I don’t know where this cabin is, or even if it actually exists, but I want it.

I can see myself walking out on that balcony with my coffee in the morning to enjoy the view. I can also see myself with some family and/or friends around that fire on a chilly fall evening.

I am accepting all forms of cash, coins, credit cards, Venmo, and any other method of money so that I can either a) purchase this magnificent home or 2) build one just like it.

I am kidding about the money. I would like to live there, though. It looks very homey and inviting. All that’s missing is a hammock.

“Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it” (Mother Teresa).

Life is a gift, open it.
Life is a miracle, savor every moment of it.
Life is God’s gift to you, live it to the hilt.

I have learned a few lessons so far from the calendar year 2020, one of which is indeed that Bigfoot’s name is Darryl (and he prefers that to being called Hey Bigfoot.

I have also learned that having my schedule interrupted isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Before corona, I had my weekly schedule. Then a little virus came along and all my little daily routines got sidelined for a bit. The odd things was that I survived.

I learned to appreciate face-to-face interactions with people. As much as I’m thankful for the technology of Zoom, it’s not the same. There’s an energy that comes from being around actual people in the same room that no video chat could ever duplicate.

I appreciate a good meal at a restaurant more than ever. For a while, I was wondering if I’d ever get that experience again. Hopefully now I’m an even better tipper than I was before, considering how all the servers were out of work for a while.

I discovered the wild and wonderful world of podcasts. I can listen to sermons from my church and from Kairos. I also get the Wally Show and the Brant and Sherri Oddcast, both from Way-FM. Finally, I am getting into spooky supernatural podcasts like GraveYard Tales and Astonishing Legends.

Most of all, I’m a little more grateful for life in general. Sometimes it takes a pandemic to make you appreciate how precious and fleeting this life is and what a waste it is to squander that life arguing with strangers about politics over social media or judging people who sin differently than you.

What wisdom have you gained from 2020? I’d like to know. Also, if you have any life hacks or helpful time-saving hints, those would also be appreciated.de

I think all of the above applies not just for this season of COVID-19, but for all the days of all the seasons.

For me, I resonate with leaning on God, as opposed to leaning on my own understanding (which I am quite good at, sad to say). Those times when my trust is in the right place are rare, but those are the moments when peace trumps anxiety and fear.

I’m thankful that God still loves his timid, fearful children even when they run in every direction but to Him. He chooses them even when they cling to everything and anything but Him. He is faithful when we are faithless.

I still think that if you and I truly understood how much God loves us, it would change the way we speak and think and pray and live. When we grasp that we don’t have to work for God’s approval but can serve out of the abundance of the overflow of the approval that we already have, then we speak transformed words, think transformed thoughts, pray transformed prayers, and live transformed lives.

I love what Frederick Buechner says: “‘Lord, I believe; help my unbelief’ is the best any of us can do really, but thank God it is enough.”

That’s a good place to start.

“I have cast my anchor in the port of peace, knowing that present and future are in nail-pierced hands” (from The Valley of Vision).

If ever we needed a port of peace, it’s now.

I can’t remember a more surreal and unsettled time than 2020 has been so far. It feels like all the constants I trusted in in this world have gone away– at least temporarily. My routine has been decidedly messed up.

Right now, I don’t know that this pandemic mess will ever end. It certainly doesn’t feel like it.

But I know that no matter what my feelings tell me, my hope is in nail-pierced hands.

That’s where my true peace lies.

2020 has been a strange year. I had a moment when I was looking around Stein-Mart expecting to see 4th of July apparel when it dawned on me that we celebrated that holiday almost a whole month ago. Oops.

Hello, August. My brain keeps trying to tell me that it’s May or June, but the weather makes it feel like late September. But it really is August.

For me, that means that fall is getting closer. It also means that we here in Tennessee have another two full months of summer and sweating left.

I’m not a fan of the Sweating, but I’ll take it so that I don’t skip over any of the days that God gives me. Who knows what I might miss?

Also, I’m ready for this pandemic to be over. I don’t want anybody else to get sick. I don’t want anybody else to die. Yes, I will wear my mask when I’m out and about (even if it increases the sweatiness). Yes, I will keep praying for God to eradicate this virus.

All that to say once more: Hello, August. Please don’t be extra weird.

I just realized this evening that it’s been a while since the last update on my quest to watch all the Doctor who episodes for the second time. I know you all have been pining away for more information, so here it is.

I am up to Doctor #12, played by Peter Capaldi. His current companion is the lovely Clara, played by Jenna Coleman (who may or may not be my new top living celebrity crush).

