In the South, we have an expression called “losing your religion.” No, it’s not about deconstructing your faith. It’s more about where you get so mad that you act in ways contrary to your religious beliefs. And nowhere does that happen to me than sitting in traffic.

I can’t speak for your town or city, but Nashville drivers are nuts. And if I’m honest, I’m probably one of them. It’s amazing how aggravated I get over someone else’s dumb driving while I tend to be more lenient on myself. Talk about the ultimate double standard.

Then I discovered a book called Every Moment Holy. And I found within this book an amazing liturgy for road rage. It both convicted and challenged me. It reminds me that traffic may be one of God’s ways of shaping and molding me into a disciple. Slow traffic and bad drivers are God’s way of showing me my lack of patience — while growing that patience within me at the same time.

The worst witness is someone with a Christian bumper sticker who cuts people off and drives overly aggressively and who is generally impatient and rude. I guess it’s a good thing I don’t have any Christian bumper stickers on my car. Not that I consider myself a rude driver, but I do have my not so great moments. I’m thankful the life of faith isn’t one of perfection but of a grace that leads to repentance and transformation.

Traffic can be a crash course in learning how to dispense and receive grace, patience, and understanding to yourself and to others. And yes, that pun was intentional.

I made my first trek to Radnor Lake State Park since December 25, 2022. It’s been over 3 months, and I was definitely going through some Radnor withdrawals.

I didn’t stay long. The sky was threatening rain and I didn’t quite have the time I wanted to stay longer, but I whet my appetite for some outdoor magic. There really is something therapeutic about being outside in nature, alone with your thoughts. Groups are fine for hiking, but sometimes it needs to be just you and God, and nature is one of the best places to be tuned in to what God is saying to you.

I found out quickly that I’m not nearly in good shape like I thought I was. I felt fit until that first incline hit me, then I felt very much old and out of shape. It will take a little bit to get my hiking legs back, but the scenery and the peace are worth it.

I get why Jesus went off into the wilderness alone to spend time with His Father. It was more than just an escape from the crowds. It was being in the middle of creation — His creation — that took away the distractions and the noise and helped Him find His resolve for the journey to Jerusalem and to the cross.

So my plan is to hike as much as I can in the next few months while there is still enough daylight. I want to count the deer and turkeys. I want to be in the middle of the woods with the rain falling. I want to catch the sunset over the lake. I want to find God in the middle of His creation again.

I heard my pastor say something that has stuck with me all day: Jesus was not who we deserved or who we were hoping for, but He was exactly the Savior we needed at the moment when we needed Him most. He’s not the one we would have chosen if we had been given the choice, but He’s the only one who could make us right with God again.

Even on Palm Sunday, Jesus didn’t choose to be served but to serve. He chose to heed the cries of two blind men who had nothing to offer in return. He healed these men by touching their blindness when He could have merely spoken the words. He heard the shouts of Hosanna by the crowds who wanted Him to be a Conquering King but did not waver from His purpose to be a Suffering Servant. He knew that some of the very voices that cried Hosanna would later be calling for His crucifixion only a few days later.

I’m fairly certain that victorious warriors ride into town on majestic stallions, not on a colt following its mother. Jesus’ purpose was not to overthrow Rome but to overcome our sin by taking the death of a criminal on a cross. The people of Israel were not looking for a Messiah who would take on the form of a slave and become obedient to the point of death, but that’s the one they needed even more than a deliverer from Roman oppression.

Jesus may not have been what we hoped for or wanted, but He is exactly who we need right now. And He always meets us exactly in our moment of greatest need. Always.

I imagine these days the number of people who actually wash their cars by hand is small. Most people prefer to run their vehicles through the innumerable car washes around town. But I’m old school. There’s something innately satisfying about seeing the immediate results of all that dirt and grime washing away, especially if it’s been a while between car washes.

I gave my Jeep a bath today. She was quite dirty. So you can imagine the satisfaction of seeing a clean car, inside and out. It’s funny, but after a wash, my car looks like it’s a different color. I guess the ol’ Red Sled really was dirty.

I guess washing a car by hand is a lot like the spiritual disciplines. There are no shortcuts. Not at least if you want a job well done. It takes time and effort, and the more time and effort, the better the result.

