30 More Days of Grace

Psalm 5 Song of the Clouded Dawn For the Pure and Shining One For her who receives the inheritance, by King David Morning Watch 1  Listen, Yahweh, to my passionate prayer!   Can’t you hear my groaning? 2  Don’t you hear how I’m crying out to you?   My King and my God, consider my every word,   for I am calling out to you. 3  At each and every sunrise you will hear my voice   as I prepare my sacrifice of prayer to you.   Every morning I lay out the pieces of my life on the altar   and wait for your fire to fall upon my heart. Making It Right 4  I know that you, God, are never pleased with lawlessness,   and evil ones will never be invited as guests in your house. 5  Boasters collapse, unable to survive your scrutiny,   for your hatred of evildoers is clear. 6  You will make an end of all those who lie.   How you hate their hypocrisy and despise all who love violence!...

The Messy Truth I’ve written this four times.  Each time, though, it seems too neat, too tidy, too finite, like wearing a power suit to brunch at the coffee shop with your best friend when you should be unshowered in joggers and a hoodie with your hair up in a messy bun.   I start to write, get a page or two in and find myself staring at the words and wondering if I really believe them or fearing if I hit publish, what then?  How will I be attacked? What will the fallout be? How will I lose? Because, spiritual warfare is real, and Satan is real, and I know Satan doesn’t want me to love my enemies.  He doesn’t want you to love your enemies. He wants us all to wallow around in our hate and anger until it festers into something uncontrollable. But I don’t want that.  I don’t want the hate. I don’t want the anger. I don’t want the spitefulness or the cynicism or the doubt. I just want peace.  I want the peace of knowing...

The Struggle is Real True forgiveness is one of the most difficult aspects of attempting to live like Jesus for me.  I’m really good at ignoring people, pretending like hurts don’t exist, and putting on an “I’m fine” face.  I’m really good at moving forward, doing what needs to be done, and making the most of really terrible situations.   But, I’m really bad at wrestling with the hurt and pain others have caused me and forgiving them.   It’s not even that I wallow around in the pit of self-pity or harbor unresolved anger.  No, instead, I just ignore the offenses and the effects they had on me and move on with my life.  And, I know what you’re probably thinking: that doesn’t sound that bad. It could be worse, right?  I’m sure it could be. The reality, though, is that Jesus commanded us to forgive one another, just as our father in heaven has forgiven us, and that means I can’t just go on with my life in a constant state of ...

Life Lessons from Winnie the Pooh: I’m from the era of Saturday morning cartoons.  When we were kids, my brother and I would get up on Saturday mornings, park ourselves in front of the tv in our living room, and spend the morning watching Saturday morning cartoons because that was the only time cartoons were on and we were actually able to control the tv! Winnie the Pooh was always on, so we grew up with Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet, Kanga, Roo, Rabbit, Tigger, Christopher Robbin, and Owl.  Every episode of Winnie the Pooh involved the characters getting themselves into some type of trouble or trying to solve some type of problem. And, in every episode, Tigger was getting himself in some type of trouble, Winnie the Pooh was guilty by association, Eeyore was the nay-sayer cloaked in self-pity, and Owl was just waiting to bestow wisdom and advice on his friends. I think, if we take a minute to be a little self-reflective and introspective, we can all agree that...