It’s still quirky and very British. There are still weird looking aliens and otherworldly destinations. Of course, there’s still the Tardis, that time travel ship disguised as a 50’s era police box.

It still blows my mind that Doctor Who has been around for 56 years and remained hugely popular. Even during the “wilderness” years when it was off the air, it still had a multitude of loyal fans due to books and audio adventures and fan fests.

Hopefully, it will be around a while longer. Also hopefully, it won’t take as long for my next update. Sorry about that.

For the first time in a little while, I decided to write something down that was completely original and without quoting anybody else. Since the last two posts were almost completely unoriginal, I thought it was about time.

I want to give you just one takeaway: you are enough.

You may not feel like it.

You may be feeling completely inadequate, like you’re failing at life. You may feel like you’ve permanently missed your calling in life and given up on any semblance of your dreams.

You are enough.

How do I know? God says so.

He says that you are fearfully and wonderfully made. He says that you are engraved on the palms of His hands. He says that you were worth dying for.

Yes, you. You with the million and one unfinished goals and projects. You who are still afraid to break out of the life you hate and try something new. You who are living an unfulfilled and “safe” life but who yearn for something a little more dangerous that will make you come alive.

You are enough.

God’s not done with you. The fact that you woke up today is proof. The fact that you’re not okay with status quo and the same ol’ same ol’ means that you long to live out God’s dream for you instead of your own.

You are enough.

God has promised that He will complete the very work He started in you long ago, long before you or your father or your father’s father were conceived. He calls you His masterpiece, and He never leaves masterpieces unfinished.

So remember that no matter how you feel about yourself that God thinks you are very good. He thinks you are worth loving. He thinks you are enough.

You are enough.

E. M. Bounds was one of the wisest writers when it came to the subject of prayer. You can Google his name and find out about the revival that came about out of his faithful obedience (along with his congregation) to praying for God’s fire to fall.

Here’s more of what he wrote so long ago:

“The Secret of Success

    Prayer became a settled and only condition to move His Son’s kingdom. ‘Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you‘ (Matt. 7:7).

    The strongest one in Christ’s kingdom is he who is the best knocker. The secret of success in Christ’s kingdom is the ability to pray. The one who can wield the power of prayer is the strong one, the holy one in Christ’s kingdom. The most important lesson we can learn is how to pray.

    Prayer is the keynote of the most sanctified life, of the holiest ministry. He does the most for God who is the highest skilled in prayer. Jesus Christ exercised His ministry after this order.

    Robert Hall has said, ‘The prayer of faith is the only power in the universe to which the Great Jehovah yields. Prayer is the sovereign remedy.’

    More time for prayer, more relish and preparation to meet God, to commune with God through Christ – this has in it the whole of the matter. Our manner and matter of praying ill become us. The attitude and relationship of God and the Son are the eternal relationship of Father and Son, of asking and giving – the Son always asking, the Father always giving.

    And Jesus is to be always praying through His people. We must prepare ourselves to pray; to be like Christ, to pray like Christ.

    Man’s access in prayer to God opens everything, and makes his impoverishment his wealth. All things are his through prayer. The wealth and the glory – all things are Christ’s. As the light grows brighter and prophets take in the nature of the restoration, the divine record seems to be enlarged.

    …Why then does sin so long reign? Why are the oath-bound covenant promises so long in coming to their gracious end? Sin reigns, Satan reigns, sighing marks the lives of many; all tears are fresh and full.

We Have Not Prayed

    Why is all this so? We have not prayed to bring the evil to an end; we have not prayed as we must pray. We have not met the conditions of prayer.

    ‘Ask of Me.‘ Ask of God. We have not rested on prayer. We have not made prayer the sole condition. There has been violation of the primary condition of prayer. We have not prayed aright. We have not prayed at all. God is willing to give, but we are slow to ask. The Son, through His saints, is ever praying and God the Father is ever answering.

    ‘Ask of Me.’ In the invitation is conveyed the assurance of answer; the shout of victory is there and may be heard by the listening ear. The Father holds the authority and power in His hands. How easy is the condition, and yet how long are we in fulfilling the conditions. Nations are in bondage. The uttermost parts of the earth are still unpossessed. The earth groans; the world is still in bondage. Satan and evil hold sway.

    The Father holds Himself in the attitude of Giver. ‘Ask of Me,’ and that petition to God the Father empowers all agencies, inspires all movements. The Gospel is divinely inspired. Back of all its inspirations is prayer. “Ask of Me” lies back of all movements. Standing as the endowment of the enthroned Christ is the oath-bound covenant of the Father: ‘Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the nations for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession.‘

    Ever are the prayers of holy men streaming up to God as fragrant as the richest incense. And God in many ways is speaking to us, declaring His wealth and our impoverishment. “I am the Maker of all things; the wealth and glory are Mine….”

