Sometimes, thrifting can be very rewarding. Today, for instance, I went to Goodwill and found this Doctor Who lamp, complete with light bulb, working doors, and sound effects, for only $5.

I can safely say that I am now full-fledged geek status.

I say geek in the most honoring and reverent way possible, not in the dismissive and demeaning way that some use it. I am proud to be identified both as a geek and a Doctor Who fan. I also happen to love finding unexpected bargains.

It’s not like I come away with treasures every time I visit a thrift store. Most of the time, I don’t find much of anything. But on those rare occasions, it’s almost like an early Christmas. Or a belated Christmas, depending on your perspective.

Life can be like that. Day after day can pass with little or no fanfare, then one day, the sun is shining and all your stop lights are green and you find unexpected little treasures throughout the day. The trick is to trust God and keep your expectations on Him and Him only– let everything else be a pleasant surprise.

May your next thrift store visit be a successful one.

So far, so good. I’ve been away from social media for about 3 weeks or so, and I’m not missing it. I know that when Easter is over, I’ll probably go back to the Facebooks and the Instagrams, but I think (and I hope) that it will have less of a hold on me than before. I can tell lately that I don’t need it or miss it as much as before.

I don’t ever want to get to the point where my life is so wrapped up in the artificial and the digital that I miss what’s right in front of me. I’d much rather see one real sunset than 50 amazing panoramas posted on any Facebook page.

I definitely don’t miss the social media shaming. All the anti-maskers shaming those who wear masks and visa versa. No one seems to grasp that no one else’s mind gets changed in the least through shaming posts on any social media platform. That’s not how it works.

But back to lent. I’m still reading through Bread and Wine, my devotional for this Lent season, as well as Piercing Heaven, a collection of Puritan prayers. I’m also up to 2 Kings 19 in my quest to read through the Bible again.

I want to feel the true joy of Easter again. I want to celebrate like one of those in the early church, rejoicing in the resurrection that transformed and changed everything. I want the American church to rediscover the fire that led a small but committed band of Jesus followers to turn their world upside down (or better yet, to turn the upside down world right-side up again.

“The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray” (Samuel Chadwick).

Lately, I’ve had a hard time praying. Whenever I make a point to pray, my mind almost immediately wanders and I lose focus. I get sleepy. I start remembering certain songs and conversations from the past.

I read about the saints of old who prayed on their knees for hours. I do good to make it a good five minutes before my prayer train goes off track and derails. My best kind of praying is what they call popcorn prayers, those little snippets of petition and praise tossed up to God throughout the day.

It’s a really good thing for me that Jesus didn’t say that I had to master the art of prayer before the Father would hear me and grant me what I ask. In fact, prayer works not because of anything inherently good in me, but only because of the shed blood of Jesus on my behalf.

It’s only because of the risen Christ in me that God hears me. It’s only because Jesus traded my sin for His perfection that I can come boldly before the throne of grace in time of need.

If I have that kind of access, I wonder why I don’t pray more. I wonder why I don’t pray more boldly. I wonder why it takes me trying so many other avenues before I finally get to the last resort of prayer.

Satan trembles when God’s people pray, because that’s where the real power lies. That’s where the real spiritual battles are fought and won. Maybe you and I just need to pray more.

Just for fun, I decided to look up the age of my Macbook Pro. Since I am not tech-savvy, it took me a bit to figure it out. According to the results, my Mac was created in early 2015, making it 6 years old.

I’ve mentioned before that my trusty Jeep has a bunch of miles on it. It also happens to be 24 years old, just one year shy of being an antique.

Many of my shoes are over 10 years old, with some even older.

What’s the point of all this? Nothing, other than letting you know that just about everything I own is old.

Or maybe I do a good job of taking care of my stuff so it lasts longer.

Or maybe if you buy quality stuff, it doesn’t wear out as quickly.

Or maybe I didn’t have any better ideas of what to write about.

I think that’s it.

It’s been a while since I updated everyone on what I’m watching, reading, and listening to these days. It’s a semi-rip off of the the monthly updates from TCM that features upcoming book and movie releases and events.

Lately, I’ve been listening to a lot of Joni Mitchell. Specifically, I’m commuting from work to all the studio albums of Joni Mitchell from 1967 to 1979. Her music makes for a great soundtrack for the homeward trek. Her music seems to fit all the grey wintry days we’ve been having lately.

I’m currently watching all the Marvel movies in chronological order, starting with Iron Man. I’m up to Captain America: Winter Soldier, which I saw in the theater back in the day. Sure, they’re popcorn movies with lots of action, but they’re really well made popcorn movies.

I’m also watching the new adaptation of All Creatures Great and Small. While the original series was practically perfect in just about every way, the new series is a worthy remake. You can tell they had a much bigger budget and better production, and I like the fact that the new James Herriot has a Scottish accent.

I’m reading The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins. It’s a prequel to The Hunger Games series, set in a sort of post-apocalyptic world where Big Brother government reigns supreme. I haven’t gotten very far, but I like it so far.

Hopefully, there will be another update in a month or two. Or three. You can never tell with me.

“Sometimes we grow resentful as we grow older. When our image of an ideal life evaporates and painful historical, personal, family, or financial realities break through to the surface, it can be most disturbing.

