Reading today: Psalm 73 and John 8:31-47 Josh was 8. It was the first year of kid pitch baseball. Up to that point the ball was on a T for the kids or the coaches lobbed a slow, easy ball over the plate. But this year, mano a mano, pitcher against hitter, baseball was going… Continue Reading
SHAME
Reading for today Psalm 71 and John 7:53-8:11 Let’s get this out of the way right up front. I’m late writing this devo. It’s 5:45AM when I am starting it. I’m usually long finished and it’s on its way through the magical internet by now. I went to a Chonda concert in Bowling Green last… Continue Reading
Giggling
Reading today Psalm 66, John 6:41-59 My wife has a terrible disease. It is apparently a genetic thing because her mother had it and both of her sisters have it. They all suffer from the “I can’t hide my giggles” disease. From our earliest time together I have watched her, and them, get tickled at… Continue Reading
Bread
Reading today: Psalm 65, John 6:15-40 Remember Richard Rohr. He says, “All language about God is necessarily symbolic and figurative. Actually all language is metaphorical. Words are never the thing itself; they can only point toward the thing, which is exactly why “The Word became flesh” (John 1:14). As James Finley, a CAC core faculty… Continue Reading
Do You Want to Get Well?
Reading today: Psalm 60 and John 5:1-15 Jesus asked great questions. “Who do people say that I am?” “Couldn’t you pray one hour?” “Whose picture is on the coin?” His questions were thought provoking, spirit probing. His questions often got right to the heart of the matter. He asked great questions. In John 5, not… Continue Reading
Tammy the Timeless Teller
Reading today Psalm 59 and John 4:27-38, 43-54 Doris and I were at the funeral home last night. We sat for a long time with a couple we have not seen for years. They were our best friends in college. We lived in the married students’ apartments at the bottom of the campus at Trevecca.… Continue Reading
Shame
Reading for today: John 4:1-20, 39-42 John throws in little, seemingly random, bits of information that later come back to change the whole tenor of the story. Five loaves and two fishes. Two more days. 5000 people. In this story, it’s time. He says, “It was about noon.” Jesus and his entourage are passing through… Continue Reading
Trust God for the Decrease
Reading Psalm 57, John 3:22-36 Trust God for the Decrease I’ll be brief. (Do you believe that?) There is a saying among TV evangelists, “Trust God for the increase.” It is usually preceded by, “Send me money and…” Now, I’m not discounting the fact that “my God shall supply all your need according to His… Continue Reading
Born Again?
Reading today, Psalm 56, John 3:1-21 Jesus said some crazy things. One of the craziest is, “You have to be born again.” It’s not so crazy because of the content but because of the context. We look back at the statement in John 3 with 2000 years of theological understanding and it makes perfect sense.… Continue Reading
The Calling of Reconciliation
The Calling of Reconciliation Psalm 53, John 1:35-51 On Tuesday Josh and Jennifer were explaining Lent to Jon-Mical and Jakson. They were telling the boys how some people traditionally give something up for the 40 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter to honor the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the cross. Jon-Mical, who… Continue Reading