I remember reading an article in the New York Times a few years ago that recently resurfaced on social media entitled “the one thing Christians should stop saying.” Surprisingly, the phrase was, “I’m blessed.” The argument was that it sounds braggadocios and even arrogant when you add, “I’m blessed,” after every positive thing that happens in your life. So, every material windfall, or every good feeling, or fortuitous event gets emphasized with, “I’m blessed.” There is actually a big movement to stop using the #blessed on X. (twitter)
 
The argument being, what about the days that are not positive? What about the days where things don’t work out? What about the days when you don’t wake up feeling blessed, and there is no new car, the diagnosis is still there, you’re still estranged from your loved ones, and the bills keep piling up as you’re trying to financially hold it all together? Are you not blessed then? Is being blessing only contingent on things going well? 
 
This reminds me of another word in the modern Christian vernacular that has quietly disappeared and does not get used much any longer and that word is “sinner.” I’ve noticed many avoid it, replace it (lack of judgement, I made a poor choice, not enough information, it’s the systems fault, etc.) while others simply cringe at the very mention of the word as it brings up past church experiences that have left scars and wounds.
 
Yet the Bible is very clear, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Rom. 3:23) The Psalmist David would say, “In sin my mother conceived me.” Like it or not, this is our default posture before God. We can try to explain it away, excuse it or even ignore it but it’s there and it needs to be dealt with. Thankfully, Jesus has dealt with it on the cross. He became the atoning sacrifice for all our sins once and for all.
 
“Then if all my sins have been forgiven by Jesus, why then do I still have to confess them?” This is a common question that trips up a lot of Christians as the bible says, “confess your sins” (1 John 1:9) even as believers. How do we reconcile this?
 
When we sin as believers, it doesn’t cancel our salvation, but it does hinder our intimacy, fellowship, and closeness with God. When I was a kid, I would constantly disobey my father and break his commands. I remained part of the family, that was never in question, but the closeness was strained until the issue was resolved. Whenever we ignore, hide or dismiss our sins, our relationship with God will grow cold and distant.
 
Confession is not about re-earning God’s forgiveness, but about restoring and maintaining healthy relationship with our heavenly Father. Think of it as tending our friendship with God. Confession is a vital part of our walk with Christ that keeps us close to Him, in full humility and dependency. This is how we keep a vibrant spiritual life and walk in freedom and in grace.
 
Psalm 51 is one of my favorite Psalms that highlights this beautifully. In it we find one of David’s most personal prayers that expresses his deep lament and confession of his own sin. It starts off with, “To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone into Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin!” 
 
According to the title, David composed the psalm because of Nathan the prophet confronting him of his wrongdoing, both in his committing adultery with Bathsheba but also in the arranging of the murder of Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah the Hittite.
 
I want you to notice three specific words David uses for his actions: Transgression, Iniquity and Sin. What is the difference between the three? Transgression is a strong word from which we get the word aggressive or aggression. It simply means an intentional defection from God or intentional rebellion against Him. Think of it like being presumptuous, someone knowing what is right (ignoring right) and choosing what is wrong. Iniquity is the perversion of right behavior. It relates more to the inner character and heart that intentionally twists God’s standard. It’s premediated sin. Not only do I ignore what is right, I plan to do wrong. This is the worst form of wrongdoing. The third word used is Sin, Sin is simply means missing the mark. Think of an archer who missed the mark trying to hit the bullseye. Sin is the general, catch all term for anything that “falls short of the glory of God.” 
 
Yet David here makes a clear distinction of his wrongdoing. In essence, David says I have not just missed the mark or stumbled into something that caught me off guard. Rather, I have plotted, planned, and purposefully premeditated something that was the perversion of right behavior. I was presumptuous, intentional and I knew what I was doing.
 
Yet in his state, notice what David appeals to: God’s steadfast unfailing love and his abundant, compassionate mercy. He uses strong words like blot out, wash and cleanse. David is humbly pleading to God and His character and heart. In the process acknowledging his own brokenness and wickedness. He would go onto say in verse 10 of Psalm 51, “create in me a clean (pure) heart, O God, and renew a right (Steadfast) spirit within me.”
 
This is why I believe David is known as a man after God’s own heart. When he messed up royally, (pun intended) he came to God with deep reverence and acknowledgement of his true condition. He confesses his transgression, iniquity and sin pleading for forgiveness while seeking a fresh start, a clean slate, a faithful spirit, a renewed heart, and a new beginning. Why does he do it? Verse 11 and 12 of Psalm 51 tell us, “Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit.”
 
David knew that unconfessed sin, would diminish the relationship he had with God. His joy was zapped, the Spirits activity in his life was quenched and the intimacy of God’s presence was no longer there. 
 
Do you ever feel like your relationship with God is stagnant? Do you ever feel like your joy is gone? Like the spirit is not moving in your life like he once did? Maybe you need to restore relationship with God through confession. 
 
I want to challenge you as we make our way towards Easter to adopt the prayer of David. “Create in me a clean heart, Oh God.” The bible says the heart is “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” There was a part of David that thirsted for God like a deer thirst for water; yet there was another part of David that had a terrible appetite for sin. (Paul describes this struggle in Romans 7) David understood this struggle all too well. And in full transparency he says, “Create in me…” This means, this doesn’t come naturally. I’m naturally a transgressor and full of iniquity and sin.  
 
Yes, most of the time, our tendency is to frame this prayer more like “make my heart clean” or “wash my heart.” This indicates taking something soiled and attempting to get rid of any traces of dirt or messiness. But this is a different request than, create in me. 
 
To “create” something means to start from scratch. To start again, brand new. When David was appealing to God to create in Him a new heart, I believe he was calling on God’s creative power, to literally renew his heart so that he could again enjoy the intimacy that was lost.
 
I believe the start of this process happens when we confess our wrongdoing: our iniquity, transgression, and sin. When we sin, we must immediately come to God, confessing our sins and seeking a renewal in our relationship with Him. Some deceive themselves by trying to minimize their sins.  Others deceive themselves by trying to ignore their sins.  Yet only the person who is willing to confess their sin can find cleansing and full fellowship with God. 
 
This is why David comes along in the first 6 verses of Psalm 32 and says, Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit, there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.
 
David’s sin seemed to choke the very life out of him. Yet he turns to God, confesses the sin, pleads for forgiveness, and seeks a fresh start and a clean slate. God being faithful, answered and renewed his heart. I love verse 6, “Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found.”
 
David’s prayer is answered in a promise found in Ezekiel, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ez. 36:26) 
 
This fulfilled promise makes it clear for us today: The time in which the Lord is found, is now! If we seek Him, we will find Him and He will answer. How do we do it? Focus on the “author and perfector of our faith.”  “And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” (1 John 3:3 NASB) So that the more I think of Christ today, of what He is and has done for me, and the more I think of and long for His coming again—the more my heart will be kept clean.
 
“God create in us clean hearts!” AMEN!

I recently came across a German psychologist by the name of Herman Ebbinghaus. He was pioneer in the study of cognitive memory. In 1885 he discovered what is known as the “forgetting curve.” This curve hypothesizes the decline of memory retention over time. Ebbinghaus found the human brain typically forgets learned information very rapidly without reinforcement. 50% of new information within an hour, 70% within 24 hours, and up to 90% within a week. In fact, we forget 92% of the information we take in during our lifetime. 
 
So, the next time you think, “I so quickly forget, I’m losing my mind,” be encouraged, you’re in good company. How do we counter this reality? Ebbinghaus and other psychologists tell us that spaced repetition, active recall, and immediate application are keyways to help us remember important information. 
 
As you read the Old Testament, this is the exact prescription given by God to his people for this very reason. God who created us, understands how quickly we can forget things, especially God and the things of God. As a result, you repeatedly find God encouraging His people to remember what He has done on their behalf. He encourages memory recall through songs, storytelling, repeated repetition, monuments (visual aid) and application—lest they forget. This begins with children (Prov. 22:6, Deut. 6:7) all the way up to adults. David said, “Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits. (Psalm 103:1-2) Asaph, another Psalm writer very similarly said, I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. I will ponder all your work and meditate on your mighty deeds. (Psalm 77:11-12)
 
The last two letters of Peter and Paul encourage us to remember what Christ has done and who we are now “In Christ.”  IN 2nd Peter chapter 1 he says, “Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body,  to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.” (2 Peter 1: 12-15)
 
He would later tell them, “This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles.” (2 Peter 3:1-2)
 
Peter understood we can easily forget and our memories need to be “stirred up.” 
 
Paul in his last letter, wrote to timothy reminding him and followers of Jesus to not forget who we are in Christ. He said, “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself. Remind them of these things.” (2 Timothy 2:8-14)
 
What is the best way to remember? How is memory best triggered? According to a recent Neuroscience study I was reading, research findings support that visual aids can boost memory by up to 400%, thanks to “rapid processing in the visual cortex, which processes images as quickly as 13 milliseconds.” This rapid recognition fosters faster learning and improves the ability to recall details. This is why in educational settings, teachers will often incorporate images, charts, and visual aids to facilitate active learning and memory recall. 
 
What makes this fascinating is that one of the most common practices in Old Testament Jewish culture was the erecting of stone monuments as a symbol (visual) to trigger remembrance. (By the way, I just love when science catches up to the bible and proves what God knew all along.) These monuments, typically be a collection of gathered stones, or one large stone, would serve as a reminder of God’s faithfulness, covenants or divine provision to the people who would encounter them. 
 
For example, in Joshua chapter 4, Joshua was a new leader, and the Lord told him to take one man from each tribe into the Jordan River. Each man took a stone from the river, and Joshua used the stones to build a monument of remembrance. Joshua told the people, “In the future when your descendants ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground’”
 
Jacob set up a stone memorial at Bethel. This was the place he had the vision of angels going up and down a ladder.  He said of this place, “Surely the Lord is in this place.” The prophecy Samuel set up a stone to commemorate one of Israel’s great victories over the Philistines and he called it, Ebenezer. (meaning “the stone of help.”) Samuel declared, “Thus far the LORD has helped us!” Joshua also set up stones of remember on Mt. Ebal. These stones had written on them, the law of Moses so the people would not forget the Lord's ways. (this stone monument still exists today)
 
In the same way, Jesus told the disciples and future disciples to have communion (a visual aid) as a reminder of who He is and what He has done.
"And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’" (Luke 22:19)
To illustrate this point even further, the bible tells us in many instances that God, “remembers His covenant and His promises” towards us. God remembered Noah. (Gen. 8) Genesis 19:29 tells us that “God remembered Abraham” and rescued his nephew Lot. “God remembered Rachel, “Isaac’s wife, and she conceived. (Gen. 30:22) Psalm 9:12 tells us that God remembers…the afflicted.”
 
In fact, even God has His visual aids to remind himself. In Genesis 9:6 we are told, “When the rainbow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.  
 
How awesome is that!? As we remember the faithfulness of God we are encouraged with the idea that He remembers us too, and is a faithful, promise keeping God!
 
I want to encourage you to create your own stone alter of remembrance. Maybe it’s an actual monument, or a stone, a sticky note, a magnet, a key chain, a thanksgiving journal, a daily visual aid, an alarm on your phone—whatever helps “stir up” your memory about the faithfulness of God.   
 
What do you need to remind God (and yourself) that He promised you? 
 
I have two big scars on my left hand that I got when I had surgery in 8th grade after a bad compound fracture. This has become my visual aid over the years.  When I’m feeling weak, broken. less than and useless or unable to do something, I look at my scar and reminding myself and God that He promised to strengthen me and uphold me with His righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)
 
What is your altar that helps you remember God’s promises for you?

I love King David as a model for prayer. All throughout the Psalms you encounter his raw and real heart before the Lord. He never shies away from his internal turmoil and despondency. Yet he always seemed to remind himself of God’s goodness and faithfulness. In essence, David always seemed to preach to himself and not listen to himself. 
 
This is such a powerful truth that can set us free today. “Stop listening to me and start preaching to me!” Psalm 42:11 says, Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
 
Over and over, you encounter David preaching to himself and urging his soul to not grow faint and downcast. I think it’s easy in life to get discouraged and downcast. Yet I want to encourage you this week, preach to yourself! Preach about God’s goodness, faithfulness and steadfast love for us. Say to your soul, “I know what you are experiencing and feeling but I will preach to you about the voice of truth because the voice of truth tells me a different story.“
 
Make the choice today, preach to your soul!