I’m not saying that your spiritual maturity depends on you. God does the work in you. But the more time you devote to disciplines like prayer and Bible study, the more you will be able to discern God’s voice and God’s will. The more you will be able to help others attain spiritual maturity. The more you will be able to help others find healing and hope in Christ.

I imagine I might be a little sore in the morning. It’s probably wise for me to take an ibuprofen or two before going to bed. But it was worth it.

So I did a dumb thing today. I noticed that my Apple watch had died at some point during the day, so I took it off and put it in my office charging port for just a little bit to get it going again. Famous last words.

As of right now, it’s still sitting in that charging port, because I went right out the door at the end of the day and left it. So now my wrist feels naked and I keep staring down at where my watch should be. It’s awkward.

If that’s the worst thing that ever happens to me, I’m doing good. Not having a smart watch to count my steps and relay all my messages is a very first world problem. Lots of people are going through way worse than a MIA Apple watch. So I think I can manage for two days.

I could be tempted to wear an old fashioned watch. You know those? The ones that only tell time? Or at least I would if the batteries weren’t all dead.

I guess I’ll just have to go old school and rely on my phone to tell time.

Normally, I don’t copy and paste email content, but this one basically stopped me in my tracks. It got my attention. It perfectly encapsulates what I believe about what it means to worship and be a worshipper above and beyond singing four songs one or two days a week. Here it is:

“What comes to your mind when you think about worship? Do you think about a particular song or worship leader? Do you think about a style or feeling you get when you worship? Do you think about a past experience at church or a night of worship? Many of us have made worship about singing. I can often think about worship as an activity. I can flatten worship into singing or doing something for God. I want to gently nudge us to consider worship through a different paradigm. Paul writes in the epistle to the Romans, “therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.” Romans 12:1
 
Presenting ourselves before God is an act of worship. Worship is not just an activity, it is availability. Paul is urging us to be available to God as living sacrifices. Our worship is not confined to the time we gather to sing and study the word of God at Kairos. Worship is being available to God at all times. It means giving God access to all of your life. When you present yourself to God you are declaring that he is worthy of your affection and attention. You are putting God in his rightful place in your life.
 
So you may be asking, then why do we gather together to sing and study? The reason we gather is we need to be reminded that God is God. We quickly forget to present ourselves before him because we become distracted by the world and the busyness of life. We need to rest from the busyness of our day to present ourselves before God. He desires our presence” (Pastor Mike Harder, Kairos).

Worship is a lifestyle that transcends music and goes beyond one hour a week on Sundays. Worship is ultimately declaring the worth of God in everything we do and in everything we say, no matter where or when we are. That’s worship.

I just finished going through a Bible study on the book of Revelation. Yes, that book of Revelation. It’s the one that can feel like something out of a horror movie with all the plagues and bowls and fire and brimstone. It can seem at first glance to be a book all about the wrath of God and how you better watch out lest He strike you down.

But that’s not the point of Revelation. It’s ultimately a book about hope. And I can’t think of a commodity we’re more in need of right now than hope. Every other day, there’s another mass shooting or a natural disaster or a financial crisis. So many of us in Nashville are still reeling over the 3 students and 3 faculty killed at a small Christian private school in the Green Hills area. We need hope.

My teacher said tonight that hope shines brightest in the darkness. When things are going well for me, I can tend to coast and not really give much thought to the future or of my need for God. I can lull myself into the delusion of independence and control. I can very easily make a little god out of me in my little world. I don’t seek out hope on my bright days when all is right with the world.

But when something shakes my world to the core, then I find that I am helpless apart from the grace of God. I find that this beautiful but broken world is unraveling faster and faster and chaos seems to be gaining the upper hand. I find that’s when I begin to hunger and thirst for hope in a world that more and more seems hopeless.

But then I read the book of Revelation, where God promises to put everything right. I read the last two chapters where God says He will wipe every tear from our eyes and restore and remake the world to what it was before Adam and Eve ate that fruit and messed it all up. And by the way, any one of us would have done exactly the same.

