 'Seriously, I might puke just looking at them,' the Lord continued. According to witnesses, God discovered the human colony late at night after turning over a cloud in heaven's sanctum sanctorum to find billions of the creatures writhing on the planet below. Several reports confirmed that after trapping humanity, the Almighty Creator exhibited a wide range of coping responses that included wincing in stunned silence as He gazed at the humans from afar, audibly gagging at the sight of saliva dripping from their jaws, and even shouting 'Get out! get out!' at the tiny noncomprehending beings for over a minute. Though he momentarily regained His composure by taking some deep breaths, the Lord is said to have fallen into a fit of dry-heaving after He spotted several humans in Central Europe expelling bodily fluids as they copulated. After recovering once more, He was seen rolling up an ancient scroll and approaching the glass with the papyrus brandished in His Divine Hand. 'If I let them out they'll infest all of Creation—they breed like crazy,' said He Who Divided the Heavens and Earth, tapping on the side of the glass as several million inhabitants of the North American continent scurried helplessly away inside the cup. 'I used to think the ethical thing was to release them, but they always seem to find their way back to me. Then they get into my shit and start eating through everything in sight. Plus, they stink up the place.' Official records confirmed this is far from the first time the Eternal One has struggled with a human incursion. Once, as a younger deity, the Lord reportedly placed a pair in His garden, gave them fruits and herbs, and even named them, only to grow bored after several months. When He remembered them several years later, Our Heavenly Father was frustrated to discover an out-of-control population scuttling all over the globe. Since then, God is believed to have grown far more impatient with humanity's tendency to decimate forests, contaminate food supplies, and spread disease. A small number is enough to send Him stomping on the fleeing beings, and sources said on one occasion He leapt onto His Heavenly Throne and refused to get down until the Holy Ghost exterminated them. 'You can smite a few of these fuckers, but there will always be more on their way,' said the Almighty, grimacing as the appearance of His Eternal Face outside the glass sent huge quantities of the miniscule beings scattering for cover in South America. 'You can set them on fire, crush them, even throw them out into space—they always bounce back and start breeding like nothing happened. Maybe I'll just put a bunch of water in there and see if they drown.' 'Although, that's never worked before,' the Creator of All Things added. At press time, God was seen spraying a massive bottle of Axe Body Spray over the entirety of Creation in a final attempt to wipe out the human infestation once and for all.

Once houses of worship, soon homes for those who need them: More churches are becoming affordable housing
Once houses of worship, soon homes for those who need them: More churches are becoming affordable housing

Boston Globe

time7 days ago

  • Boston Globe

Once houses of worship, soon homes for those who need them: More churches are becoming affordable housing