What comes to your mind when you think of a “legacy?” Whenever I officiate funerals, I often hear family members describe “the legacy” their loved one has “left behind.” What I find interesting is that most everyone uses the word legacy at the end of someone’s life. Financial planners, ministers and grandchildren alike tend to describe it in the same way—as whatever remains, as an inheritance, as something left behind.

I don’t know about you, but when I hear the phrase “left behind,” something doesn’t sit well. The phrase seems so happenstance, forced and even unintentional. For example, in the rush to get out of the house this morning, I left my breakfast behind. A few years ago, when driving to Canada for vacation, , I realized somewhere near Seattle “I left behind” my medicine. (That was an unexpected 6-hr detour!) As a kid, when we moved from Southern California to Oregon, I remember “leaving behind” my favorite couch. Unfortunately, there was no room for it in the U-Haul.

When it comes to legacy (what people remember and think about us after we are gone) maybe “leaving behind” is not the appropriate language. What would it look like if we were more intentional with our legacies?! What if we reframed this idea of “leaving a legacy” into “living a legacy?” The Apostle Paul said it this way, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1 ESV) Notice he didn’t say, “after I die,” or “when I’m long gone.” He simply said, follow me, imitate me—today. I am living my legacy now in such a way that it is worth following.

Jesus would often invite his followers into a similar posture. “Follow me. Take up your cross. Learn my patterns and rhythms for life,” Jesus would say.

How do you live life intentionally? How do you live in such a way that the next generation is inspired to model their lives and judge their achievements by you? How do we “live a legacy” that honors God and inspires others? How do you get intentional in your living? How do we do what Paul said in Ephesians 5:15, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time”?

Danish philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard, said something profound that relates to this aspect of legacy: “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forward.”

I would say it this way, “The value of my life isn't determined by how much I achieve or accumulate to leave behind, but by how much of my life I am giving away now!”

There is a thought-provoking book by Bill Perkins entitled, “Die with Zero.” It is a fascinating read that revolves around legacy as it relates to money. Perkins argues that, “Rather than just focusing on saving up for a big pot full of money that you will most likely not be able to spend in your lifetime, live your life to the fullest now: Chase memorable life experiences, give money to your kids when they can best use it, donate money to charity while you’re still alive. That’s the way to live life.”

He goes on to say, “Your biggest fear ought to be wasting your life and time, not ‘Am I going to have x number of dollars when I'm 80?’ Start thinking more about how you use your limited time, your life energy, and you’ll be well on your way to living the fullest life you possibly can.”

The Apostle Paul said, “As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (1 Timothy 4:6-7 NLT) Notice he said his life has already been poured out. In other words, he lived his legacy. He fought the fight and finished his race.

What could this look like for you?

Let me give you a point of clarification that will help as you ponder living your legacy. Living a legacy is an act of worship, which means everything we do and are, (the legacy we live) is not about us but about God! This is so important. If we don’t keep this perspective, we will quickly fall into self-praise, self-glorification and self-importance. I think of the people at the tower of Babel who were conscious of the impact and impression they left on the world. They said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city…so that we may make a name for ourselves.” (Genesis 11:4 NIV) They were intent on leaving a legacy of their own greatness.

King Saul is another example of someone who began his kingship very humbly, and God commends him for it. But after a military victory, Saul decides his military prowess must be memorialized, so he builds a monument in his own honor, after which God takes his kingdom away.

On the other hand, I think of John the Baptist. He left an impact so great that Jesus says, “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.” (Matthew 11:11 NIV) Think about that—greater than even Abraham, Moses, and David.

What was John’s legacy? That he never built a monument to his legacy. He never sought self-praise, rather his legacy was an act of worship that culminated in the words: “I must decrease and he must increase.” This is why, when his followers left him to follow Jesus, John approved, saying, “I’m just the friend of the groom; he is the real deal.” John’s greatest effect was that he lived his legacy as an act of worship.

The prophet Jeremiah gives us some insight: “This is what the LORD says: ‘Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the Lord." (Jeremiah 9:23-24 NIV)

Our lives are not in what we have done, but what God has done through us. I find it fascinating that the Hebrew word for “boast” is the same Hebrew word used in “hallelujah.” So, our boast can either glorify God or glorify self. This is why David said, “My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad.” (Psalm 34:2)

So, live your legacy in such a way that brings “Glory to God” not “Glory to you.”

“Something is wrong!” I exclaimed. “It’s just too quiet…what is my son up to?” If you have ever raised kids, you can probably relate to these words. Typically, silence is golden—unless you have kids, then silence is suspicious. There is a verse in the Bible that confounds and puzzles readers and theologians alike. There is a moment of silence in heaven that is rather suspicious. It’s found in Revelation chapter 8 verse 1: “When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.”

“Uh-oh! Something is wrong. It’s too quiet. What is God up to?”

Now imagine with me for a second, silence in heaven itself. What is that about? Think about the entire heavenly realm, all the multitudes of angels, the countless crowds of the redeemed, the martyrs under the altar, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders, all hitting the mute button. It’s a silence so profound, you could hear a pin drop in the cosmos for half an hour?

Commentator after commentator will tell you the silence in heaven is a mystery. Many have come up with speculations, conjectures and jokes over the centuries about this passage. Yet I would suggest to you that if we read the following verses, we are given a profound insight into what is happening. Let’s read together… (this is so good!)

Revelation 8:2 says, “Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.”

Seven angels stand up before God and they’re handed seven trumpets. Now, trumpets in ancient Judaism weren't just for jazzy solos. They were multi-purpose instruments, often used in worship, battle, victory cries, triumphant entrances, sounding of alarms, or announcing a general's commands. But before the trumpeters can even clear their throats, something else happens; something that beautifully, and perhaps mysteriously, intertwines the realms of heaven and earth.

Revelation 8:3-4 says “And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.

What a beautiful picture. The entire book of Revelation is a mixture of vision and prayer. And here in chapter 8, the Apostle John deals with the issue of prayer in the most powerful, picturesque, practical way, as he reminds his people of the power of prayer. This text indicates to us that as our prayers (prayers of the saints) ascend before God on His golden altar, it’s as though God says, “Hush,” to the living creatures who cry, “Holy, Holy, Holy.” God says, “Hush,” to the twenty-four elders who praise him continually. He says, “Hush,” to the thousands of angels who serve him and execute his plans. God is rendering heaven completely and totally silent. Why?

It’s almost as if God is saying at this moment, nothing else has my attention except the prayers my children are offering to me. “I don’t want to miss a single word,” God says.

I know this is true of me with my son. When he is hurt, or needs my attention or my help, I drop all other distractions, all other noises vying for my attention and give him my undivided attention. Think of two people who are totally in love with each other. They can sit in a crowded, noisy restaurant for hours and be lost in conversation as though no one else is around. That's the idea in the verse. God is passionately in love with us, his children, and he doesn’t want to miss a single word we are saying. What a truth to internalize today! You have God’s undivided and complete attention when you pray.

In addition, our prayers are mixed with incense. Throughout scripture, incense speaks of intercession. Hebrews chapter 7 verse 25 says that Jesus Christ is our High Priest, who lives to make intercession for us. In other words, the incense of Jesus’ intercession on our behalf sweetens our prayers. According to this, the prayers of saints are like fragrance to God. They delight him. He smells in them a sweet remembrance of the character and righteousness of Jesus, the One who gave himself for us.

This is why David asked God, “May my prayer be set before you like incense.” (Psalm 141:2)

This indicates to us that our prayers matter to God. Our sincere prayers are valuable to God. They don’t have to be perfect, we don’t have to be perfect, we just need to come humbly before our God. Not only does God give us his undivided attention when we pray; our prayers move God to action.

Revelation 8 verse 5 continues, “Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.”

The Angel takes the censer of prayer, perfumed with intercession, and literally throws it back to Earth. If burning incense is symbolic of the prayers of saints who are imploring God to act, then returning that fire to Earth is a symbol of answered prayer. As the answer from God re-enters Earth's atmosphere, the whole world is shaken with incalculable effect. What a picture!!

Our prayers are heard and in due season the answer will shake the world!

This is why James says, “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” (5:16b) Acts 4:31 says, “And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.” The message is consistent: God’s people pray, and God acts in powerful ways in our experience on Earth.

I want to encourage you today not to underestimate the effects of your prayers. God is making clear here in Revelation chapter 8 that it is the prayers of his people that will bring about all that is happening in Revelation. And it’s the prayers of his people today that will be the means by which He works in the world today.

Be encouraged as you pray. You have God’s undivided attention, and as you pray, God acts. That is the testimony of Revelation chapter 8.

Are you tempted to think your prayers don’t matter? Do you ask, “God, do you even hear me? You seem distant, unresponsive, and silent.” If that’s you, remember this: sometimes God is silent, not because He is absent, but because He is about to act!

How will you “spend” your time in 2026? I’m sure most of us are thinking about and contemplating what the new year will be like. We all probably have plans, goals, hopes, desires and wishes for the new year. In my life, what I've found to be true is I’m good at focusing on certain milestones, dates and vacations when planning. I’m not so good at focusing on daily time management. Let’s face it, time management is a universal challenge. And even though there are dozens of apps for that, it always feels like a losing battle.

The Bible tells us to “redeem the time” (Eph. 5:16) and cautions about “the little foxes that spoil the vines.” (Song of Solomon 2:15). All the little moments throughout the day really impact how we live. How do we manage the “time sucks” that so easily entrap us? The time we don’t redeem that, before we know it, gets away from us and forms unintended habits that lead us into places we never imagined.

I recently came across a Harvard Business Review article about Ryan Serhant entitled, “How to Manage Your Time for Happiness.” Ryan is one of the most successful and well-known real estate brokers in the world. He is also a successful TV and social media personality, entrepreneur and author. He credits much of his success to a strategy he developed called the “1,000-minute rule.” Ryan says everyone is given 24 hours, or 1,440 minutes, in a day. About 440 of those minutes (7.5 hours) are taken up by eating, sleeping, and family time. The remaining 1,000 minutes are the waking time each day anyone can apply to advancing their career and achieving their goals.

Ryan said, “the 1,000-minute rule helps me stay quick in my decision making.”

Being a financial guy, he breaks down the 1,000 minutes as $1000 in your bank of time you get every day. Ryan claims this really brings perspective on how you use your time. For example, you get a bad text message, email or phone call in the morning that lasted 5 minutes and you let that affect the rest of your day. Subsequently the rest of your day is terrible. When you equate that to money, would you really throw away the other $995 because of 5 bucks? Probably not.

Ryan claims this perspective really helps him evaluate his time and his time usage.

I’m not sure I agree entirely with this approach. It seems rather rigid and perhaps grueling. However, I do think it raises a fundamental question we all have to consider: how can I manage and spend my time more wisely this new year?

Here is what I want to suggest as you think in terms of managing your daily time investment. Many of us structure and plan and prepare, which is important and life-giving, yet often unintentionally, we plan God right out of our lives. “There is no room at the inn,” is what Mary and Joseph were told as they were looking for a place to give birth to the Messiah. How often is this our story? There is no room for God in our business schedules.

Jesus taught us a powerful parable in Matthew 24. He reminds us that we need to be alert — for the Spirit of God can materialize in our lives at any moment. He says, “…keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

This passage is typically interpreted as an encouragement to be alert for Jesus’ Second Coming, which is right. But what if Jesus is also telling us to stay alert for the movement of the Spirit in our lives. If we are not awake and alert, we will miss the Lord’s coming as it comes when we least expect it. In other words, it wrecks our schedules and calendars. I call those moments, “divine appointments.” My friend calls them “God sightings.” Whatever you call it, it’s important to be disciplined with our time, but also to be aware of when God wants to interrupt us and show up in a new way.

God often comes to us when we least expect it — in the smile of a stranger, in the interruption of our schedules, in the unexpected text, in the glorious rainbow or that song on the radio. If we are not awake, we will miss God’s presence in our lives. So, my challenge is to be mindful and present in the moment, leaving room for God’s interruptions in 2026. What if your interrupted schedule is, in fact, what God intended all along?