Let us try to see the pain of our human and spiritual journey ‘from above.’ The great art is to gradually trust that life’s interruptions are the places where God is molding you into the person you are called to be. Interruptions are not disruptions of your way to holiness, but rather are places where you are being formed into the unique person God calls you to be. You know you are living a grateful life when whatever happens is received as an invitation to deepen your heart, to strengthen your love, and to broaden your hope. You are living a grateful life when something is taken away from you that you thought was so important and you find yourself willing to say, ‘Maybe I’m being invited to a deeper way of living.’

Prayer for Today

O Lord Divine, give me new eyes to see the pain of my life as your molding of me into your beloved child” (Henri Nouwen).

Ain’t that the truth. Interruptions can be annoying, aggravating, and downright rude. There’s nothing like having your routine screwed up by one of those interruptions. But maybe the interruptions aren’t getting in the way of your ministry. Maybe those interruptions ARE your ministry. Those people and places and situations are God-ordained to help you become who God has called you to be.

There’s a story by Henry Van Dyke called The Fourth Wise Man. In it, the main character attempts to find Jesus along the way; first as an infant, then as a small child, and then during His ministry. Each time, his quest gets interrupted by someone in need that he has to help.

In the end, it turns out that He met Jesus in each of the people he aided. Jesus says to him, “All that you did for these in their time of need, you did for Me.”

Perhaps, that’s what these interruptions are– a chance to serve Jesus by serving those who disrupt our routines and rituals during our daily experience.

It’s official. Today, I broke my own personal record for most days lived. I have a lot of people to thank for this, including dear old Mom, without whom I would not be here. Literally.

When people ask me how old I am, I think I’ll tell them that I’m 35 plus shipping and handling. That sounds a bit better than 49. And less painful to say.

But I’m grateful. There are a lot of people I’ve known who didn’t make it to 49, including a young boy from my church who passed away unexpectedly at the age of 9. That shouldn’t happen. It’s a stark and painful reminder that we live in a beautiful but broken world, as my pastor has said a few times.

While my birthday celebration isn’t for a week or two, I consider that every day that I wake up with my health is another gift. It’s another one of the small blessings that I try not to take for granted.

If you’re a little past your 20s, don’t be ashamed of it. Be thankful. God still has a reason for keeping you around. No matter what age you are, you still have a purpose and meaning. Make your days count.

As usual, I’m enjoying having a birthday. I think I’ll have another one next year.

“The cross is not a defeat, but a victory. It is the dramatic reassertion of the fact that God’s love is sovereign, that the rulers of the world do not have the last word, that the kingdom of God has defeated the kingdom of Satan, that the kingdoms of the world have now become, in principle, the kingdom of our God, and of his Messiah: and he shall reign for ever and ever” (N. T. Wright, Bread and Wine).

If you’re looking for a good read for the season of Lent and Easter, you can’t go wrong with Bread and Wine, a book of daily readings. I can’t recommend it highly enough. It has an eclectic blend of writers that really capture the spirit of the Easter season, I think.

Here’s the link if you want to buy the book (with an option to support independent bookstores, if you choose):

https://www.plough.com/en/topics/culture/holidays/easter-readings/bread-and-wine

“Repent and believe in the gospel, Jesus says. Turn around and believe that the good news that we are loved is better than we ever dared hope, and that to believe in that good news, to live out of it, and toward it, to be in love with that good news, is of all glad things in this world the gladdest thing of all. Amen, and come, Lord Jesus” (Frederick Beuchner).

Sometimes, you just need some good news.

If you turn on one of those 24-hour news channels, you’re very unlikely to get any kind of positivity from the anchors and commentators and other talking heads. It’s all about what’s wrong, what’s broken, and what doesn’t work.

But the Gospel is good news.

As I get older, the more I understand that I will never outgrow my need of this Gospel. The more I see my need of it, the more I take it in and really appreciate it, the more I love it because the more I realize just how loved I am.

I think that after almost a year and a half of pandemics, politics, and general pessimism, we could all use some good news.

This is it: Jesus saw you at your worst and loved you enough in that moment to die for you. He took all your mistakes, sins, and crap and exchanged them for His perfection, glory, and right standing with God. He offers you more than just a Get Out of Hell and into Heaven card. He offers you freedom and fullness of joy. He gives you the abundant life.

Even if you already believe it and have been living it for a long time, it’s still good news. And we still need to hear it and be reminded of it and never stop telling it.

I dream of a world where masks are no longer mandatory.

No, I’m not one of those anti-maskers who refuse to wear a mask in the middle of this seemingly neverending pandemic. I wear mine dutifully and conscientiously. It’s no fun when you sneeze in a mask. It’s actually very gross, and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

Honestly, I’d rather not wear one if I didn’t have to.

I dream of a world where the pandemic has ended. I dream of a world where masks are no longer necessary.

I also dream of a world where people can be their true authentic selves and take off their proverbial masks. These masks are the ones that people put on when they try to live up to other people’s expectations. It’s when you say, “I’m fine” automatically when anyone asks how you’re doing.

I believe that the closer I get to having the life of Christ born in me, the more myself I become. The more like Jesus I get, the more I get to my true self, the person God envisioned when He dreamed me up and created me. The paradox of the Christian life is that the more I daily die to myself, the more alive I become and the more I truly find the abundant life. The kind of life with no masks.