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Chris Howlett
Lexington, Kentucky, USA
I am a learner, husband, father, pastor, and coach.
Interests: preaching, reading, following, leading, soccer, fly fishing
Recent Activity
Want to Be Happy? Be Virtuous
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How does virtuous living lead to happiness? Does being good help you become happier? What does it even mean to be good, or to live a virtuous life? Virtue... there’s a word I’ve heard more and more of lately, but... Continue reading
Posted 2 days ago at Chris Howlett
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Upping Your Optimism Game
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It’s amazing to reflect on some of the latest findings about how our brains function. You’re brain is sort of like the wiring in a house. Habitual thought-patterns make physical changes in your neural pathways and you become set in... Continue reading
Posted Jan 29, 2021 at Chris Howlett
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What Is Happiness?
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What Is Happiness? Everyone wants to be happy, so it’s probably a good idea to figure out what happiness actually is! People have been thinking about happiness for a very long time, there’s even a really cool book titled, “Happiness:... Continue reading
Posted Jan 13, 2021 at Chris Howlett
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Bible Reading 101
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The beginning of a new year is a good time to start a new, healthy habit. Daily Bible Reading is as good a habit as any, so here are some helpful tips in starting and maintaining daily Scripture reading. Three... Continue reading
Posted Jan 3, 2021 at Chris Howlett
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How to Be Happy(er) in a Pandemic
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Can you be happy(er) during a pandemic? If you bought Zoom stock in January of last year, you’re probably feeling pretty good right now. However, money can’t buy happiness, so, is it still possible to be happy in the middle... Continue reading
Posted Dec 31, 2020 at Chris Howlett
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Christmas: God's Search for Humanity
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The 12th century Buddhist poet, Saigyo Hoshi, wrote the following after a visit to a Shinto Grand Temple: God’s here? Who can know? Not I. Yet I sigh And tears flow Tear on tear. The world longs to experience ultimate... Continue reading
Posted Dec 23, 2020 at Chris Howlett
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Carolyn, Thanks for your kind words. Blessings!
Toggle Commented Dec 3, 2020 on Don't Bypass Advent at Chris Howlett
Don't Bypass Advent
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Years ago I was invited to preach a revival at Cadiz United Methodist Church. My father had served there beginning my senior year of high school. I stayed in Louisville to finish up school, but visited my parents and that... Continue reading
Posted Dec 2, 2020 at Chris Howlett
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Set Free for Freedom
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A young couple goes to the church office to answer some pre-marital questions with the pastor. The young man, who’d never talked to a pastor before, was nervous, so the pastor tried to put him at ease. When the pastor... Continue reading
Posted Oct 3, 2020 at Chris Howlett
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How Do You Approach Scripture?
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Jesus, facing his testing in the wilderness prior to his public ministry, was tempted by the devil to turn stones into bread. He’d been fasting for quite some time and I imagine this would have been quite the strong temptation.... Continue reading
Posted Aug 10, 2020 at Chris Howlett
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Prayer
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How did you learn “how” to pray? Jewish children were taught to pray every night before they went to bed. Their mother or father taught them to use one of the Psalms, Psalm 31:5 “Into your hand I commit my... Continue reading
Posted Aug 3, 2020 at Chris Howlett
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The Apocalypse of God's Sons and Daughters
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I was struck by this phrase: “the revelation of God’s sons and daughters,” found in Romans 8:19. The word translated “revelation” is the Greek word apokalypsis. You probably recognize the word from the English “apocalypse.” Apocalypse stirs up all kinds... Continue reading
Posted May 4, 2020 at Chris Howlett
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(Anti)Social Distancing
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Social distancing might be a good strategy for combating a pandemic, but it’s definitely taking its toll on the emotional health of populations. My hope as we make our way to the other side of this initial response is that... Continue reading
Posted Apr 30, 2020 at Chris Howlett
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Pastoral Letter - March 23, 2020
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Dear Friends, These are certainly challenging times. Speaking to one of our members in her 90s last week, she shared she’s never experienced anything like this. The last time our church was faced with similar circumstances was during the Spanish... Continue reading
Posted Mar 23, 2020 at Chris Howlett
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A Covenant Prayer in the Wesleyan Tradition
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The first documented occasion of one of John Wesley’s Covenant Renewal Services was held at the French Church in Spitafields, a district in London, England, in 1755. Wesley was drawing on a long tradition within renewal movements when he invited... Continue reading
Posted Dec 30, 2019 at Chris Howlett
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Upping Your Happiness Game
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“It’s not happy people who are thankful, but thankful people who are happy.” – Anonymous Everyone has a “happiness set-point.” It’s the general level of happiness they experience day to day. Some people are happier than others. Good things can... Continue reading
Posted Nov 11, 2019 at Chris Howlett
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Be Positive
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“A negative mind will never give you a positive life.” – Anonymous In a classroom of high school students, a teacher asked, “If were in possession of $86,400.00 and someone took $10.00 would you throw away the $86,390.00 to try... Continue reading
Posted Sep 18, 2019 at Chris Howlett
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What Scares You?
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“A great many people are trying to make peace, but that has already been done. God has not left it for us to do; all we have to do is to enter into it.” – Dwight L. Moody A recent... Continue reading
Posted Jul 18, 2019 at Chris Howlett
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Are You Ruderless?
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“True happiness is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.” – Helen Keller A rudder is a small, flat component attached to the stern (rear) of a boat or ship. The rudder is a small but... Continue reading
Posted May 17, 2019 at Chris Howlett
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A Clean Slate
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“Forgiveness is the giving, and so the receiving of life.” – George Macdonald What’s your biggest regret in life? Students from Strayer University set up a chalkboard on a sidewalk near Petrosino Square in New York City. They wrote on... Continue reading
Posted Mar 15, 2019 at Chris Howlett
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How Long Is Your Timeline?
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“You may delay, but time will not.” – Benjamin Franklin Danny Hillis is a computer engineer and inventor who designed a 10,000-year clock. He explains why: “I want to build a clock that ticks once a year. The century hand... Continue reading
Posted Jan 14, 2019 at Chris Howlett
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Searching
“For we were the purpose of his embodiment, and for our salvation he so loved human beings as to come to be and appear in a human body.” – Athanasius of Alexandria The 12th century Buddhist poet, Saigyo Hoshi, wrote... Continue reading
Posted Dec 24, 2018 at Chris Howlett
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Rescued to Rescue
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“For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.” Colossians 1:13 (NIV) Katharina Groene, solo hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, was on a death march. She’d hiked 2,500... Continue reading
Posted Dec 13, 2018 at Chris Howlett
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An Alternative Approach to Advent
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“The depravity of [humankind] is at once the most empirically verifiable reality but at the same time the most intellectually resisted fact.” – Malcolm Muggeridge The themes of the four Sundays of Advent in the medieval church were death, judgment,... Continue reading
Posted Dec 5, 2018 at Chris Howlett
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Run Away!
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“It is far better to avoid sin in the first place than to struggle to overcome its consequences.” – Tony Evans Imagine an animal you fear, perhaps a rattlesnake or a large spider. What if you were on safari and... Continue reading
Posted Oct 22, 2018 at Chris Howlett
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