Remember, “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." (Psalm 118:24)

God, in 2026 my prayer is that you would awaken us from our slumber and sleepwalking. Help us to have our eyes and our ears open to what you are doing in our world. Surprise us. Interrupt us. Move powerfully in and through us! Amen.

At Journey, we have set aside 21 days from January 4-21 as a season of prayer and fasting. When combined together, these two practices help eliminate distractions, refresh our spirit, and reconnect us with God more purposefully. I know I need a refresh after all the celebrations around the holidays. As we embark on a new year, may we start with God, acknowledging our total dependence on Him.

I am asking each of you to pray and consider how God is calling you to participate in this season with your Journey family. In addition to praying on your own, I encourage you to join us at Journey on Tuesday nights for our 6pm prayer time. Here are prayer points and recommended resources to guide you in your prayer and fasting journey...

Prayer Points

• For Journey to fulfill its mission to help people find and follow Jesus. Ask the Lord, “How do I help people find and follow Jesus this year?”
• For Journey to fulfill its three vision points in 2026:
  1. Equip people with a biblical worldview
  2. Serve as a house of healing and prayer
  3. Build stronger marriages and families
• For new commitments to Jesus and more disciples made in 2026.
• For more of God to be revealed in my life, in my church, my family and in this city.
• For clarity and vision for my life, for my church and for my family
• For direction and provision for future expansion of Journey Church, so we can reach more people for Jesus.

Additional Prayer Resources to Consider
WHEN TO PRAY?
In every situation, we should pray before we act. People often act first and then want God to bail them out of that situation, but prayer should be our first response, not our last resort. Simply understanding the necessity of prayer is not enough. For prayer to become part of our daily life, it needs to become something we look forward to. When you discover the beauty of daily conversation with Him, you’ll experience the presence of God in a way that will change your life! Pray first! Pray daily!

HOW TO PRAY?
We don’t have to follow a specific formula to talk with God, but practicing different ways to pray can help us find a deeper purpose and connection to Him. Suggestions to make your prayer time even more meaningful - take notes, or write down your prayer requests; play worship music in the background. The most important step is committing to regularly entering God’s presence each day. To understand how to have a lifestyle of prayer, we can look at the example Jesus gave during His life on earth: “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed.” Mark 1:35 NIV.


Here is a basic outline to help you get started:

• Have a specific TIME.  Make a daily appointment with God and keep it!
• Have a specific PLACE. Jesus had a specific place He went to pray. Having a designated place to pray helps us remove distractions and frees us to worship and pray out loud.
• Have a specific PLAN. When Jesus taught His disciples how to pray, He gave them a prayer outline we call “The Lord’s Prayer” (Matthew 6:9-13).

ADDITIONAL PRAYER RESOURCES
Prayer Starter Kit | Cru
Prayer Has Its Reasons - Focus on the Family
How to Pray: 11 Creative Ideas for Teaching Kids - Ministry Spark

Fasting
WHY FAST?
The goal of fasting is, to the best of my ability, to disconnect from the world and draw nearer to God. Biblical fasting always has to do with eliminating distractions for a spiritual purpose; it hits the reset button of our soul and renews us from the inside out. Remember, your personal fast (whatever you choose to give up or abstain from) should present a level of challenge, but it is very important to know your body, your options, and, most importantly, to seek God in prayer and follow what the Holy Spirit leads you to do.

WHEN TO FAST?
As a church, we have decided to do a 21-day period of fasting in conjunction with prayer to start off the year. This is intended to be a season of focused prayer as a church family. You may also choose to fast at other times during the year for your own spiritual development. It’s very typical to fast a single meal, a whole day, or three days or more consecutively. The timing of your fast is not as important as the strength of your focus on God as you fast.

HOW TO FAST? (Types of Fasts)

• Complete Fast: In this type of fast, you drink only liquids, typically water (light juices are optional).
• Selective Fast: This type of fast involves removing certain elements from your diet. One example of a selective fast is the “Daniel Fast”, during which you remove meat, sweets, and bread from your diet and consume water and juice for fluids and fruits and vegetables for food.
• Partial Fast: This fast is sometimes called the “Jewish Fast” and involves abstaining from eating any type of food in the morning and afternoon. This can either correlate to specific times of the day, such as 6:00 am to 3:00 pm, or from sunup to sundown.
• Soul Fast: This fast is a great option if you do not have much experience fasting food, have health issues that prevent you from fasting food, or if you wish to refocus certain areas of your life that are out of balance. For example, you might choose to stop using social media or watching television for the duration of the fast and then carefully bring that element back into your life in healthy doses at the conclusion of the fast.

(Matthew 6:16-18; 9:14-15, Luke 18:9-14, Acts 27:33-37, Nehemiah 9:1-3)

Additional Fasting Resources
7 Steps to Fasting | Cru
Personal Guide to Fasting | Cru

Praying with you and for you as we embark on this journey together.


Pastor Adrian

I have been deeply pondering Revelation 5:8 since Sunday’s message:

“And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.”

Have you ever thought of your prayers as the aroma of heaven? What a profound thought! Yet this is the imagery we get when we read Revelation 5. As we are given a glimpse into the throne room of God and get to experience the worship of heaven, we see the prayers of God’s people being a central part of the worship being offered. In fact, this is one of the few times in Revelation where we are specifically told what an image or symbol actually means.

In Exodus 30:1-10, Moses was told to build the “altar of incense.” This altar was one of the items inside the Holy Place of the tabernacle (just outside of the Holy of Holies) Exodus 30:8 tells us, “Incense will burn regularly before the Lord for the generations to come.” The altar of incense was placed before the veil that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. On the other side of the veil was where the presence of God was.

Aaron was instructed to burn incense on the altar each morning and at twilight, every day, as a regular offering to the Lord. The stipulation was that no other incense would ever be burned on the altar. In other words, “the prayers of God’s people” will always be present and serve as a sweet aroma before the very presence of God.

We see throughout biblical times that priests faithfully burned incense in the temple. Luke 1 records the story of a priest named Zechariah. He was burning incense in the temple with worshipers praying outside when an angel showed up “standing at the right side of the altar of incense” to tell him that he and his wife Elizabeth would become parents of the baby who would grow up to become John the Baptist (Luke 1:5-25).

This was the model that God set up. I believe this is the pattern that God wanted as the model for His church. The altar of incense to never go out. Jesus said, “Is it not written: 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a 'den of robbers.'” (Mark 11:17) Think about that! When prayer isn’t offered in his house, it angers God. He equates it to robbery. When was the last time you considered that you are robbing God by not praying? At minimum we are robbing ourselves of the blessing associated with doing it the way God prescribed.

Alexander MacLaren said it this way, “That which ascends as prayer descends as blessing, like the vapor that is drawn up by the kiss of the sun to fall in the freshening rain.”

Taking it one step further, the New Testament makes it clear that our bodies are now the temple of God—the dwelling place of the presence of God through the Holy Spirit. This is why in the New Testament we are told, "Pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17), meaning we are to maintain a constant, conscious awareness of God and communicate with Him throughout the day through prayer. In essence (pun intended), we are keeping the altar of incense burning always.

David said in Psalm 141:2, “May my prayer be set before you like incense,”

As I ponder these thoughts, I am strengthened and encouraged all the more to pray vigorously and passionately. Why? Because I know every prayer is brought before Jesus; everything is heard, no matter how big or small we think our prayer request is. God is able to instantaneously monitor, discern, and answer every prayer that has ever been spoken, thought, or offered to Him. And He is able to respond with the perfect answer to our prayers.

So pray boldly! God captures and records every prayer we pray.

And did you catch where? They are registered and recorded and preserved in “golden bowls.” I love the imagery. Gold is the most precious metal on earth. This is how God views our prayers. They are housed and stored in the most precious metal known to man—more precious and valuable than anything on earth!  That gives us insight into what God thinks about our prayers.

So next time you wonder if there is value in prayer—if you ever wonder about your prayers meaning anything or doing anything, or if prayer seems like you’re just talking to yourself—remember this: every single word you utter or ponder in your heart reaches the very throne room of God.  And during the worship of heaven, they are being offered as a sweet aroma before the Lamb who was slain.

Reverend Phillip Brooks was a famous Episcopalian preacher and author during the 1800s. A Harvard graduate and pastor, he was known for his powerful, eloquent sermons and deep spirituality. He later became the sixth bishop of Massachusetts. His big break came when he was invited to give the funeral address at President Abraham Lincoln’s memorial. Interestingly, no one remembers, quotes or refers to the eulogy. It is lost to the annals of history.

However, later that same year, 1865, Reverend Phillips Brooks made a trip to Israel. While there, he took a walk one night through the streets of a small insignificant town and wrote a song about it. That song would become an instant classic and one that became legacy-defining for Brooks. The song, “O Little town of Bethlehem,” still warms the hearts of so many.

Have you ever wondered why God chose Bethlehem as the birthplace of His Son?

The prophet Micah gives us insight into Bethlehem when he wrote, “But you, Bethlehem, David’s country, the runt of the litter—From you will come the leader who will shepherd-rule Israel. He’ll be no upstart, no pretender. His family tree is ancient and distinguished.” (Micah 5:2 Message paraphrase)

Bethlehem had no significance. It was not the premier hot spot of the world. If I were God, I think I would have had My Son born in Rome, the political center of the day. Word of His birth would have spread quickly, and people would have taken notice. Perhaps I would have chosen Athens, this was the intellectual center of the day. This was the home to philosophy, sages and intellectuals with deep intellectual insight that debated the meaning of life. Perhaps I would have chosen Jerusalem, the religious center of the day. With the grandeur of the temple, Jerusalem embodied the history and heritage of all spiritual matters.

Yet seven hundred years before Jesus’ birth, Micah tells us the Messiah would not be born in Rome, Athens, or Jerusalem, but in Bethlehem—a Podunk country community five miles outside of Jerusalem. The runt of the litter.

Bethlehem was home to misfits. It was home to shepherds who were ostracized by the religious elite. Shepherds were considered the lowest form of society. They were often known as thieves and criminals. Their testimonies were not even admissible in a court of law. Because of all the shepherds, Bethlehem was also home to the flocks of sheep owned by the priest that were used for sacrifices in the temple. This made shepherds ceremonially unclean and unable to participate in any temple worship. Even today, Bethlehem has sort of an outcast feel to it. There is nothing prestigious or interesting about Bethlehem. However, Bethlehem beautifully represents God and His heart towards people.

First, Bethlehem reflects our Lord's personality. Jesus makes only one autobiographical statement in the Bible. It’s found in Matthew 11:29, where he says, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart.

This was the posture of his heart! Therefore, it makes perfect sense why he would not be born into intellectual superiority, grandeur and glory or religious tradition and ceremony.

Meekness and humility makes Jesus relatable to everyone. Most of us are not born into famous, noble or powerful families. Nor are we in Athens with esteemed intellectuals. We are not even in Jerusalem, for we cannot claim to be ceremonially pure. We were all sinners, who were far from God. In essence, WE ARE Bethlehem! We are the misfits and outcasts. Thus, Jesus can be born in us!

Second, Bethlehem reveals our Lord’s Priority. Jesus said, “I came not to call the righteous, but the sinners.” (Matthew 9:13) In other words, Jesus is saying His priority is the people who are hurting, outcast and broken. I’ve come for the people who have real needs and to those that society has turned its back on and marginalized.

The very word "Bethlehem" is translated from the Hebrew which means, “house of bread.” Jesus would later self-identify with the bold declaration, “I am the bread of life.” As our bread, Jesus makes it clear that He is our only source of nourishment and satisfaction spiritually. Satisfaction does not come in empty religious ritual and activity. (Jerusalem) Satisfaction and joy does not come in our intellectual assent. (Athens) Our ultimate fulfillment is not found in amassing titles, opulence and wealth. (Rome)

Our only satisfaction, fulfillment, and joy come from Jesus Christ! Will you follow him to Bethlehem? To the place where no one will see you, or write articles about you or take selfies with you and applaud you? Jesus came to the obscure little village--the hurting, insignificant person…He came for you and me!

Finally, Bethlehem reminds us of our Lord's abilities. Had Jesus not come to this little town, it would never be known. It would still be insignificant to this day. Yet, He changed it. He made it a place highly esteemed in the hearts of all who love Him.