The Book of Revelation says that death and hell will not have the last word. Hate will not win. Your story will not end in ashes and defeat and suffering. The Lamb has already overcome and we will see the victory with our own eyes and whatever sorrow or pain or loss we’ve been through won’t begin to compare with the glories and majesty that await us then.

The book ends with an invitation that I would offer to anyone reading these words:

“The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” Let anyone who hears this say, “Come.” Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life” (Revelation 22:17, NLT).

Tonight, we had a special service of worship and prayer for the families of the victims of the shootings at Covenant School here in Nashville. It was a special night. Sometimes, you just need to preempt your plans to make room to seek the face of God in the face of unspeakable tragedy, loss, and evil. Tonight was that night.

One takeaway is when Pastor Mike brought up how in the beginning of Job’s troubles, his friends came to him and sat with him in silence. They didn’t try to explain away his pain or figure out God’s plan in Job’s suffering. They simply sat in the dust with Job and were present with him in his pain.

In the midst of a world increasingly filled with tragedies, God calls us to be present to those who are the victims of a fallen world. God doesn’t need us to fix anyone or anything. God doesn’t need us to preach them a sermon or to give them a Philosophy 101 on why there is evil in a world God created. God just wants us to be there, present with those who suffer, weeping with those who weep and sharing their burden.

When we are present, God is also present. As ambassadors of Christ, we bring His presence into the dark night of their pain and suffering. We bring light into darkness, hope into despair, truth into lies, victory into defeat, simply by being there.

God might give you a word for someone going through the valley of the shadow of death, but more often than not, God calls you to be with that person without preaching or moralizing. Your silent presence can mean more than a thousand well-meaning words or platitudes or sayings like how your thoughts and prayers are with them. They don’t need your empty promises to pray for them as much as they need you to walk alongside of them and be with them, a visible reminder of Emmanuel, God with us.

This morning, a person entered Covenant School, a private Christian elementary school in the Green Hills area of Nashville, and opened fire, killing 3 students and 3 faculty. The community is still reeling. My heart is sad and heavy from yet another senseless act of mass killing. I found this beautiful prayer that speaks the words of my heart that I could not find for myself:

“Prayer of lament for mass shootings

Lord, in our shock and confusion, we come before you.
In our grief and despair in the midst of hate,
in our sense of helplessness in the face of violence,
we lean on you.

For the families of those who have been killed we pray.
For the shooters—help us to pray, Lord.
For the communities that have lost members—their anger, grief, fear—we pray.
For the churches striving to be your light in darkness beyond our comprehension, we pray.

In the face of hatred, may we claim love, Lord.
May we love those far off and those near.
May we love those who are strangers and those who are friends.
May we love those who we agree with and understand,
and even more so, Lord, those who we consider to be our enemies.

Kyrie Eleison. Lord, have mercy.
Heal our sin-sick souls.
Make these wounds whole, Lord.

Prayer adapted from the Christian Reformed Church Office of Social Justice.“

Back in the day, we had something called a mix tape. That was where you recorded your favorite songs onto a cassette tape, normally with the intent of giving it to someone you liked. If you were really old school, you recorded those songs off the radio. Ah, those were the days.

You didn’t just choose any old song willy-nilly. Since it was more time-consuming, you had to put some thought into the song selection and the sequencing. Plus, you had to make sure you didn’t accidentally record over the end of the previous song. The worst was that anxiety of wondering if you had enough room on the tape for that last song or if it was going to cut off before the song got done. Oh, the humanity.

Some of you might remember putting together mix CDs. But not everyone had the technology to burn CDs, so those of us who did were the few and the proud. We were super nerdy. But even with CDs, you had to be super picky with your songs, because once they were on there, they were there to stay.

Nowadays, things are different. And easier. You just find your songs and right click them into a playlist that can be as short or as long as you like. You can play them in the order you selected them or in a random mix. You can delete a song or two with the click of a button or the swipe of a finger. Plus, they sound a lot better than the old mix tapes.

If you’re born in the year 2000 or after, I might as well be speaking a foreign language. Mix tapes? Burning CDs? I might as well be putting on my pantaloons to take a drive in my horseless carriage to the nearest Blockbuster to rent a movie on a videocassette. Getting old sucks.