This is a prayer by Ravi Zacharias that seems perfect for these times. May it be our prayer that unarmed truth and unconditional love will overcome anger and hate.

“God, our heavenly Father, our minds go back to the day when Jesus knelt beside his beloved city and wept, ‘If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes’ (Luke 19:42).

We sense so deeply the same reality. We weep for our cities even as we bury our dead. The sound of gunfire is the grim sound of what has already shattered our relationships. We are witnesses of distrust, revenge, and anger. We see no one to lead us and guide us. To whom shall we go?

Our differences seem to lead us even farther apart. Oh, Lord of miracles, do what only you can do to save us from ourselves. Give us men and women who will lead us to reconciliation. Give us leaders who will bind us up to heal our wounds, not those who will only incite more hate.

Give us voices that will bring hope and not despair. Please comfort the bereaved and give humility to the ones who are resistant to your ways. Give us pause so that we might sit back for just a few moments to look to you before we look at our impulsive solutions.

We shed another’s blood when we are without answers. You shed your own blood as our only answer. We kill, buried in despair. You rise, giving us hope.

You told Peter to put back his sword and you restored the one wounded. That’s what we long for. A reprimand to the one who would injure and a healing within the one injured. God of miracles, please do it again. We need you. Our nation needs you. Our leaders need you. Many a home today will not have a loved one returning. Without you we have no hope. With you all things are possible—even for beauty to come out of ashes. We pray for the day of unarmed truth and unconditional love. Please answer our prayer.

In the name of Jesus your Son, our only Savior, we ask this.

Amen” (Ravi Zacharias)

“Jesus, the favorite Child of God, is persecuted. He who is poor, gentle, mourning; he who hungers and thirsts for uprightness; is merciful, pure of heart and a peacemaker is not welcome in this world. The Blessed One of God is a threat to the established order and a source of constant irritation to those who consider themselves the rulers of this world. Without his accusing anyone he is considered an accuser, without his condemning anyone he makes people feel guilty and ashamed, without his judging anyone those who see him feel judged. In their eyes, he cannot be tolerated and needs to be destroyed, because letting him be seems like a confession of guilt.

When we want to become like Jesus, we cannot expect always to be liked and admired. We have to be prepared to be rejected” (Henri Nouwen).

I confess that I have a strong desire to always be liked. I have a deep need for approval, so often I hold back from saying or posting anything that might seem controversial or opinionated.

I understand that Jesus was often misunderstood and rejected, and He told us that if we followed Him, we would be misunderstood and rejected as well. He all but guaranteed that we would have trouble in this world.

I also understand that in those rare moments when my faith is bigger than my fears, I find that Jesus is more faithful to me and His promises to me than I am to Him. I find Jesus is more than enough to compensate for any loss of friends or reputation or anything else I could ever lose in this world.

Never for the sake of relevance or acceptance deny your convictions. Never back down from living AND speaking out the whole gospel. Hold on to the faith that has been passed down from generation to generation and found to be true and trustworthy in every age.

And trust that ultimately the worst that could ever happen to you in this life is momentary and light compared to the joy that awaits.

“Love others well, and don’t hide behind a mask; love authentically. Despise evil; pursue what is good as if your life depends on it. Live in true devotion to one another, loving each other as sisters and brothers. Be first to honor others by putting them first. Do not slack in your faithfulness and hard work. Let your spirit be on fire, bubbling up and boiling over, as you serve the Lord. Do not forget to rejoice, for hope is always just around the corner. Hold up through the hard times that are coming, and devote yourselves to prayer. Share what you have with the saints, so they lack nothing; take every opportunity to open your life and home to others.

If people mistreat or malign you, bless them. Always speak blessings, not curses. If some have cause to celebrate, join in the celebration. And if others are weeping, join in that as well. Work toward unity, and live in harmony with one another. Avoid thinking you are better than others or wiser than the rest; instead, embrace common people and ordinary tasks. Do not retaliate with evil, regardless of the evil brought against you. Try to do what is good and right and honorable as agreed upon by all people. If it is within your power, make peace with all people. Again, my loved ones, do not seek revenge; instead, allow God’s wrath to make sure justice is served. Turn it over to Him. For the Scriptures say, ‘Revenge is Mine. I will settle all scores.’ But consider this bit of wisdom: ‘If your enemy is hungry, give him something to eat. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink; because if you treat him kindly, it will be like heaping hot coals on top of his head.’ Never let evil get the best of you; instead, overpower evil with the good” (Romans 12:9-21).

This is me checking in from Gatlinburg. Sometimes it’s good to get away for a couple of days to refresh, renew, and recharge. A change of scenery can be the best thing when anxiety gets a little high.

I hope you allow yourself to rest occasionally. Even Jesus went off by Himself to be alone with the Father.

Rest is good.

Just yes. Don’t spend all your time trying to be what others want you to be (or what you perceive that others want you to be).

Don’t follow lockstep into a political party or an ideology or a platform or just about any other world system that ends with -ology.

Follow Jesus. He promised to make each one of His followers their true selves with a purpose and a vision that’s unique to them and them only.

Don’t conform. Be transformed.

“I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross. The only God I believe in is the one Nietzsche ridiculed as ‘God on the Cross.’ In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it? I have entered many Buddhist temples and stood respectfully before the statue of Buddha, his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile playing round his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world. But each time after a while I have had to turn away. And in imagination I have turned instead to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn-pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in God-forsaken darkness. That is the God for me! He laid aside his immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. He suffered for us” (John Stott, Bread and Wine).

I’m thankful for the God who sees and knows and cares. I’m thankful that we have a High Priest who is able to sympathize with our pain and weakness and suffering, having been tempted in every way that we are yet did not sin.

