Peanut has her own little studio apartment now. At least that’s what I call the little cabinet space with blankets that she inhabits from time to time. I think she goes there when she needs a little alone time.

She’s gotten quite adept at finding all the comfortable spots around the house. In fact, you know it’s high quality comfort level when a cat graces it with his or her presence.

She still loves her belly rubs in the morning. She still likes to investigate my bathroom before I go in to take my shower, especially the faucet that she inspects by rubbing her little face against it. She gets in my lap most mornings when I’m having my quiet devotional time (and I imagine she prays for more tuna in her diet).

She’s just under 10 pounds, but she has a supersized personality (with 0% of meanness). I still have yet to hear her growl or hiss in the 2 1/2 years that she’s been around.

Look for more updates in the weeks and months to come because Peanut is quite the fascinating little gal.

This year, I have chosen The Valley of Vision as my devotional. For the unacquainted, it’s a collection of Puritan prayers (and boy howdy, could those Puritans pray!)

I believe that sometimes when you have no words of your own to pray, you can borrow the words of others, especially those of an earlier and wiser age. Here’s one of my favorites so far:

“O God whose will conquers all,
There is no comfort in anything apart from
      enjoying thee
  and being engaged in thy service;
Thou art All in all, and all enjoyments are what
  to me thou makest them, and no more.
I am well pleased with thy will, whatever it is,
  or should be in all respects,
And if thou bidst me decide for myself in any affair,
  I would choose to refer all to thee,
  for thou art infinitely wise and cannot do amiss,
  as I am in danger of doing.
I rejoice to think that all things are at thy disposal,
  and it delights me to leave them there.
Then prayer turns wholly into praise,
  and all I can do is to adore and bless thee.
What shall I give thee for all thy benefits?
  I am in a strait betwixt two, knowing not
  what to do;
I long to make some return, but have nothing to
  offer,
  and can only rejoice that thou doest all,
  that none in heaven or on earth shares thy honour;
I can of myself do nothing to glorify thy blessed
    name,
  but I can through grace cheerfully surrender soul
    and body to thee,
I know that thou art the author and finisher of faith,
  that the whole work of redemption is thine alone,
  that every good work or thought found in me
  is the effect of thy power and grace,
  that thy sole motive in working in me to will
  and to do is for thy good pleasure.
O God, it is amazing that men can talk so much
  about man’s creaturely power and goodness,
  when, if thou didst not hold us back every
  moment, we should be devils incarnate.
This, by bitter experience, thou hast taught me
  concerning myself.”

---

The Classic Doctor Who Quest Part II continues into 2020. I’m still aware that the special effects are on occasion cheesy and low budget, but there’s also still a kind of magic about the old episodes.

I’m up to where Leela and K9 are traveling with the Doctor aboard the Tardis. It’s interesting what you pick up on the second time that you might have missed the first time, or for me, how much I appreciate certain people on the show more the second time around.

Leela is an interesting character who is billed as a “savage,” but has the keenest sense of intuition and gut instinct of any of the companions. She’s also quite savvy and very adapt at picking up new concepts and ideas. She had a hard act to follow in Sarah Jane Smith, but she ranks up there as one of the best companions of Doctor Who in my book.

Also, K9. That robotic dog that they keep referring to as “he” instead of “it.” I wish the new series would bring him back.

There will be further updates as the quest continues. Carry on and watch Doctor Who!

“It is an easy business to preach peace when you are in health and have everything you want, but the Bible preaches peace when things are in a howling tumult of passion and sin and iniquity; it is in the midst of anguish and terror that we realise who God is and the marvel of what He can do” (Oswald Chambers, Notes on Isaiah).

Yes, I’m aware that it’s Monday. Or was. That means 1/5 of your week is already over (which is good or bad depending on your perspective and your inbox at work).

But God’s peace is not a pleasant sentiment when the skies are sunny and cloudless and the birds are singing. The peace that passes understanding is just as real and available when you’re stuck in the middle of a bad day, counting down the minutes and seconds. It’s for when your soul is in turmoil and your prayers are wordless groans and sighs.

It’s often in those pitch black nights that we find out how deep the love of God goes and how fathomless His grace is to those crushed in spirit who call out the name of Jesus.

May this peace be yours and mine in every kind of weather through all the good and bad days whether we can feel it or not.

That’s my word for you today. If you’re not happy with who you are or where you are, I pray you have the courage to start again and find out who you are and what you love. I hope you know that it’s never too late to go back and be who you might have always been– your best self (or you striving to be your best self).