As I read the Gospels, I see Jesus doing the same thing with so many people he encounters. He takes those of little significance, and He transforms them. I think of Peter, just another simple Galilean fisherman. He encounters Jesus and becomes a giant of faith. I think of Matthew, a tax collector who was considered a traitor and hated by his fellow brothers. He encounters Jesus and it changes his life forever. I think of Mary Magdalene who was full of demons and a woman of ill repute. She encounters Jesus, and her life is transformed. She becomes the first person to encounter the miracle of an empty tomb, and some have called her the “first evangelist” as she runs to tell Peter and John. Over and over and over in the New Testament we see both men and women encounter Jesus, and their lives are never the same.

I think of my life...who I was and what I was prior to Jesus. It truly brings me to tears to see the transformation that has occurred in my life.

There are so many others whose lives have been changed for eternity because of an encounter with Jesus. These are men and women who simply said, “We’re not people of Jerusalem, Rome, Athens or Hollywood. We are people of Bethlehem. We know Jesus came for people like us, so leave Your mark on us!”

This is why Paul said, (another person who was radically transformed by Jesus) “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.” (1 Corinthians 1:27)

God specifically chose Bethlehem, because in doing so he proves his priority—He has come for the broken and hurting. He proves his personality; he is gentle and humble and gives grace to those who walk in humility. He proves his ability to change anybody and make them significant forever.

If you feel unworthy, insignificant and not put together today—be of good cheer, for you are a perfect candidate for a Bethlehem miracle.

I was recently challenged by the question, “Do you have any margin in your life?” I stopped, pondered that question and although I would like to say “yes,” I must admit, the honest answer is “NO!” And it is not just because I have a busy schedule or the holiday season is upon us. I just don’t have margin built into my schedule. Even while on vacation this past week, I worked. Maybe you can relate…

I was reading the story of Martha and Mary, the two sisters of Lazarus (Luke 10:38-42), and was reminded of a very troubling verse. “‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.’”

My default setting is Martha, and I am not a very good Mary. How do I know when the line is crossed and I’m out of balance? It’s when I begin to “worry and get upset about many things” (trivial, non-essential things). Jesus says, “Only one thing is needed…and it’s better.” What is it? The heart of Mary, who rested in His presence.

Dr. Richard Swenson is a physician and a futurist, who wrote a 1990’s book entitled, “Margin.” He describes modern society as harried, hassled, and overloaded with no room left for rest. He identified America as being “drowsy” and the “age of depressed anxiety.” He says, “Overload is not having time to finish the book you’re reading on stress. Margin is having time to read it twice. Overload is fatigue. Margin is energy. Overload is red ink. Margin is black ink. Overload is hurry. Margin is calm. Overload is anxiety. Margin is security. Overload is a disease of our day. Margin is the cure.”

One could argue margin is Mary, overload is Martha. How do we find margin? How do we find “divine proportion” that creates the space we need to think, reflect, breathe, recharge and operate at our best? How do we avoid margin erosion?

Coffee! That’s been my answer! Just drink more coffee, stay up later and “get ‘er done.” In fact, according to a recent Travel Oregon article there are 80 coffee roasters in Portland alone! Even Vancouver is becoming a small coffee mecca. There must be a better solution than coffee… Thankfully there is.

God’s ideal for emotional, physical and spiritual well-being is the practice of the lost art of the Sabbath. In fact, the Sabbath was given as a principle of moral behavior in the 4th commandment. (Deut. 5)

The Hebrew word for Sabbath is Shabbat, which literally means "to cease,” to “stop and rest.” Diana Ross and the Supremes sing it best, “Stop! In the name of love. Before you break my heart.” Without stopping, you will break.

God himself modeled the example during creation. Genesis 2:1-2 says, “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day He rested from all his work.”

Think about this: creation's climatic culmination is that of stopping. God is not resting because He was tired or needs to, but He models an example for us. God stopped to show us that what we create becomes meaningful to us only once we stop creating it and start to think about why we did. GOD stops, looks at creation, and says, “It is good!”

God’s message is plain: “If creation didn’t crash when I rested, it won’t crash when you do.” Jesus, while on earth, also modeled this for us. He would often separate himself from others in a private place for a period of time. He took moments to disconnect from the things of this world in order to reconnect intimately with God.

Unquestionably, most of us know the value of rest and sabbath, yet our problem is what do we do during this rest? Many just sit and watch sports or binge-watch shows. Others spend time scrolling aimlessly on social media. Many spend time with family and friends or go on walks, while others frequent the aforementioned 80+ coffee houses. Those things all have value, as we do just need mindless activities from time to time.

Yet, I would suggest the real answer of what to do with your sabbath comes to us in the form of an invitation. The invitation is from Jesus in Matthew 11. I love how the Message paraphrases this passage, “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

Three words stick out to me: Come, watch and learn.

To the tired, worn out and burned-out, Jesus says, “Come.” The invitation is open to all. This is more than just an academic exercise or a mental ascent. It’s a call for priority, commitment, dedication and surrender. Many things call us to “come,” but not all those things are healthy. Only one thing is needed: a healthy renewal of our tired souls by coming to the great physician who gives us the prescription for abundant life.

Jesus then says, “Watch how I do it.” In a world full of influencers, who is influencing you? Whose voice do you trust and follow amidst the cacophony of so many voices? Repeatedly, throughout the ministry of Jesus he would invite people to “follow Him.” The invitation was to come and see, come and watch, come and imitate. Ephesians 5:1 says, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.” The NIV translates it as, “Follow God’s example” and the Message says, “Watch what God does, and then you do it.” The Greek term for "imitate," is the root of our English word, "mimic." In other words, become a person who copies the words and behaviors of Jesus. In ancient times, students were expected to imitate their teachers as part of their training. This may be heresy but I would say it this way, “Jesus is our chief influencer.”

Finally, to the troubled mind, Jesus says, “Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.” (What a great line). Learning is a process. It takes time, effort and commitment. Yet, grace is unforced, meaning grace will flow naturally when we “come” and “watch” (imitate) the example of Jesus. Therefore, grace is not a burden, rather a delight. When Jesus spoke of “the unforced rhythms of grace,” He means that there is an ease and enjoyment when you walk in His grace. This is in contrast to the struggle and strain found in self-effort that we are sold on every day by our culture. Everything around us tells us to do more, to try harder, to get ahead and stay ahead.

Jesus says, Stop. Rest. Let grace empower you to live an effective and glorious life. In fact, Jesus said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

John Piper said it this way, “Grace is Power, not just pardon!” It is God acting generously and powerfully to do for us what we cannot do ourselves.

The Apostle Peter would define it this way, “May grace and peace be multiplied to you…His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness."

In essence, grace is the divine power that enables us to go beyond our natural ability. But it requires us to rest in it, to learn it, and to let it influence and shape our heart.

The Apostle Peter continues and then tells us in verse 4, “by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature." (2 Peter 1:4) This means grace has given us the fullness of the essential qualities and character of Jesus himself. That’s power!

As we embark on this holiday season and you sense yourself becoming Martha, “worrying and upset about many things,” know that your margin is being infringed upon at that moment. That’s when you have crossed a line and may not be in the rhythm of Sabbath. In the moment, find an opportunity to stop, rest, get refueled and remember the true source of power comes by retreating to him, watching and learning.

The holiday season is upon us! I see it in my neighborhood as homes are quickly filling up with lights and decorations. Christmas tree farms seem to be popping up everywhere, Christmas music is starting on the radio, Christmas movies are trending, and the National Retail Federation is projecting sales exceeding 1 trillion dollars this year for the first time ever. Queue up Andy Williams' song, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” Fa-la-la! (said tongue-in-cheek).

What is your favorite aspect of the holiday season?

Perhaps my favorite, are the parties. What a great way to spend time with family and friends, especially around holiday food. Yet almost every year, without fail, many of these parties sadly turn into “Haman parties.” Let me explain…

Esther is one of the great stories of the Bible. The story of Esther is about a Jewish orphan who becomes the queen of Persia and saves her people from genocide. To this day the Jewish people celebrate the courage of Esther and God’s great victory with a celebration known as “Purim.”

A key character in this story is a man named Haman, the Agagite. He was the advisor to the King and was the main antagonist of the Jews. In fact, during Purim, when Haman is mentioned, the people are to boo, hiss, make noise and stomp their feet. They would also shout out in Hebrew, "yimakh shemo" which means, “may his name be blotted out.” It's one of the strongest curses in Hebrew. Haman, who was driven by retribution (See 1 Samuel 15 for Haman's possible ancestry), had a deep hatred for the Jews and wanted their eradication.

One of the most interesting moments in the story is when Haman gets confronted by Mordecai, the Jewish elder who has refused to bow down to him or venerate him. Though Haman has been highly honored by the king and is held in esteem, he perceives that he has been disrespected by a commoner, and this arouses his fury. He responds by throwing a party for himself. Let’s call it the first “Haman party.”

Haman summoned his wife and friends and dignitaries to flex about himself. He told stories of himself, his honors, his accolades, and his accomplishments. He “recounted to them the splendor of his riches, the number of his sons, all the promotions with which the king had honored him, and how he had advanced him above the officials and the servants of the king.” (Esther 5:11) For a whole evening, he bragged and blabbered about himself. Sounds like an awesome party, doesn’t it?!

Yet, if we are honest, we can all be Haman at times. We can all be a bit self-centered and braggadocious about US. This is especially heightened during the holidays. Think about it, when you’re at a party with family and friends you haven’t seen in a while, what is the first thing you ask or get asked, “How are things going? How has life been? What’s new in your world?” And that little prompt is all that we need to start our soliloquies about ourselves. “Well now that you ask…”

It comes naturally for us to talk about ourselves, especially when we feel insecure and vulnerable around others. We often respond to our phobias and insecurities by bragging about our meager personal accomplishments instead of acknowledging God, who deserves all the credit for all our accomplishments. The “pride of life” is a trap that many of us can easily fall victim to, at times even without realizing it.

So how do we avoid this trap? How do prevent Haman parties? Gratitude!

This is why giving thanks is so important! I love that “Thanksgiving” starts the holiday season. (Maybe it’s on purpose). Gratitude is the antidote to pride. Gratitude fosters humility and an acknowledgment of dependence on God. Psalm 9:1 says, "I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds."
 
Conversely, pride is rooted in a sense of inflated self-importance and self-sufficiency. It often comes from a heart full of fear, insecurity, and self-doubt.

As you celebrate Thanksgiving this year, let it set the tone and pace for your entire holiday season. Be aware of the universal temptation to consider yourself the most fascinating subject in the world. Boo, hiss, and cry "yimakh shemo” when it happens! Let Haman be blotted out of you during this holiday season as you practice gratitude!

Is God jealous of us or for us? Of or for? I have been giving a lot of thought lately to these two little words as they relate to jealousy, which John Dryden, a 16th century philosopher, once called “the jaundice of the soul.” The Bible calls it, “as cruel as the grave” (Song of Solomon 8:6) and a “cancer in the bones,” (Prov 14:30) while others have called it the “green-eyed monster” and “a guaranteed grave.”

There is much written about the dangers of a jealous heart, and it’s been the downfall of humanity since our very beginning. In Genesis 4 it was Cain’s jealousy of his brother, Abel, that led to murder. Yet, what I find interesting is the Bible calls God, a jealous God. How could an emotion which we all agree is evil and cancerous be attributed to a pure and holy God? This is an argument I hear a lot from people who deconstruct or who question God’s character. What people often miss is the distinction between these two prepositions, of and for, which changes the entire narrative.

When we as people are jealous of someone, we are envious toward that person because they often have something we want or have attained something we want to attain. (i.e. status, success, material possessions) When we let jealousy and envy into our heart, it often results in bitterness and sadness. Consider the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32): when the elder brother watched his father celebrate the homecoming of his delinquent younger brother, he refused to cheer along!

Moreover, if we are honest, jealousy causes us to secretly celebrate and rejoice when a person we envy is struggling.

Conversely, when we are jealous for someone, it often has to do with our concern for that person’s wellbeing. We are jealous for their protection, and highest good. For example, you often see fathers being jealous “for” their daughters’ intimate relationships. Therefore, they intervene, express concern, and set boundaries to protect them against being harmed, betrayed or worse.