I’m thankful that Jesus doesn’t just feel bad for us, leaving two people feeling bad, but is actually able to do something about it. He actually did something about it.

Jesus is making all things new. For every Ahmaud Arbery and Geroge Floyd, Jesus is making all things new.

One day, hate will be a verb used only in the past tense.

One day, people from every color, race, ethnicity, tribe, language, and nation will gather around the throne of God to worship Jesus, bound together as family by His blood shed for all of them.

I’m saddened that injustice runs rampant in this world and that people of color who should have been going home to their families won’t ever be coming home because of injustice, but I have a hope.

It’s not a vague wishful thinking kind of hope but a certain and stedfast hope based on the promises of the God of all hope. One day all that is wrong will be made right.

Forgive me for my own prejudices in any form. Forgive me when I was silent and should have spoken out. Forgive me when I chose to look the other way and pretend it didn’t happen or didn’t exist.

I thank You that You forgave Your murderers while they were in the very act of murdering You, showing that the greatest power on earth is that of grace and mercy through forgiveness.

Help Your children to seek righteousness and justice every day for all those created in Your image. May your Kingdom come, may Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, for Yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Ah, yes. The common phenomenon referred to as “getting a song stuck in your head.” It happens to me ALL. THE. TIME.

Actually, I have music playing in my head pretty much 24/7. Even in those moments when I’m supposed to be super serious and quiet and still, you can bet there’s a song (probably inappropriate for the situation) playing in my brain.

I can also almost 100% guarantee you that the songs that most often get stuck in my head are usually the ones that annoy me the most. And no, singing the song out loud does NOT help.

Still, I’d rather have a bad song stuck in my head than to have no appreciation for music at all. Think of how much better life is with music. I can tell you that my life has a soundtrack and certain songs can bring back almost flashbulb-type memories of where I was and what I was doing when I first heard the song.

Just about nothing else has that kind of ability to trigger memories for me. So out of curiosity, what song is it that stirs up memories for you? Or am I just weird that way?

I had previously heard of the Breton Fisherman’s prayer, which goes along these lines: “O God, Thy sea is so great and my boat is so small.”

I wasn’t aware until very recently that these words come from a poem. I found the poem to be very appropriate for the times we find ourselves in with the metaphor of the overwhelming waves and wind of the sea aptly capturing the fearful nature of the present days.

Here’s the poem in full:

“Thy sea, O God, so great
My boat so small.
It cannot be that any happy fate
Will me befall
Save as Thy goodness opens paths for me
Through the consuming vastness of the sea.

Thy winds, O God, so strong,
So slight my sail.
How could I curb and bit them on the long
And saltry trail,
Unless Thy love were mightier than the wrath
Of all the tempests that beset my path?

Thy world, O God, so fierce,
And I so frail.
Yet, though its arrows threaten oft to pierce
My fragile mail,
Cities of refuge rise where dangers cease,
Sweet silences abound, and all is peace” (Winfred Ernest Garrison).

“Humility is poverty of spirit and meekness. Humility inspires an attitude of listening and of seeking out those who can give good counsel. Humility welcomes correction. A humble person is not proud or arrogant. Humility is not a denial of my value as a human being but rather seeing myself in relationship to God. Humility results from being in a state of gratitude rather than envy, resentment, or bitterness. Do I boast about myself? Do I respect others? Do I listen with attention and a readiness to learn? Do I resent good advice? Do I accept correction with gratitude? Or do I defend myself even when I am in the wrong?

Patience is calmly bearing or enduring delay, disappointment, pain, and sorrow. It is a deep confidence in God’s providence and the willingness to persevere even in the face of loss and failure. Clement speaks of patience as an ‘interiorized monasticism.’ It is not resignation but the awareness that truly Christ is risen from the dead and is with us moment to moment, no matter where we go or what we are enduring” (Jim Forest, Confession: Doorway to Forgiveness).

Am I humble? Here are some questions that I probably need to ask myself:

1. Do I always feel the need to defend myself when I perceive that I am being attacked?
2. Do I always have to be proven right as well as making sure the others be proven wrong?
3. Does it matter when I am not praised for doing what is right?
4. In a conversation, do I always seem to talk about myself more than the other person?
5. Can I trust the Lord to defend my reputation or do I feel I must defend it myself?

There are probably more questions I could ask myself to make sure that I am truly seeking to be humble in the biblical sense of the word.

I still remember the definition that humility isn’t thinking less of myself and always deferring praise but thinking less of myself. Jesus was the ultimate example of humility the way He was always 100% committed to and focused on His Father’s will at all times in all places. During His trial and crucifixion He never once defended Himself but left it to His Father.

I can think of no better example for humility than Philippians 2:5-11. That is true humility.

Even though there are something like 28 days until Summer officially returns, I believe it has made an early appearance. At least that’s what my sweat glands tell me.

I was walking around Franklin this evening noticing how very warm I felt. Not so much a warm and fuzzy feeling. More warm and sweaty.

I saw people walking around wearing jackets in the heat. I try not to judge but I wonder if these people need more iron in their diets. How can you be wearing a jacket when I’m perspiring to death over here?

Anyway, I’ll take the sunshine over the rain. I’ll even take the excessive warm temperatures– at least for a little while. After they hit 90 and above for a couple of weeks, I retain the right to complain.

As you all know, my favorite season is fall where the temperatures are usually not blazing hot or freezing cold. More like somewhere in the middle.

I like the breeze to have just a hint of frost in it and the air to have a dash of crispness. Of course fall for me means that all my favorite holidays are just around the corner– Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

I’m not a fan of sweating (and I’m sure the people upwind of me aren’t either), but I’ll take being hot over being room temperature any day.