Posts tagged: faith

The stars are the work of God’s fingers: Psalm 8:3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you set in place— But salvation is the work of his right hand: Psalm 98:1 Sing to Yahweh a new song, for he has done wonders. His right hand and his holy arm have secured his victory. In Genesis 1, God created the Heavens and the earth. He brings. How can we bring order to chaos? # cleaning the playroom How can we rest? # enjoy the creation God has given us rejoice in salvation, rejoicing brings refreshment to the soul

Meditation # Psalm 30:5 For there is a moment in his anger; there is a lifetime in his favor. Weeping lodges for the evening, but in the morning comes rejoicing. I’m not sure how to feel about the thoughts in my head over this verse and meditation this morning, only because I am so tempted to read my present-life situation into it. Lately work has been the worst, I’ve written a few notes about it and I’m not even sure what I’ve published on my own blog over the last couple months because my brain has been in such chaos. Well, a few things changed in regards to leadership, goals, etc. and the anxiety-inducing situation I was thrust into I was kind of thrust out of. Now, there’s some lingering work and support but the weight that was lifted from my shoulder the other day, and the further relief I actually expect to feel as the corporate roadmaps get serialized into dozens of PowerPoint presentations to be lost in Outlook mailboxes, is very timely with the notion that “joy comes in the mo…

Meditation # John 14:21 The one who has my commandments and keeps them—that one is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal myself to him.” The Lord reveals himself… it’s not more complicated than that. I’ve spent years in apologetics (defending the faith), learning and regurgitating argument after logical argument for God’s existence, historical defense for the resurrection of Jesus, etc. I think Christianity is objectively difficult to reject with all the data in front of you. At the same time, Jesus and the Bible are clear that God’s wisdom is folly to man, and no man can understand without being born again (John 10:6). So, I think there’s real biblical wisdom and truth that says the opposite of what I think about the evidence for Jesus as Lord. That’s OK, because I my thoughts are for and about myself, I am born again and the story, at least the story of my salvation, is clear to me, by God’s grace. It’s through…

related: Advent - John 16:33 I re-read my advent reflection and by God’s grace I was in a different frame of mind then. The loss of mindset is certainly on me and me alone for letting things of the world crush me so much lately. The affliction Jesus mentions in John I don’t think is the affliction I currently feel over work and chaotic circumstances. It feels so silly to even put my stupid computer job in the same thought as Jesus talking about his victory over the grave but at the same time perhaps there’s pastoral wisdom to challenge that thought… why isn’t the stress and anxiety I feel over anything in my life exactly what Jesus is referring to? Sure, the immediate context is his crucifixion and Peter’s denial of him. But as I drop my thoughts into this magic computer box, what’s so different about me? Right now the thing that I can’t get away from is work, and it’s not even a volume thing it’s just a constant stressful unknown - I could list off all the reasons but do they matter?…

Jeremiah 17:17 You must not become to me a terror, you are my refuge in the day of disaster. Spurgeon’s reflection on this verse this morning hits hard… The path of the Christian is not always bright with sunshine; he has his seasons of darkness and of storm. My whole life has not been easy, my story has ups and downs like anyone’s. God has been faithful to me, to bring me through trial - both when I feel and believe I am undergoing it, and before I knew what trial was but nonetheless was in an imperfect situation. For several years it was too easy for me say “blessed be the name of the Lord”. Even today, it should be too easy, but I feel the sunshine has been missing for some time, weeks or months. In this season I’ve been bogged down, mostly with work. That bleeds into family stuff, the stress and chaos of my job makes it easy to be impatient with my kids. In that moment of impatience, God is good to remind me of how patient he is with me, but that doesn’t fix my parenting… It opens…

He Is Risen # What does it mean that “He is risen”? What does it mean to me? for me? for the world? I think the question matters to everyone, Jesus did and said a lot of things in real history. And a lot of what he said and did, and what others claimed he did, is pretty insane. And if he’s just a liar or a crazy person, then it’s all inconsequential. But if he was actually telling the truth, then his life is literally the lynchpin of anyone and everyone else’s life. If he really did resurrect from the grave by the power of Yahweh then every single person needs to reckon with a real truth - that a King was killed and defeated death in his own death, and he said he will come again. Every single human will stand before the reigning resurrected King Jesus face to face, for judgement or forgiveness and it is inescapable. So to me, today, Easter on April 5 2026, how will I treat my King? What is my posture towards him and good things? I know where my head is - it’s at work, I know where my h…

Expectations, Intimacy, and Shared Life Purpose # To surface unspoken expectations and ground shared life; emotionally, spiritually, and physically, in service to the Lord and each other. Key Scriptures # 1 Corinthians 7:1–5; Hebrews 13:4; Proverbs 24:3–4; Ecclesiastes 4:9–12 1 Corinthians 7:1–5 (LEB) 7Now concerning the things about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to touch a woman.” 2 But because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife and let each woman have her own husband. 3 The husband must fulfill his obligation to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body, but her husband does. And likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but his wife does. 5 Do not defraud one another, except perhaps by agreement, for a time, in order that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and then you should be together again, lest Satan tempt you because of your lack of self control. Hebrews…