Being “jealous of” is rooted in envy and competition, only focused on oneself. Being “jealous for” is rooted in protective concern that’s focused on another person.

When the Bible describes God as being a jealous God, it is in relation to being jealous for us. Even in correction and rebuke, God is looking to protect us against harm and heartbreak. So, passages like 2 Corinthians 11:2, Joel 2:18, Zechariah 1:14, Zechariah 8:2 and Exodus 20:5 speak to God’s loving and protective nature toward us.

God is jealous on our behalf. He is jealous for us to know the one true God. He is jealous for us to be in a posture of blessing. He is jealous for us to be kept from the evil one. He is jealous for us to be ready for our Bridegroom. He is jealous for us to not suffer and fall victim to the pain and hardship of the enemy’s schemes. In fact, it was God in His jealousy that sent Jesus to us and redeemed us to Himself. This is why our allegiance, worship and surrender are so important to God.

So the next time you feel tempted to flirt with the world or to give your affections to anything or anyone other than God, remember that his heart burns with jealous commitment to you. It’s not because God is jealous of you, rather He is jealous for you, and has a deep commitment and passion to protect the loving relationship He has with you.

I love how John Piper sums it up:

“In Jesus Christ, God offers himself to all, to all as a great Savior, a great treasure, an all-satisfying pleasure. 'In your presence there is fullness of joy, at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).'  And his jealousy is a massive emotional thunderclap that says, ‘I mean it: I’m your Savior. I’m your treasure. I’m your pleasure. I really mean it. Don’t turn away.’”

This year has been the year of memorization in the Bucur home. This summer especially, I worked hard to help my son memorize important passages of scripture. I have focused on passages that would bring him confidence, encouragement and remind him of the faithfulness of His God. When we got to Psalm 23, my son said, "I think I know that one." I said, "Ok! Let me hear it…” He responded, "Oh it’s something about the Lord is my shepherd and in the valley of death I will not fear." “That’s a really good start, but there is so much more than that,” I replied. Let me remind you of Psalm 23:

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
They comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Psalm 23 may be one of the most well-known and loved passages in the entire Bible—and for good reason. In fact, when I was doing funerals as a chaplain, it was the most requested passage to be read, especially by non-Christians. That should not surprise us, as the words are extremely comforting and symbolic of the great care of God towards his people.

The verse that always gets emphasized at funerals is Psalm 23:4, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me." Powerful and comforting words! There is no evil to fear for God is with us even when we experience death. But like I told my son, “That’s a really good start, but there is so much more than that.” Let me give you the reason why you should have confidence today, no matter what you are going through.

Psalm 23:2-3 tells us, “He leads us beside still waters and into paths of righteousness.” This means, as the Good Shepherd, He is ahead of me, leading and making a way. It then says in verse 4 that His “rod and [His] staff, comfort me.” The rod is a symbol of strength and protection against all my enemies. Meaning, I can rely on him to fend off my enemies and fight for me. Truly, the battle belongs to God. I don’t have to fight. He fights my battles. (Exodus 14:14) The staff symbolizes His loving kindness and also identifies Him as our shepherd who calls out to us and gently guides us away from danger and into “green pastures that restore our soul” (ultimately guiding us to eternal life, see John 10:27-29). So his staff and his rod are to the sides of me.

Verse 5 says that He "anoints my head with oil,” which, according to the prophet Isaiah, is the “oil of joy, during my mourning.” (Isa. 61:3) There is a joy that God downloads into our minds and over our heads that now “overflows” even during the worst moments and seasons of life.

Are you catching the imagery? God is now over the top of me with His joy, pouring it on lavishly as “the joy of the Lord is our strength.” (Neh. 8:10)

Lastly, verse 6 says, His “goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” That means he is coming up from behind me with his goodness and mercy. In other words, what holds me up, and keeps me from falling, all the while propelling me forward is his goodness and mercy. (Isa. 52:12)

So if you put it all together, God is leading me down the right paths. God is over top of me, guarding me with joy. God is to the left of me with his strength and protection. He's also to the right of me with his loving kindness. And if that's not enough, He's coming up from behind me with his goodness and mercy for the rest of the days of my life.

So, now let’s go back to verse 4. Why can I walk through the valley of the shadow of death and not fear and not even be rattled? It’s because I'm completely surrounded by God!! The Good Shepherd has me on every side. I am completely covered.

Psalm 125:2 says, "As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people, from this time forth and forevermore."

Imagine with me the geographic picture of this verse. It is in Jerusalem, so that’s the place where the temple was, where God’s presence dwelled among His people. And then picture mountains surrounding Jerusalem as a picture of protection. The psalmist says that just like mountains surround the city, so the Lord surrounds His people. It’s the feeling of envelopment. He’s more than just with you; He is our mountain range! That’s the picture the Psalmist gives here and in Psalm 23. We are enveloped by the peace and protection and power and provision of God, not just temporarily, but forever. Both Psalm 125, and Psalm 23 end with the idea of "forever." "The Lord surrounds his people forever," and "I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Wow!

Whatever you are facing today, let this reality “restore your soul.” It’s not about our strength; we are weak and vulnerable sheep. Yet, in that vulnerable condition we are completely surrounded and enveloped like mountain ranges, by our Father, the Good Shepherd.

This is the reason you should be confident today!

One Sunday, after service, we received an anonymous connection card with the question, “What does, ‘Here I raise my Ebenezer’ mean?'" You may think this is an odd request, unless you know that we had just sang the hymn, Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing, which contains that line. What does Ebenezer mean? And what does it mean for it to be raised?

The meaning of Ebenezer originates more than a thousand years before Jesus Christ, during the ministry of the prophet Samuel. In I Samuel, the Philistines had defeated the Israelites and had captured the Ark of the Lord. God dealt harshly with the Philistines and after some time, they returned it. (You ought to read I Samuel 5-7. It’s a very interesting story!) As this story unfolded, Israel returned to the Lord, and Samuel offered sacrifices and cried out on their behalf to the Lord.

In I Samuel 7, the Philistines attacked the people of Israel who were outnumbered and in fear for their lives. They pled with the prophet Samuel to pray for God’s help. Samuel offered a sacrifice and prayed for protection, and God responded in a mighty way. After this great victory against the Philistines “Samuel took a stone and set it up…and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, ‘Till now the Lord has helped us.’ So the Philistines were subdued and did not again enter the territory of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.” (1 Samuel 7:12-13)

In Hebrew, Ebenezer literally means “stone of help” (eben = stone; ezer = help). The stone that Samuel raised was a reminder to the Israelites of what the Lord had done for them. This Ebenezer quite literally was a monument set up to remember the great help that God granted the one raising the stone. So, to raise your Ebenezer is literally a reminder of how God has come to your rescue and a reminder of who He is.

Samuel wanted the people to remember, not just for a few days...but for years, for decades, for generations...how God had come to the rescue of his people when they humbled themselves before him.

David would say in Psalm 62:6, “[God] only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken." The author of Hebrews also tells us, “Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8) In other words, if God helped the Israelites, if God helped us before, why should we think He won’t help us through the next difficulty?

This is why we need to “raise our Ebenezer.” It’s the way we remember our “stone of help” and His faithfulness. This is why, over and over, we are reminded in the Psalms to “remember.” Remember, “The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble". (Psalm 9:9) Perhaps the most important thing we can do when facing a hard situation is to remember our “stone of help!”

What is your place or stone of remembrance? Do you have an Ebenezer? If you don’t, I would encourage you to find your Ebenezer. It may look different for you. It may be a creek, a tree, a boulder, a landmark, a place. Whatever it is, set something up that you will see on a regular basis that reminds you of God’s protection, provision and providence.

I have a small river stone sitting on my desk. It is my “Ebenezer.” It is a constant reminder that when difficulties come, when a problem arises, when I have to go around that mountain yet one more time, the Lord has helped me and will continue to help me once more.

Listen to the words of the hymn:
“Here I raise my Ebenezer;
hither by thy help I’m come;
and I hope, by thy good pleasure,
safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God;
he, to rescue me from danger,
interposed his precious blood.”

Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025, is the International Day of Prayer for persecuted Christians. So often we forget about our brothers and sisters who stand as bold witnesses in the world’s most difficult and dangerous places to follow Christ. Hebrews 13:3 tells us to “remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.”

I think of the Nigeran church who is experiencing a “genocide” right now. Christians are being hunted and killed by the Islamic terrorist group, Boko Haram. Some estimate that over 7000 Christians have been killed in 2025 alone. China has launched a major crackdown on the country's Christians this week ahead of Chinese president Xi and President Trump's meeting.

All over the world, right now, our brothers and sisters are being abducted, marginalized, persecuted, killed and their churches and communities destroyed. These people truly understand what it means to “carry their cross.” I would encourage you to pray for them not only on Sunday, but throughout the month of November. In fact, we should constantly be in prayer for our brothers and sisters who are being persecuted all over the world.

My mentor, in my twenties, was a man that experienced persecution from the Communist party in Romania. For years, he was imprisoned, tortured and severely beaten for his faith alongside Richard Wurmbrand. From time to time, he would recall the horrors that he endured, some which still had lasting effects on his psyche and body. There is one powerful story that I’ll never forget surrounding communion. (As a church we will take communion this Sunday) While imprisoned with many other Christians their faith would be weak and often wane. They desperately needed some spiritual encouragement, so they decided to take communion with “nothing.” No church, no bibles, no pews, no music, no juice or crackers—just through faith. My mentor said it was the "most impactful spiritual experience" he ever had. It was a profound story indeed.

In fact, Richard Wurmbrand wrote about it, and his article was published in September 2025, Voice of the Martyrs magazine. (Vol. 59 No.9) Be encouraged as you read…

“Years of prison passed. We were very hungry for food, for love. Nobody ever smiled, helped us, or spoke nice words. We were hungry for the printed page, we were hungry for the face of a human, and we were hungry for one more thing — Holy Communion.

But how were we to take Holy Communion? We were alone in our cells, so we would not gather in fellowship. We did not have even one slice of bread a week, and where would we get wine in a subterranean, Communist prison cell? We had no Bible and no hymn book. We had nothing.

At once we realized that we had something after all, something called “nothing.” Now what is the value of this “nothing”? The Communists had taken our families, houses, furniture, libraries and churches. They had taken our clothing. They had even taken away our names and given us a number.

We had nothing, so in this half-dark prison cell we began to think about the value of “nothing.”

We all loved this world, with its beautiful multicolored butterflies, chirping birds, scented flowers, and laughing children. Then we recalled what God had used to make this beautiful world: He created it out of nothing.

In churches, Holy Communion is taken with bread, bread is made with flour, and flour is made from wheat. Out of what is wheat made? God made it out of nothing. In Holy Communion, churches use wine or grape juice. Wine is made from grape juice, grape juice is made from grapes, and grapes grow on vines. God has made the vines out of nothing. So “nothing” is a very valuable material.

On a Sunday morning, we decided to take Holy Communion with nothing. At a certain moment, we gave a signal through the wall from one end of the corridor to the other. And at the same moment, we took nothing in our hands, and we thanked God for it.

We ate nothing and remembered the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was broken for us.

Now I would commend no church to partake in Holy Communion like this. I believe things in the church should be done exactly as written in the Word of God. The best practices to follow in the church are those of the first Christians, so take Holy Communion as it is written by the first Christians.

Still, we can learn from persecuted Christians who must do otherwise in special circumstances. We should learn from them the value of “nothing.” I believe. The persecuted Christians can help us more than we can help them. We can help them with a few coins or big checks. They can help us with something more than that: They can help us realize the value of “nothing,” the detachment from things of this world and attachment to our heavenly Bridegroom.”

“Pause, rest, trust…bring it to God.”

Have you ever felt overwhelmed or unsure of yourself in the face of life’s challenges and difficult situations? Maybe you’re in the middle of one right now. Often these circumstances overwhelm us as we scramble for answers and solutions.

If you are anything like me, your first response to unexpected tragedy, turmoil, and pain isn’t always praise and faith. When we find ourselves in the depths of despair, it’s easy to lose sight of our spiritual foundation. We want to have faith and pursue God in every situation, but hard circumstances have a way of giving us spiritual amnesia. We lose sight of God, his promises and his prior faithfulness to us.

