“Hey Soul? okay, really — it’s *really* gonna be okay today. Because in Him, whatever goes bad, He’ll work it for good. It’s what God does. 
He turned water into wine; He will turn the broken into beautiful. 
God’s *line of work* is *transformations* — so hold on to Him as your *lifeline.*
*You can’t be undone.* 
No matter what went down yesterday, today’s your very own fresh canvas and there really is hope: *The future is as bright as the faithfulness of God.* 
He says to you Himself: “…don’t keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand new… There it is! I’m making a road through the desert.” (Isa. 43:18 MSG) Right now through your most unlikely desert places, God is making unbelieveable roads… you better believe it! 
Yeah, you can go face the day with brave joy — God’s. got. your. back.

#PreachingGospeltoMyself (Ann Voskamp)”

How timely is that. After all, so many of us are under-rested and overstressed, under pressure and overwhelmed. So many of us are doing good to make it through one day at a time.

Yet even in the middle of the worst of bad days, God is turning even that into good. He’s still working ALL things together for good– even the moments and hours and day that you’d rather forget.

God is faithful. He is with you. He hasn’t left you. And He never will.

“Even though I walk through the [sunless] valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod [to protect] and Your staff [to guide], they comfort and console me” (Psalm 23:4, Amplified Bible).

I read something interesting about Psalm 23. In the first 3 verses, David refers to God in the send person, i.e. “He lets me lie down . . .”, “He leads me . . .” “He makes me lie down . . .”

But starting in verse 4, the pronoun changes to You. What gives?

Verse 4 is where the Valley of the Shadow of Death lies.

In other words, Yahweh God became personal to David in the midst of walking through the valley. That’s where David’s faith deepened in the middle of his depression and discouragement.

If it were up to me, I’d rather skip all the valleys and go from mountaintop to mountaintop. But the valley is where I grow and learn. The valley is where my faith goes from theoretical to experiential. The valley is where God truly becomes personal to me.

Everyone goes through a valley at some point. It’s part of the journey. But God is with us there. He has already gone before us through the valley and also goes with us.

The good news is that every valley comes to an end. Every night turns into day at some point. Every bad day still only lasts 24 hours. But better still, God is with us though every valley, night, and bad day. Every single one of them.

When anxiety and despair seem overwhelming, it can be hard to feel God’s presence, but that’s when you trust what you know to be true about God over what you may or may not feel. After all, feelings lie, but God never does.

“Surely goodness and mercy and unfailing love shall follow me all the days of my life,
And I shall dwell forever [throughout all my days] in the house and in the presence of the Lord” (Psalm 23:6, Amplified Bible).

Patience and wisdom. Two of the least popular attributes in this fast-paced culture we live in. For sure patience has little regard in a society where everyone seems to be in a hurry all the time. No one has time for anything.

But the Bible speaks to both patience and wisdom as valued qualities. I can speak from personal experience that the times I exercised patience have often brought a greater reward than when I acted rashly or impatiently.

I also have noticed that wisdom comes through patience. You learn wisdom through enduring and longsuffering. True God said that if you ask Him, He’d give it unsparingly, but often the methods through which God grants the patience do not happen overnight.

True wisdom takes time– and patience– to unfold. Sometimes, it takes hardship and suffering. Sometimes you learn from not quite getting what you thought you wanted at the time.

So patience and wisdom are good things. If you seek and pray after both, you will never be sorry.

I’m a fan of the Friends of the Library book sale. I even go so far as to put it as a reminder on my phone so that I won’t forget to stop by the library on the Fridays of the sales.

It’s a bit like thrift shopping. You never quite know what you’ll find. You might not get much, but every so often– on that rare blue moon– you will come up with a treasure for a bargain price.

I found an old Doctor Who book that covered the classic years up to 1984. It seemed most appropriate as I’m revisiting the old series currently.

I believe the same goes with people. When you open yourself up to seeing the world with God’s eyes, you end up befriending people that you normally would never talk to in a million years. Some people, once you get past the rough exterior, have diamond at their core. Sometimes, the ones who are most unloveable are the ones who need our (and God’s) love the most.

Some of the friends that I have that I’ve cherished the most are ones that I honestly didn’t like all that much on first impression. But once I got past the initial dislike, I kept an open mind and found that these people were nothing like my assumptions. It was me that needed to change my perspective.

I also love the fact that these Friends of the Library book sales support my local library. That’s a good enough reason for me.

I’d hardly qualify myself as an expert when it comes to the art of writing, but I can say that it’s something that I’ve grown to love over the years. I really do appreciate words well spoken and written.

If I had any advice for those wanting to get better at writing, I’d be tempted to say that you go find one of the myriad of books and videos and other media that discuss writing in detail.

But it’s one thing to talk and read about writing and quite another to write. So my advice is this– read as much as you can and write as much as you can. That’s how you get better.

My goal is to write something every single day. Hence these blog posts. I can tell you from experience that you truly get better at writing by writing in the same way that you improve in speaking a foreign language not so much by studying verb tenses and pronouns but by immersing yourself in that culture and actually speaking the language in conversation.

It doesn’t matter if you think you’re a good writer or not. It doesn’t matter that you’re especially good with matching subject and verbs or using correct grammar. Just write. You will find the more you write the better you get.

Also, don’t try to copy someone else. You find your own voice and stay true to it. That goes for any kind of artistic medium, whether it be acting or singing or writing or painting or anything else. You can be a second-rate copy of someone else or you can be a first-rate you.

