Tag Archives: faith

07/13/26 MondayMatters:  Praying Past the Ceiling

07/13/26 MondayMatters: Praying Past the Ceiling

Sometimes it feels like our prayers just bounce off the ceiling. We are in a glass box and God cannot, or will not hear us. David felt that in Psalm 22, verse 2, “My God, I cry out by day and you do not answer me…” I feel that often, especially during a sickness or a family tragedy or a life crisis; in other words, when I need prayer most.
here’s the link    https://youtu.be/Bb3tbIQDhvI
Here are four observations and four simple practices:
1. We do not live by feelings, but we are emotional creatures. Long for God’s presence.
2. Prayer is conversation but be willing to hear silence. Listen for God’s voice.
3. God knows what you want but He wants to see you do. Learn from God’s instruction.
4. Breakthrough happens in a second but it’s built on hours of faithfulness. Live in prayer.
Now, try this when your prayers seem pointless:
     1. Read the Psalms, a lot, over and over, everyday.
     2. Find ancient written prayers.
     3. Saturate your mind with Christian music. (Try old hymns.🤓)
     4. Take significant junks or time. Stay with it.
Psalm 22, “My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer…” Psalm 23, “The Lord is my Shepherd, shall not want…” Your breakthrough is just one page turn away.
Prophet or Profit: How To Get the Help You Need!

Prophet or Profit: How To Get the Help You Need!

I have a little cough. It is residual from the bout with pneumonia I just went through. (Quick little play on your sympathy button there.) It’s not terrible, but it’s persistent and aggravating. So I started seeking some help. Maybe I need a respiratory therapist, maybe a pulmonologist, maybe a holistic person who can load… Continue Reading

5/11/26 MondayMatters: Necessary Suffering

5/11/26 MondayMatters: Necessary Suffering

https://youtu.be/DofjXzR6mbg    Here’s the MondayMatters Video. Yesterday, on Mother’s Day, I wrote a short blog about the tension mothers often carry between joy and suffering. I’ll post a link to that in the notes below if you’d like to read it. But that reflection prompted me to follow up here on MondayMatters with a look… Continue Reading

MondayMatters Lent Day 38    Viernes de Dolores

MondayMatters Lent Day 38 Viernes de Dolores

We are keeping Caleb and Amos while their parents are traveling. The morning routine is grueling. It’s funny. At home, I am up by 4:30 or 5 every morning, fully refreshed, lots of quiet time, totally prepared to face the day. Here, I scramble out of bed at 6, gulp down the first of several… Continue Reading

Bread

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

Born Again?

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

Going

Going

Everybody is going somewhere it seems. Even when I’m standing still I’m getting older and headed for some destination. Nobody is actually not moving. If we look back at the end of the day we will be far away from where we started. That is so true that now we wear devices on our wrist… Continue Reading

He Knew

He Knew

Doris was pregnant while we lived in a mobile home in Augusta, Georgia. I was the youth pastor there and we lived on the parking lot beside the church. It would get so hot during the day that everything not metal in our little trailer would melt, Doris’s makeup, big fat Christmas candle, the glue… Continue Reading

Regifting

Regifting

We have a new word that a few years ago did not exist, regifting. It is the act of taking a gift given you and giving it to someone else as if you chose it especially for them. A number of years ago Doris was in a panic on her way out the door to… Continue Reading