This was the story of Hezekiah. (2 Kings 18:13-19:37) Hezekiah was a righteous king known for his faith and religious reforms, who reigned from approximately 715 to 686 BC. His story is found in 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, and Isaiah. Hezekiah loved the Lord and had a deep walk with Him. Nevertheless, he found himself in real difficulty when he heard that Sennacherib and his million-man Assyrian army were marching towards Jerusalem.

The Assyrians had been unbeatable in battle, and unparalleled in brutality. They invented the siege strategy, the battering ram and death by crucifixion. Beyond the torture, murder and cruelty afflicted on their victims, they would often stockpile their victims’ bodies at the entrance of their defeated cities as a way of inflicting psychological torment. The Assyrian message was clear: “This is what we do. This is who we are. You are next.”

Now imagine being Hezekiah and this unstoppable force is at your doorstep. What do you do? It’s often the same dilemma and fear we are faced with when cancer, unemployment, death, bad diagnoses, wayward children, depression, anxiety and creditors are at our doorstep. What do we do? How do we respond?

The first thing Hezekiah does is try to solve his problem financially by attempting to bribe Sennacherib with the gold that was in the Temple. His plan, of course, backfired because the sight of the gold only increased Sennacherib’s determination to plunder Jerusalem. Hezekiah’s next plan was to build an alliance with Egypt. “You guys have horses and soldiers, and military might at your disposal,” he said. “Ally with us because if Sennacherib beats us, you’ll be next.”

At that moment, Isaiah the prophet comes on the scene and gives a poignant prophecy to Hezekiah: “Woe to the obstinate children,” declares the Lord, “to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin; who go down to Egypt without consulting me; who look for help to Pharaoh’s protection, to Egypt’s shade for refuge. This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. (Isaiah 30:1-2, 15)

In other words, “What God wants from you in this crisis, in this hour of need is to return to Him, wait on Him and be quiet before Him.” (Psalm 46:10) In times of uncertainty, we long for strength and confidence; yet, we seldom pair them with quietness, rest and trust. But God told Hezekiah, strength and confidence come when we press pause, step back and get clarity.

Maybe you’re facing a difficult and challenging season. What “saviors” are you looking to for strength and support? Is it money? Allegiances with certain people? Your own ingenuity and cleverness? I wonder if today you’re screaming out to these things saying, “Help me!” “Save me!” When all along the Lord would say, “Pause, rest, trust… Come to Me.”

The Apostle Paul tells us something very similar in Philippians 4:6, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” “Prayer” refers to general communion with God; “petition” refers to specific requests. In essence, Paul is saying, “Be anxious about nothing. Pray about everything. Give thanks for anything. Pause, rest, trust…bring it to God.”

After realizing his own resources were futile, Hezekiah receives a threatening letter from Sennacherib which gives him no other option. Hezekiah goes to the temple to pray to God and he lays out the letter before God as an act of surrender, trust and faith.

“And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. Then Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said: “O Lord God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore, they destroyed them. Now therefore, O Lord our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord God, You alone.” (2 kings 19:14-19 NKJV)

Hezekiah's actions were a demonstration of trust that God was the one who could save Jerusalem from the Assyrian army. Not the king, or the temple itself, or certain allegiances, or clever strategy. By spreading the letter in the temple, Hezekiah was laying the matter in the hands of a mighty capable God.

“Seek the Lord,” Isaiah said, and Hezekiah did just that. As Sennacherib continued to march, things looked ominous when suddenly, “That night the angel of the Lord went out to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. When the surviving Assyrians woke up the next morning, they found corpses everywhere. Then King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and returned to his own land. He went home to his capital of Nineveh and stayed there. (2 Kings 19:35-36)

What do we learn from Hezekiah? We can approach God in the same way during our need for deliverance. Hezekiah’s strength was found when he did not hesitate to take his needs to the Lord. Our greatest strength is when we take things to God. Whatever you may be facing, be encouraged! He heard Hezekiah; he heard Samuel and Paul and Moses—and He hears us too.

Psalm 34:4 says, “I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.”

Being delivered “from all my fears” does not imply that challenges and threats cease to exist. God delivering me from all my fears is not merely about escaping danger but about experiencing a divine sense of calm that surpasses human understanding. But to achieve deliverance from fear requires total reliance on God. Make this your testimony today! “I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.”

When I dropped my son off at school this morning, I realized I forgot to tell him, “I love you.” As he was walking away, I honked the horn to get his attention, and he came back to the truck and said, “Yeah, dad?” “I love you son,” I replied. He said, “I love you too Dad,” and walked away with a smile on his face.

I want to remind you this morning, “I love you!” I forget to share that often. But, more importantly “God loves you!” And I think we forget that often. John 17:23 tells us, “I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”

Did you catch it? God loves you as much as He Loves Jesus, His only son. Maybe you’re thinking, “there is no way!” Over the years, I’ve heard many come up with all types of ways to interpret this verse. “Jesus must have only meant the disciples who were seated around the table at the last supper, after all, they were the ones who spread the gospel to the known world and all but one were martyred for their faith.” Yet, this is not true. That would make His love a conditional love based on our behavior. God’s love for us is separate from what we do for Him.

Others argue, “well this was spoken to a group of special men chosen by God and placed on earth at that time for him to love more than others.” This is not true either. In the same prayer Jesus starts and says, “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message.”

Still others would say, “Well you see, I’ve messed up so terribly, that there is NO WAY God can love me unconditionally.” Yet that is a lie also. The Bible gives us a great description of God’s love: “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” (1 Cor. 13:7-8) God’s love never fails. It never fades, weakens or becomes obsolete. Why? His love for you isn’t based on your behavior but on His character and identity. The Bible tells us God is love.

There are many passages throughout scripture that describe the love of God. One that I love is Psalm 103. I would encourage you to read it in its entirety. The Psalmist tells us, “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding (full) in steadfast love.” (v. 8) “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him.” (v. 11) “But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him.” (v. 17)

In this passage, the word that is used for love is the Hebrew word Hesed. Hesed is a word that is difficult to translate directly into English, but conveys a combination of steadfast love, mercy, kindness, and loyalty, often in a covenantal context. It describes a powerful, enduring, and often undeserved love that motivates compassionate and merciful behavior. This is the heart of God for you. God loves you genuinely, immutably and loyally. This is the type of love he overwhelms us with.

When God spoke to Moses and gave him the 10 commandments, this is what God said about himself, “The Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out, “Yahweh! The Lord! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.” (Exodus 34:6) “Unfailing Hesed” is how God self-identifies. This is best understood as a love that does not change. It does not decrease, or increase based on our actions. It is not provisional to who we are but conditional to who He is! In fact, over 120 times the word Hesed is mentioned in the Psalms. Do you know how many times it’s in reference to our love towards Him? Zero. It’s always his unfailing, loyal love towards us!

C.S. Lewis said, “He loves us not because we were lovable, but because He is love.”

Timothy Keller would put it this way, “The only love that won’t disappoint you is one that can’t change, that can’t be lost, that is not based on ups and downs of life or how well you live. It is something that not even death can take away from you. God’s love is the only thing like that.”

Today, like then, this blows our mind. We can’t comprehend it. Neither could David as he penned the Psalms. He would often attempt to describe God’s love through parallelism: "Your love is like a fortress, a place of protection, your love is my strength, Your love is like a mountain, your love reaches to the heavens and it’s like the great deep."

The Apostle Paul would pray it this way when praying for the Ephesian church, “I pray that you may have the strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth of this great love! It surpasses knowledge!” (Ephesians 3:18-19)

Whatever you are dealing with today—life change, illness, loss, unemployment, relocation, hardship and pain—be comforted, knowing that God’s love doesn’t change. God loves you period! Often our human relationships have conditioned us to measure love by “ifs, maybes, and because." "I'll love you if you do this.” Or, “I love you because you did that.” Most of us struggle with even imagining that a love without some sort of condition even exists. Yet, God wants us not only to know that such a love does exist and to believe it and receive it. Receiving the love of God, daily for us, is more important than us loving God. If we don’t receive the love, we can’t love back with the same value received.

Before we can do anything, we must receive God’s love for us.

I want to rebrand, ASAP! You’ve probably noticed the surge of marketing rebranding that has recently occurred. Everything from Cracker Barrel to Pepsi, Adobe, LG, Walmart, Lamborghini, Nokia (didn’t even think they were still around), even Amazon. Seemingly everyone is rebranding! Consequently, I want to rebrand, ASAP.

Let me explain what I mean. The acronym “ASAP” typically means “as soon as possible.” We say things like, "I need you to come home ASAP. I’ll need that report ASAP. I’ll be there ASAP. Clean up your room ASAP" (I’ve been known to use that once or twice with my son).

ASAP is typically used to express urgency and the need for a task or request to be prioritized and completed quickly. It also has a sense of harshness to it. It can produce anxiety and even fear, adding more stress and hurry to our already busy lives. In fact, Forbes named emails with ASAP in the subject header among the five rudest. In addition, when overused it can become meaningless and even be misinterpreted.

Therefore, I propose we rebrand ASAP: as soon as possible to ASAP: always say a prayer! When you feel hurried and have no time to spare, ASAP—always say a prayer! When there is family drama and quality time is rare, ASAP—always say a prayer! When you are worried about the situation or the diagnosis and it’s more than you can bear, ASAP—always say a prayer!

This is actually a biblical command. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, “pray continually.” (ASAP) As pithy as this sounds, it almost seems harder than the original ASAP. How am I to pray continually!? This seems unreasonable, untenable and unrealistic. How do I ASAP—always say a prayer? Who has the time? Does anyone do this?

Let me help you with this command. I don’t think “praying continually” means that we are 24/7, verbally and mentally, always, every second, petitioning God. However, what I think he means by “pray without ceasing” is that over and over, always, repeatedly, without fail and often, my mind and heart are postured toward the Lord's stirring.

A modern way of thinking about this is the term “mindfulness” or “being mindful.” Psychologically, mindfulness could be described as being present in the moment. It’s the state of being self-aware of your emotions, feelings and bodily sensations as you interact with things in life.

Spiritually, mindfulness or being mindful, is paying attention to every moment with curiosity (God sightings), opportunity (God movings) and acceptance (God’s blessings). In other words, being mindful of the ways God is moving, speaking and acting. When we are presently aware of His very essence and presence in all that we do, and all the things He is doing in the world, we can prayerfully join Him in what He is doing.

Jesus said it this way, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. (John 15:4,7)

This is the secret to ASAP: Abide. To be mindful and presently aware of God. I looked up the word Abide in the original Greek language. It means to “to exist permanently in, inseparably united with.” When we are inseparably united (dwelling in this continual state) with God, we will pray without ceasing because we are spiritually mindful of all that He is doing around us.

“Lord, make us all ASAP disciples!” AMEN!

God demands to be first in your life!

The book of 1 John closes with a simple warning. “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols (1 John 5:21). The New Living Translation says it this way, “Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God's place in your hearts.”

The famous quote by Ricky Bobby, in the movie Talladega Nights comes to mind, “If you ain't first, you're last.” This may seem like a silly example from a silly movie, but the point stands. If God is not first in our hearts, then does he really have our hearts? David’s prayer in Psalm 86:11 says, “Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear [revere and prioritize] your name." When our hearts are divided, we open the door to idols taking prominence in our life.

What comes to mind when you think of an idol or Idolatry? Some may think of shrines and statues, religion or folklore, maybe mythology. For others it's often associated with things we like, prefer, or try to imitate. I recently heard someone say when debating about the greatest basketball player of all time, “Michael Jordan is my idol.” We often look to celebrities or politicians or wise sages as idols. We even normalized it in popular culture with a show called “American Idol.” Now many of us would argue, “this is innocent” and “we don’t really idolize or worship these things.” But are we sure?

According to the bible, an idol is anything more important to you than God. It’s anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to get what only God can give. When “things” take God’s place in our lives, we are guilty of idolatry. While ancient idols were often physical objects or deities, modern idols can be more abstract, including wealth, power, fame, technology, or even personal relationships.