Now go write something.

Apparently, you do learn something new every day. Today, I learned about a fascinating connection between the story of the woman with the blood issue in Mark 5 and a prophetic verse in Malachi 4:2.

It all hinges on the literal meaning of a Hebrew word.

In the story, the woman is desperate to get to Jesus, even if only to touch the hem of His garment. No one and nothing will keep her from the Rabbi.

When she does get to Him and reaches for the fringes of his robe, she finds immediate healing. Jesus notices that power has gone out of Him and finds the woman. He tells her that her faith has saved her.

The part that I never knew until now is that the Hebrew word for the corner of the robe where the tassels hang can literally be translated as “wings.”

I believe that the unnamed woman of great faith knew exactly who Jesus was– He was the “Son of Righteousness with healing in His wings (Malachi 4:2).

The amazing thing about the Bible is that you can read it with little to no knowledge of the culture and history and original language and still understand the essential meaning. You can also spend a lifetime of study on all the background context and never get to the depths of all the nuances of meaning in each verse.

Also, you’re never too old to learn something new as long as you retain that childlike sense of wonder and curiosity. Keep asking, seeking, and knocking, and you will most definitely find great treasure.

“… just an island of quiet for the middle of the day: 
3 simple lines, one quiet prayer, for all the loud days…
‘Lord, please make me …
Radical about Grace
Resolute about Truth
Relentless about Love.
In the name of Jesus, Amen…'” (Ann Voskamp).

Not a bad prayer for Tuesday, whether it feels like Monday Part II or if it’s just another day of the week or if it’s your best day ever.

May we be radical about grace but never compromising our convictions and confessions of the truth.

As I have heard more than once lately, may we seek to share the whole Gospel with the whole person at anytime with anyone anywhere.

That’s a good place to start. Even on a Tuesday.

I don’t have a daughter. I do have a cat. But that aside, I do think there’s some real merit to what Brant Hansen, a Christian radio personality, wrote. Here are his words that I think everyone, women and men alike, should read. If you have a daughter, you will appreciate these words, but I think that just about everyone can take away something to apply from this:

“1. He takes responsibility

He’s not an excuses guy. He doesn’t run away from his own mistakes. He doesn’t see himself as a victim. This, to me, is the essence of masculinity. 

There’s a word for a man who will not take responsibility: A child.

2. He practices self-denial

This can be shown in many ways: He can successfully work a job he doesn’t like. He shows discipline with his money. Or – how about this: He listens to people even when they’re not talking about something he enjoys. 

3. He doesn’t respond in anger

Some men think acting in anger is a mark of manliness. Quite the opposite is true. Self-control, perspective, and forgiveness are marks of strength.

4. He gives attention, respect, and kindness to NON -attractive females

A very important, related question: How does he treat people who can do nothing for him? 

If he tends to ignore (or mocks) them, you’re very possibly dealing with a narcissist. Run away. Now.

5. His instinct is to protect, not hurt

He doesn’t take advantage of you when you’re weak. 

And when he encounters the vulnerable… he doesn’t make fun of them. He defends and befriends them… even when no one’s looking.

By the way: Even if a man seems ‘church impressive’, check for this stuff. Being on stage, leading worship, talking a great Christian game, being admired in public, leading a ministry – that’s neato. 

But it has nothing to do with being a great husband.”

Yes, it has been another wacky winter in the state of Tennessee. So far, there have been a few days with cold temperatures, some days that felt like spring, and some storms. Oh, and lots and lots of rain.

I’m all for variety, but this is ridiculous. At least it hasn’t been dull.

I’m still holding out hope for one good snow this year. No ice, mind you. I don’t want to get caught driving in it (or trying to drive in it) with all the other people who lose their minds on icy roads. Just snow, please.

The early look at next week’s forecast shows more rain and no snow. But this is Tennessee, so that could all change as early as tomorrow.

Stay tuned for further updates that will most likely be just as useless and inaccurate. You’re welcome.

It was 20 years and 3 days ago that the Music City Miracle happened. The Tennessee Titans collectively took a kickoff to the house for a touchdown against the Buffalo Bills to advance to win the 2000 AFC Wild Card game.

This year, the a whole new cast of Titans took on the mighty Baltimore Ravens who sported the best regular season record in the league. Honestly, I didn’t have high expectations. My thought process going into the game was to watch it until it started to get out of hand and then switch to Doctor Who or a movie.

Well, it got out of hand . . . for the Baltimore Ravens. The 6-seed Titans pulled off the upset of the year over the 1-seed Ravens. This time, it wasn’t a fluke play at the end of the game but a well-executed game plan from start to finish. Not to mention a Steamroller named Derrick Henry who rolled to 195 rushing yards and even threw a touchdown pass.

That’s why they play the game. You don’t have to be the best in the league to win. You just have to be the best team on the field on that particular day. You just have to take it one game at a time.

I confess that I prayed a lot during the game. Mostly my prayers consisted of “Lord, please help the Titans to win tonight.”

It’s encouraging to see how much a little self-confidence and success can do to a team. This team halfway through the season looked like a long-shot to even make the playoffs, but going into this game, they were a group of players who believed in themselves and each other. And it showed on the field.

Here’s hoping and praying for at least one more win. Two would be nice. Thanks, God, for that one. I surely do appreciate it.