Advertisement The decision to close the church was difficult and painful, said Isbitsky, whom the congregation hired last year to be its 'legacy pastor,' charged with guiding the institution through its dissolution and ensuring an enduring legacy. Deciding what to do with the property was much simpler. 'It is impossible to ignore how difficult it has become to find stable housing,' Isbitsky said. 'So no one just wanted to stick a 'for sale' sign out front and let someone buy the place. People want to help.' Pastor Adam Isbitsky opened panels inside the Second Congregational United Church of Christ to reveal the church's original wooden door from 1714. Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff Long a cornerstone of American life, many churches and other places of worship have fallen on hard times in recent years Advertisement And while many congregations are significantly reduced, they still own large chunks of real estate — acquired and built out in a bygone era when they needed space for services, schools, and dormitories — that they can no longer afford to maintain. As they consider their futures, which in many cases include reducing their real estate footprint or even dissolving altogether, congregations from Roxbury to Cambridge to Allston are opting to transform mostly empty properties into housing for lower income families. There's even a bill on Beacon Hill that would aim to make it easier. It's a natural second life for places of worship. Massachusetts has 'The Bible is pretty explicit about the value of shelter, and importance of helping people,' said Isbitsky. 'Those are true Christian values.' Second Congregational's church on Conant Street in Beverly was built in 1714, and it shows. The original wooden front door, along with a document signed by the first parishioners, is hidden behind a rickety wooden panel in the sanctuary that Isbitsky can only pry open on certain days. Other pieces of the original sanctuary remain as well, though the building has been added on to and rotated over the years. At its peak, Second Congregational served 750 people, but these days it has just 64 members, most of whom are older. Isbitsky spends most of his time winding through the rooms and hallways of a largely empty building. Advertisement As Second Congregational's membership dwindled, its congregation a few years ago came to the difficult conclusion that it no longer made sense for the church to operate. Before long, they had received multiple proposals from groups interested in taking over the building. One of those came from the homeless nonprofit Lifebridge North Shore, which members quickly identified as the obvious choice. The church has a long history of working with Lifebridge and other homeless groups. 'We see homeless people struggling in our community everyday,' said Jack Terrill, a longtime member of the church. 'The idea that our church could do something to help people was very popular among the congregation.' Pastor Adam Isbitsky addressed congregants during the Sunday service at the Second Congregational United Church of Christ in Beverly this month. Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff So, pending approval from the public charities division of the attorney general's office, Second Congregational will hand the building over to Lifebridge in a year or so. It's essentially a charitable donation, which the nonprofit plans to use as a services center for the local homeless population that will complement its nearby shelters. LifeBridge is still figuring out exactly what to do with the space, said executive director Jason Etheridge. It won't be an overnight shelter, but the building is big enough to support numerous services like casework and food distribution. And it's a bit of a full-circle event for the nonprofit: LifeBridge was formed as a soup kitchen by the old Crombie Street Congregational Church in Salem in the late 1970s. Advertisement The pipeline of places of worship being transformed into housing is growing quickly, and some policy makers are hoping to speed it up. A In a state with exorbitant land prices and a general shortage of places to build in the urban core, the large real estate footprint of many religious groups represents an opportunity to make a dent in the state's housing problem, said state Senator Brendan Crighton, who represents Lynn and cosponsored the 'Yes in God's Back Yard.' The Archdiocese of Boston and other Catholic churches in particular have a large portfolio of properties that could be redeveloped. In Roxbury, St. Katharine Drexel Parish has plans to transform the land behind its Parish Center near Ruggles into a mixed-use complex that will include 217 apartments and condominiums, most of which will be set aside at affordable rate, and retail and community space. The project, which the church will call Drexel Village, is being built by the Planning Office of Urban Affairs, a nonprofit development arm of the Archdiocese of Boston. The motivations for the project were many, said the Rev. Oscar Pratt, the pastor at St. Katharine Drexel. The first is that the project will help sustain the church financially and will include a full renovation of the aging parish center. Advertisement But Pratt has also watched out his office window as this corner of Roxbury — near the bustling corner of Tremont Street and Melnea Cass Boulevard — has been transformed in recent years with shiny new apartment buildings with market rents that his congregation, most of whom are longtime Roxbury residents, cannot afford. 'This is a social justice enterprise,' said Pratt. 'We want to make sure that we, the community, isn't going anywhere.' But turning old church buildings into apartments can be logistically challenging. In East Cambridge, for example, nonprofit developer Preservation of Affordable Housing recently began work transforming the rectory, school, and convent buildings of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church into affordable housing. It'll put 46 affordable units into the complex, which covers a full block near Kendall Square, while maintaining the historic brick shells of the buildings, and preserving the still-open church itself. Because the buildings were originally laid out for other uses, each apartment the developer builds will be different, and won't stack symmetrically from floor to floor, as apartment buildings typically do. Many apartments will, though, have the old stained glass windows. Congregants embraced during the Passing Peace portion of the Sunday service at the Second Congregational United Church of Christ in Beverly. Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff There are other hurdles, too. When news of the Lifebridge project in Beverly reached the public, some residents were outraged, saying the center would be a danger to the community. At one public meeting, residents yelled over Isbitsky and at Mayor Mike Cahill, though in this case, anyway, the town does not have jurisdiction over the project because it is a transaction between two nonprofit entities. Advertisement 'I don't have anything against the homeless . . . but I just see more and more coming [to the neighborhood],' one resident said. 'And they're not all nice.' When Isbitsky wanders through the empty rooms and hallways of Second Congregational, he thinks about the word 'legacy' a lot, and what churches should mean to communities in a new era when fewer people actually attend them. 'It used to be that people in need would go to the church to find help when they had nowhere else to go,' he said. 'For us, that is still going to be the case, even after the congregation is gone.' Andrew Brinker can be reached at

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