God created every human with a built-in worship center called the heart. And that’s a good thing because when we worship the right object, our heart comes alive. But the problem is that we often don’t worship the right thing. We should worship God, but instead, we worship [esteem, value and prioritize] “other things,” which turn into idols. This is why all throughout the bible there are strong warnings against idol worship.

In fact, the very first commandment (Exodus 20) says, “you shall have no other Gods before me.” God is very aware that our hearts wander and we allow things to compete with His affection. It’s Satan’s greatest subtle tool to draw us away from God.

Timothy Keller said, “the human heart is an idol factory that takes good things like a successful career, love, material possessions, even family, and turns them into ultimate things. Our hearts deify them as the center of our lives, because, we think, they can give us significance and security, safety and fulfillment, if we attain them.”

According to Keller, idolatry starts in our hearts. The bible says in Jeremiah 17:9, “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” This is why Solomon said, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” (Prov. 4:23)

So, let’s do a heart check today. If Idols can be dangerous and take God’s place in our lives, how do we identify them? Here is one way to check. Take a moment and answer the following questions with the first thing that comes to your mind. Don’t overthink it. Just respond with the first thing that jumps into your mind. This is crucial because your default answer often reveals your true heart posture.

Ask yourself the following 10 questions:
· “More than anything, I want ____”
· “I need ____”
· “I fear ____”
· “I love ____”
· “I’m seeking ____”
· “I’m trusting ____”
· “I’m taking refuge in ____”
· “My security comes from ____”
· “I can’t live without ____”
· “My life is over if ____”

Whatever fills in those blanks that isn’t found in Jesus may be an idol.

The danger with idols is not only that they take God’s first place in our lives, but they become our identity. If our idol is work, we lose ourselves in our job. if our idol is entertainment, we become hedonistic. When our idol is money, we become materialistic. When our idol is relationships, we become codependent.

Psalm 115:4-8 exposes the folly of idols worship. It concludes in verse 8 saying, “Those who make them [idols] will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.”

This is why idolatry is so dangerous, because it mars our identity. We were made in the image of God, to be like him, and idols make us like them instead. Therefore, it is crucial to be aware of what we pursue and prioritize because it will dictate what we become. This is why a frequent heart-check is so important.

How can you make God first today? Here’s the answer, “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7). Our way out of idolatry and into fullness with Christ is actually pretty simple. First, we confess and acknowledge areas of our lives in which we have allowed idols to creep in. Second, we turn from those things as a source of ultimate satisfaction and ask Jesus to help us replace our idols with Him—the only true source of satisfaction.

This is how we walk in the light. The more we walk in the light, the more idols lose their power over us!

It’s never too late to chase your dreams!

As a kid, I remember constantly being told to chase my dreams, not to sell myself short and always reach for the stars. I was encouraged by teachers, adults and my parents to have high aspirations for my life. “You can achieve anything you put your mind to,” they would say. Yet somewhere along the way, so many of us lose sight of these high aspirations. We reach a tipping point in which we stop dreaming. It’s the point in which you realize life has put you on a course (a trajectory) and there doesn’t seem to be much deviation from that. Whether it’s by choice or not, life takes its course. Unfortunately, it may not be the course you foresaw or imagined for your life.

For many of us, all those aspirations and plans we once had become a distant memory and a forgotten dream. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Let me introduce you to Zach Duke. At the age of 34, he lacked a greater vision for his life. In December of 2022, Zach, a strong Christian, was sitting in a coffee shop in Virginia where he had a divine encounter with the Holy Spirit. Zach was listening to a podcast called “DadWork” in which the episode’s guest challenged men not to accept the status quo but to step up and lead their families to see generational change.

Zach recalls, “I’m sitting there thinking … that’s not me; I’m the opposite of this. If I look at my life 50 years from now … I don’t like the dad that I’m becoming. I don’t like the husband I’m becoming. I don’t like the man of God I’m becoming.” So, Zach decided he needed to do something with his life that would inspire others, including his five kids.

At that moment, Zach prayed a bold prayer. He asked God what he could with all his abilities and talents to inspire others, all the while bringing God glory. He recalls clearly hearing God speak to him, “Play soccer.” “Soccer?!” he thought. He had always been a good athlete, even playing football in college for Liberty University. However, he had never played the sport of soccer a day in his life!

But at God’s prompting, he decided to obey. So, in that moment he set a goal of playing for the USA national soccer team in the 2026 world cup. Zach convinced his wife and family of this dream and together they began their journey. Starting every day at 4 am he sought out to train, leaning only on what he heard God say, and hoping to inspire many through his story.

His skills began to develop quickly, and he began playing in recreational leagues. He quickly improved and was getting better. He tried out for club teams and made them. He tried out for semi-professional teams and made them. He went on to play for international teams in South America. He was offered a spot on the Hoosier Army squad that entered the 2024 edition of The Soccer Tournament (TST) back in June. TST is a prestigious 7v7 competition that features numerous domestic and international teams boasting many professional indoor players alongside recently retired stars of the outdoor game. He was so impressive that the USA soccer federation has since called him up to represent the United States against Mexico on September 29. At 36 years of age, he is on the doorstep of achieving his dream!

Zach views his journey as more than a successful athletic career; he sees it as a test of faith. “There’s a few things that I know are absolutely true,” Zach said. “One, it has nothing to do with me. It has very little to do with soccer. I think it has everything to do with faith: Do we believe God is who he says he is?”

Zach currently plays with the Strikers, a professional indoor team based in Los Angeles, where he has been a major influence on the culture of the team, despite being older than most of his teammates. He began a Bible study where he has seen many of his teammates accept Christ and had the opportunity to baptize several of them. Zach, whose journey is chronicled online, is now known as “world cup dad.” I’m praying he makes the USA national team. But more importantly I’m praying the “world cup dad’s” story inspires you today to not give up on your dream. You too can inspire many...

God uniquely and specifically designed you. The Bible says you are fearfully and wonderfully made—God hardwired you with unique talents, gifts and abilities.  In other words, nobody else can live your life, but you. Here is the real culprit responsible for so many people quitting on their dreams and not finding their purpose: they are pursuing a dream and a purpose that is a counterfeit. It wasn’t what God created them to do. This is going to sound so cliché but it’s so true: God loves you and has a unique plan for your life. It’s a purpose that was intended before you were born. Over and over in the Bible, God says, before he even made us, the plans and purpose for our life were already laid out. So, he didn’t create you and then give you purpose. He started with purpose and then created you. You are uniquely hardwired for it.

This is what I want you to remember: find your slingshot. Perhaps one of the best-known stories in the Bible is the story of David versus Goliath. You have this shepherd boy, David, who shows up with some lunch for his brothers in the army and hears a giant Philistine, Goliath, come and challenge the army of God. For 40 days, not one man is brave enough to accept his challenge. David trusts God and he boldly steps up in that moment. Somehow, he convinces the leaders that he is the one to fight this giant. And they say, “Okay, but you’re going to need this armor, this sword, and this shield.” They try to give him all this stuff, and he tries it on, but it doesn’t fit. He can’t move with it. And David says, “I’m sorry, I can’t use this. I was not made for this. I know what I have and what I need—it's this slingshot, and It’s unique to me. That is what I’m going to use to defeat Goliath,” and he does.

Some of you have given up on your slingshot. It’s not too late to pick it up. Your purpose and dreams have been given to you by God. Don’t quit on them. Don’t quit on God. He never quits on you!

It’s never too late to chase your dreams.

You were made to be extraordinary! I recently had a conversation with some young people about their favorite movies of all time. As you would imagine, superhero, anime and feel-good animated movies where at the top. So of course, I went to IMDB and looked up the highest grossing films of all time. To my surprise, 8 out of the top 10 all-time grossing films were movies which consisted of a hero motif. These movies all centered around extraordinary characters doing remarkable feats, with a good number of them possessing superhuman abilities and powers. Then I went to the next 10 highest grossing movies, and again 7 out of 10 were the same genre of movies. The same was true for the next 10 highest. I even looked at all-time grossing films adjusted for inflation, and 6 out of those 10 (depending on how you view “ET”) are of the same genre.

It seems like, as humans, our hearts and imaginations are captured and fixated on extraordinary characters with extraordinary powers doing extraordinary things. Why is that?

If we’re honest, I think all of us want to live life in an extraordinary way. Perhaps we look at our own lives and think they seem rather common. I remember a few years ago, Dos Equis beer had a campaign they ran called the “the most interesting man in the world.” The fictional character was known for his exotic adventures and suave demeanor. The actor has since become an international celebrity. There seems to be an innate desire in each of us to rise above commonness.

The good news is, we were created to live extraordinary lives. It was God’s plan from the beginning. God breathed into us the capacity and ability to be more than common. In fact, listen to God himself, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness.” (Gen 1:26) In other words we would reflect his very nature. He would go on to say, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (Gen 1:28)

So not only are we to reflect his very nature, but God blessed us to “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill the earth! Take charge!” In other words, “BE extraordinary!” Can you imagine Adam, the first man, naming every species of animal on earth!? Not only did Adam have the creativity to name them all, but he also had the capacity to remember each one. That was an extraordinary man doing a remarkable feat! This was God’s plan when he created us! He created us for so much more.

Yet some of us don’t believe that. Some of us struggle to identify that way. We struggle walking in that identity—as an image bearer of God. We, like our culture and world today, are extremely confused and deceived about identity. We use many things to identify ourselves, including our profession, jobs, family history, looks, gender, sexual orientation, racial group, the words of others…on and on it goes.

All of us live out what we believe about ourselves. How you see yourself and what you believe about yourself impact all areas of life, including your faith and spirituality. Your life today is a result of how you have viewed your identity, both past and present. You will never think, speak, or act in a way that is contrary to the way you view your identity. Proverbs 23:7 (NKJV) tells us, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he!”

Here is the truth I want you to internalize: God’s view of you is different than what you think of yourself. He created you with extreme value, purpose and abilities. But it all starts with the way you view yourself.

Your DESTINY is the answer to the question, “What has God called me to do?” Your IDENTITY is the answer to the question, “Who has God called me to be?”

1 Peter 2:9-10 says, “But you [identity] are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people [no identity], but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.  

“Holy” and “belonging” mean set-apart and not common. In fact, to God you are priceless, and you belong to him. Think of it this way: a basketball in my hand is only worth $25. But in the hands of Lebron James, it's worth $52.63 million a year. A tennis racket in my hand is worth $100, but in the hands of Serena Williams, it’s worth $45.3 million a year. A football in my hands is worth $30, but in the hands of Patrick Mahomes, it’s worth $81 million a year.

You are extraordinary and valuable because of whose hands you are in, who you belong to, and who owns you! Isaiah 49:16 says, “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” Imagine, you are permanently etched in the hands of Jesus. This is who you are. This is true of your identity. Therefore, your identity is not defined by your failures, successes, or what others think, but by an unwavering relationship with God. You are his and have been called into his marvelous light to proclaim his excellencies. Therefore, you can live extraordinarily free from insecurity and can act with courage and confidence.

Therefore, BE extraordinary.

I know many of you, including myself, are deeply disturbed and sickened by yesterday’s assassination of Charlie Kirk. The overwhelming sadness, heartbreak and sense of hopelessness is palpable. I have spoken to many of you over text messages, phone calls and some even dropped in for prayers yesterday. We are all trying to process in real time at a very deep level this senseless act and what it means.

Our deepest condolences and prayers go out to the Kirk Family. I’m calling on you, Journey church, to please pray for his wife Erika, who lost her husband, and their two children, who lost their father. Regardless of your political or ideological thoughts and positions, this type of violence is reprehensible, inexcusable, and pure evil. I believe this with everything I am: no act of violence like this is in any way condoned morally, ethically, and scripturally. This is not the way of Jesus! In fact, it disgusts me to think some are actually celebrating this type of violence.

Many of you will process this in different ways. For some it's going to be anger, for others fear, for others insecurity. And for some, you won't know what to think or what to believe. The Bible tells us that we “do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13b) We have a hope, and this hope, the author of Hebrews tells us, is an anchor for our souls! This hope has a name, and His name is Jesus Christ.