2020 is the year to let go and start over. It’s the year to stop the insanity of doing things repeatedly the same old way and expecting each time a different outcome. To change your circumstances, you often need to start with yourself, your attitude, and your outlook.

I read once that prayer doesn’t so much change things as much as it changes me and I change things. I agree to a point. I think that a different you can make for a different outcome.

I still believe above all that real change comes not from changing the outside but from within. The Bible calls it being transformed by the renewing of your mind, which comes from regularly steeping yourself into God and His word.

May we all have the courage to finally reject the old familiar ways that have us trapped and to embrace the new possibilities God has for us in Jesus and to live the adventurous that God planned long ago for us to follow.

I had a good night. The best part for me was finding not one but two Christmas-y t-shirts at Old Navy in the clearance section. They both rang up at $2.95, so with my $5 reward, I paid a grand total of $.64 for both. Best deal ever.

I consider that a win. It may be sad that the highlight of my evening was a really good bargain, but I’m okay with that. I’ve learned to appreciate and give thanks for those small blessings that come my way.

I’ve heard that gratitude for lesser things opens the way for you to receive greater things. I’m not sure how that works, but regardless, I know that if God is faithful in the tiny details, He can surely handle the big stuff.

Plus, I have two more festive Christmas shirts to wear when the holiday season rolls around again in 10 or so months. Win-win.

In case you wondered, my vintage 1997 Jeep Cherokee is still going strong. After a few small repairs, the Red Sled is up and running again.

As a kid, I never thought I’d actually say this but — they don’t make ’em like they used to. It’s true. I very much doubt I’ll ever have another vehicle that will last this long.

I guess I’ll just keep driving the ol’ Jeep until the wheels fall off.

I read somewhere that today was the Mondayest Thursday ever. It’s true. It was a Friday Eve that felt completely like a Monday, down to the dreary grey rainy sky.

Not every day will be sunshine and roses. If it were, we’d all complain and wish for something different. The fact that those perfect days come so rarely makes us appreciate them more.

Maybe in 2020, we can all learn to appreciate the little things more. Maybe learn to step out of what’s comfortable and routine into something new and exciting. Maybe even step off that paved road of normality and take the road less traveled.

Take a risk. Do something that scares you a little. Embrace your passions and find time every day to do what you love. Don’t let your job title define you. If you don’t love what you do for a living, be brave enough to try something new and maybe discover something you do love.

“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else – means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting” (e. e. cummings).

“Wait on the Lord, wait quietly, wait trustingly. He holds every minute of every hour of every day of every week of every month of every year in His hands. Thank Him in advance for what the future holds, for He is already there” (Elisabeth Elliot).

So far, so good. I woke up today, which is good. I still counted all ten fingers and ten toes. I’m still alive and well and loved by God.

Honestly, I don’t know what’s ahead in 2020, but I still know who holds the future, including all my future, in His hands.

My goal in 2020 is to see more of God and less of me. I think that’s a good place to start.

“With every power for good to stay and guide me,
comforted and inspired beyond all fear,
I’ll live these days with you in thought beside me,
and pass, with you, into the coming year.

While all the powers of Good aid and attend us,
boldly we’ll face the future, be it what may.
At even, and at morn, God will befriend us,
and oh, most surely on each new year’s day

The old year still torments our hearts, unhastening:
the long days of our sorrow still endure.
Father, grant to the soul thou hast been chastening
that Thou hast promised—the healing and the cure.

Should it be ours to drain the cup of grieving
even to the dregs of pain, at thy command,
we will not falter, thankfully receiving
all that is given by thy loving hand.

But, should it be thy will once more to release us
to life’s enjoyment and its good sunshine,
that we’ve learned from sorrow shall increase us
and all our life be dedicate as thine.

To-day, let candles shed their radiant greeting:
lo, on our darkness are they not thy light,
leading us haply to our longed-for meeting?
Thou canst illumine e’en our darkest night.

When now the silence deepens for our harkening,
grant we may hear thy children’s voices raise
from all the unseen world around us darkening
their universal paean, in thy praise.

While all the powers of Good aid and attend us,
boldy we’ll face the future, be it what way.
At even, and at morn, God will befriend us,
And oh, most surely on each new year’s day!” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 1945)

While Bonhoeffer penned these words 75 years ago, they still ring true. May this truly be your and my prayer for the new year.