Charlie knew Jesus and was bold and unashamedly outspoken about his faith. In fact, less than two weeks ago he posted, “it’s all about Jesus” on his social media site, which many professional athletes re-posted onto theirs. I know without a doubt, Charlie is now standing in front of His Lord, full of joy, praising his savior! And when he took his very last breath, there is no question in my mind that the next words he heard from Jesus were, “Well done good and faithful servant.”

Where does this leave us? The truth is our nation is deeply divided right now. When we witness a moment like this, it shows us the degree of brokenness, pain, and hatred that exists among people within our nation right now. As a pastor, it hits close to home, because I have people from different walks of life, experiences and situations who are my friends and who also find a home and sanctuary at Journey Church.

Make no mistake about it, this is not a “right versus left” issue. This is not about a political party or an ideology. This is a “wrong versus right” issue. This is a “dark versus light” issue. We are experiencing and witnessing a spiritual battle that is raging. There are forces of darkness, the forces of the devil, which want nothing more than to kill, steal and destroy everything that reflects God, everyone who reflects the image of God. They cannot do anything to God, but they can hurt the heart of God by marring and damaging God’s created image—us! Ephesians 6:10-12 says, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

This is the battle the world is engaged in. There are dark spiritual forces of evil in the world. We often forget, yet circumstances like Charlie’s death only remind us of this battle and how truly dark this darkness is. Yet, as children of light, we have been given spiritual weapons and tools with which we can wage war against these forces. We have God himself, the Holy spirit, residing in us, and we do not have to fear. We do not have to cower. Silence in the face of such evil and darkness is NOT an option.

My responsibility as a pastor, to the best of my ability, is to lead people to the savior. Right now, above all else, I really do believe this is a catalyst moment in which we should seek Jesus on behalf of our nation, our state and our city.  

Therefore, if you have been on the fence about Christianity, it’s time to commit. Step into the light and out of the darkness. If you have backslid and have become lukewarm in your faith, it is time to repent, wake up and seek God. If you have become quiet, silent, and afraid, it’s time to engage and speak up and be bold about the good news—“the Light has come the darkness shall NEVER overcome it.” Politics will not save us. Policies will not save us. The President will not save us. Jesus is the SAVIOR, and he is our only hope to change the heart of humanity.

I want to encourage and challenge some of you: it’s time. It’s time for some of you to get off the sidelines and take a stand for Jesus. Please hear me clearly. We won’t win the battle with violence, with hateful rhetoric, or acts of vengeance that only divide us more, but with LOVE! With the fruit of the spirit, with courage and truth telling. Not only can we stand boldly in the face of darkness. We must! And like Jesus, we must stand, full of grace and truth.

Together as a community of faith, I’m calling us to rise up and be better fathers and mothers to our children. WE can rise up and be better spouses, neighbors and friends. We can rise up and see the pain and brokenness and evil and engage it with love, speaking the truth about a savior who has come to heal and bind wounds and set captives free. Remember the words of Jesus who encouraged us by saying, “Take heart for I have overcome the world.”

Personally, I have been praying for peace amongst people, as the unrest is tangible. I have been praying for Charlie’s family and for God to heal our nation and the divisiveness. But more importantly I have been praying that God would not raise up the next “Charlie Kirk.” I have been praying that God would raise up an army of bold, courageous, fearless Christians who live out their faith, make a difference in the world and love like Jesus wherever God has planted them. And I pray that would be true of us, Journey Church!

Journey family, if you need help processing or want to know more about Jesus and what engaging your faith looks like, our pastors and elders are ready to serve you and be there with you.

I love you, Journey Church! Let us all run to the author and finisher of our faith—Jesus Christ!

Jesus, please continue to do the work that only you can do in our lives personally and in our nation! AMEN!

Karl Bushby may be the most inspiring story of determination ever; and you’ve probably never heard of him. Karl is attempting to be the first human in history to walk an unbroken path around the world. His journey is dubbed the Goliath expedition. Originally from Hull England, Karl gave himself 2 rules when he started. First, he cannot use any form of transport to advance: no cars, boats, vehicles or any other form of transportation other than his own body. The second rule was he cannot return home until he finishes.

He has been at this for 27 years! His journey started in Punta Arenas, Chile in 1998. Since then, he survived the infamous Darien gap between Columbia and Panama. This is a remote stretch of jungle filled with the deadliest animals, insects and swamps known to man, not to mention being full of drug cartels and rogue militias. He fought off ice lumps through the Bering Strait—this is the ice bridge that connects North America to Russia, which took 14 days of non-stop walking and swimming. This made him the first human in modern history to walk across the Bering Strait. He also swam 186 miles across the biggest lake in the world, the Caspian Sea, which took him 31 days, making him the first human to ever do so.

Despite these highs, there have also been lows. He has been arrested, imprisoned, gone hungry, lost friends, has been low on money and had to fight Visa issues in various countries. Karl arrived in Europe on May 3, of 2025. He expects to arrive home by September 2026.

When I first read his story, my initial reaction was, “WHY!?” I have many questions…How is he funded? Does he have a family? Does he have any friends? Is he a Psychopath? Maybe you are thinking the same types of things. One thing is sure, his determination is inspiring!
I find Karl’s journey very similar to the Christian Journey. The moment we become believers we start our very own Goliath expedition. We engage in a spiritual battle that is intended to grow us, mature us and make us spiritual powerhouses. Yet, at the same time, it discourages us, confounds us, can cripple us and at times can even make us quit. The Christian life can be the most exciting and the most discouraging expedition we ever engage in. It will require grit, determination, courage and faith. Yet, “to those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.” (Romans 2:7)

Listen to the profound words of the Apostle Paul who wrote a letter from prison around 60-62 A.D. to the church at Philippi. He told them the following, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14)

In essence, Paul is writing a letter of encouragement to fellow believers to not give up, but to keep pressing on toward the goal of finishing their race despite their circumstances. What is the prize? Heaven! Where a reward awaits all of us that persevere to the end.
Just a few years later, between 64 and 65 A.D. Paul would write his last letter to his protégé Timothy saying, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7-8)

Today, many ask of Christians the same question I asked of Karl, “Why?!” Paul tells us why: a crown of righteousness, will be our award! Be encouraged. You can persevere in this Christian life because of Jesus who persevered. Wherever your race takes you and whatever highs and lows you experience, keep going, finish well. For, “In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (Psalm 16:11b)

I recently came across the story of Kansei Matsuzawa, the current kicker for the University of Hawaii’s football team. At 20 years of age, he was living in Tokyo and working as a waiter at Morton’s steakhouse. He had never played football before, but on a trip to the United States he went to an NFL game and fell in love with field goal kicking. He went back home and taught himself how to kick a football by watching YouTube videos. He spent his early 20s learning how to kick field goals and how to speak English.

Kansei convinced a tiny junior college in Nelsonville, Ohio to give him a chance and he actually made the team and excelled, while showing great potential. This season he transferred to Hawaii and as a 26-year-old became the starting kicker for the team. Hawaii opened the season against Stanford this past Friday, August 23rd. The game was tied and came down to the wire and with a few seconds left in a tie game, Kansei was called up and kicked the game-winning field goal as time expired! His story went viral and he instantly became the darling of Hawaii football and maybe all of College football.

After the game, he was asked if he was nervous about kicking the game winner on such a big stage. He jokingly said he was more nervous trying to speak English in front of all the media.

As I saw the story of Kansei unfold, I thought, “What a great, inspiring story!” Kansei’s story didn’t start with fame, prestige or limelight. He simply committed himself to kicking footballs, worked hard, and even after “going viral” and becoming famous, his biggest fear was speaking English!

His story reminds me of Colossians 3:23-24, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
So many times, I question, “Does anybody see this? Will I ever get noticed or get any recognition? Am I making any progress in life?” Maybe you can relate. Maybe you feel like you don’t have what it takes, or you don’t have the pedigree. Maybe you feel like you have been doing everything right and it seems like you can’t catch a break. It may feel like you always get overlooked and you find yourself asking the question, “Does it even matter?”
Over my sabbatical I got a chance to spend a significant amount of time with my former Romanian community. It’s been over 10 years since I’ve seen some of these people. I realized I missed them and had a great time reconnecting with so many. Surprisingly, many remarked about how much I have changed. In fact, one person said, “Where is the old Adrian, and what have you done with him?” Of course, I feel like nothing has changed and I’m the same. Yet, in the eyes of others, significant spiritual maturity, wisdom and growth have occurred.

Now, I didn’t kick the winning field goal or go viral, yet to be honest, it was very encouraging. The comments I received validated that God has been working in me to grow me into a better follower of Christ. Through a combination of His power at work in my life and my own commitment to do the hard work needed, God has helped me to become a better Christian, husband, and father.

Many of us go unnoticed in this life. Many of us have not experienced “going viral” or having our “15-munutes of fame” moment. But if we work with all our heart, as working for the Lord in whatever we do, WE WILL receive an inheritance from the Lord!
Let the story of Kansei inspire you and the words of Paul to the Colossian church motivate you. Your work does matter! God sees, God notices, God rewards. You will receive an inheritance! So when you pick up litter, when you anonymously pay-it-forward in the drive through line, when you laugh with someone, or cry with someone, when you watch YouTube sermons and videos late at night on how to better yourself, when you investing in yourself and in the kingdom, when you are trying to live a righteous God-pleasing life—it matters! God sees and “in due time you will reap a harvest if you do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9)

Listen to 1 Corinthians 15:58, “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

Don’t chase the lights, fame or prestige. Stand firm and work toward building the kingdom of God. Give yourself fully to growing and being the best version of you, and the Lord will take care of rest.

On July 17th, 2025, Disneyland in Anaheim California will turn 70 years old. Since its inception Walt Disney has coined and marketed the theme park as the “the happiest place on earth!” And every year 17-18 million people visit the park with the hopes of achieving this elusive, euphoric happy feeling.

Yet if you have ever visited Disneyland, you realize happiness is relative. The long lines and wait times for rides, the whiny kids, the hot muggy weather, the small fortune it will cost you to get there, and you realize the pursuit of happiness can be torturous.

Recently, the U.S. Surgeon General announced that Americans have been experiencing a decrease in overall happiness, with loneliness and isolation being national epidemics. Interestingly, statistics show that those who have the most reason to be happy turn out to be the most depressed. We are perhaps the most prosperous nations in the world; twice as rich, a lot healthier, more youthful, and a lot safer than our predecessors were 50 years ago, yet we are NOT getting any happier.

Philosopher Eric Hoffer said it best when he wrote, “The [great American] search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.”

I believe the reason many people don’t have happiness is because they are searching for the wrong thing. Happiness is something that is temporal, external and a fleeting emotion. Joy, on the other hand, is constant, internal and comes from God. In reality, what humanity is searching for is joy—the feeling of lasting contentment. Thankfully, the Bible tells us our God is the author of joy, the source of joy, and that joy is part of his character. (Psalm 16:11, Romans 14:17)

You may not often think about this, but our God in heaven is a joyful God. And according to Isaiah 62:5 he rejoices over us! “As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.” In fact, Zephaniah 3:17 tells us, “He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy!”

One of the unique things about the ministry of Jesus is that it was always surrounded by joy. Wherever he went, he brought joy. This was the promise made about him when he was born. When people encountered Him they left full of joy. In fact, the author of Hebrews tells us “God has anointed him with oil of gladness above his fellows. (Hebrew 1:9) The word gladness is another word for joy. It means “joy that leaps and dances.” Can you imagine that? Jesus leaping and dancing!? That is the kind of joy he has!

Not only is God joyous but he wants us to experience His joy. Jesus tells us, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. (John 15:11) In other words, the very joy of God can be in us, and when it is, we will be satisfied and not lacking anything. We will have full contentment.

In the English language “Jesus wept” (John 11:35) is the shortest verse in the bible. Yet in the Greek language the shortest verse is 1 Thessalonians 5:16, “Rejoice always.” It’s the shortest verse yet with the longest duration. And what God desires for us, he provides for us. We can rejoice always because the joy of the Lord is in us, and the joy of the Lord is our strength.

As we kick off summer, let us be the type of people that are marked and distinguished by the joy of the Lord. If he’s a joyful God, we, as his kids, can and should be joyful also. Let us be the type of people, like our Savior, that are abounding in joy and bringing it into every situation we encounter.

Go forth in joy!