    We can do all things by God’s aid, and can have the whole of His aid by asking. The Gospel, in its success and power, depends on our ability to pray. The dispensations of God depend on man’s ability to pray. We can have all that God has. …This is no figment of the imagination, no idle dream, no vain fancy. The life of the church is the highest life. Its office is to pray. Its prayer life is the highest life, the most fragrant, the most conspicuous.

But We Emphasize Other Things

    When we calmly reflect upon the fact that the progress of our Lord’s kingdom is dependent upon prayer, it is sad to think that we give so little time to the holy exercise. Everything depends upon prayer, and yet we neglect it not only to our own spiritual hurt but also to the delay and injury of our Lord’s cause upon earth.

    The forces of good and evil are contending for the world. If we would, we could add to the conquering power of the army of righteousness, and yet our lips are sealed, our hands hang listlessly by our side, and we jeopardize the very cause in which we profess to be deeply interested by holding back from the prayer chamber.

    Prayer is the one prime, eternal condition by which the Father is pledged to put the Son in possession of the world. Christ prays through His people. Had there been importunate, universal and continuous prayer by God’s people, long ere this the earth had been possessed for Christ. The delay is not to be accounted for by the deep-rooted obstacles, but by the lack of the right asking.

    We do more of everything else than of praying. As poor as our giving is, our contributions of money exceed our offerings of prayer. Perhaps in the average congregation fifty aid in paying, where one saintly, ardent soul shuts itself up with God and wrestles for the deliverance of the heathen world. Official praying on set or state occasions counts for nothing in this estimate. We emphasize other things more than we do the necessity of prayer.

The World Needs More True Praying

    We are saying prayers after an orderly way, but we have not the world in the grasp of our faith. We are not praying after the order that moves God and brings all divine influences to help us. The world needs more true praying to save it from the reign and ruin of Satan!

    We do not pray as Elijah prayed. John Foster puts the whole matter to a practical point. ‘When the church of God,’ he says, ‘is aroused to its obligation and duties and right faith to claim what Christ has promised – ‘all things whatsoever’ (Matt. 21:22) – a revolution will take place.’

    But not all praying is praying. The driving power, the conquering force in God’s cause is God Himself. ‘Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not’ (Jer. 33:3) – is God’s challenge to prayer. Prayer puts God in full force into God’s work.

    …Faith is only omnipotent when on its knees, and its outstretched hands take hold of God. Then it draws to the utmost of God’s capacity. Only a praying faith can get God’s ‘all things whatsoever.‘

    Wonderful lessons are the importunate widow, the Syrophenician woman, and the friend at midnight, of what dauntless prayer can do in mastering or defying conditions, in changing defeat into victory and triumphing in the regions of despair. Oneness with Christ, the peak of spiritual attainment, is glorious in all things; most glorious in that we can then ‘Ask what [we] will and it shall be done unto [us]’ (John 15:7). Prayer in Jesus’ name puts the crowning crown on God, because it glorifies Him through the Son and pledges the Son to give to men ‘whatsoever‘ and ‘anything‘ they shall ask.

    In the New Testament the marvelous prayer of the Old Testament is put to the front that it may provoke and stimulate our praying, and it is preceded with a declaration, the dynamic energy of which we can scarcely translate. ‘The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit‘ (Jas. 5:16-18).

    The smallness of our results, the cause of all leanness, is solved by the Apostle James – ‘Ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts [pleasures]‘ (Jas. 4:2-3).

    This is the whole truth in a nutshell” (E. M. Bounds).

    From Purpose In Prayer by E. M. Bounds.

This has to be one of the most powerful and passionate pieces ever written about prayer. Hopefully, this will inspire you no matter where you are to pray without ceasing and to not lose heart, even in the most difficult of circumstances.

“Prayer, in one phase of its operation, is a disinfectant and a preventive. It purifies the air; it destroys the contagion of evil. Prayer is no fitful, short-lived thing. It is no voice crying unheard and unheeded in the silence. It is a voice which goes into God’s ear, and it lives as long as God’s ear is open to holy pleas, as long as God’s heart is alive to holy things.

    God shapes the world by prayer. Prayers are deathless. The lips that uttered them may be closed in death, the heart that felt them may have ceased to beat, but the prayers live before God, and God’s heart is set on them and prayers outlive the lives of those who uttered them; outlive a generation, outlive an age, outlive a world.

    That man is the most immortal who has done the most and the best praying. They are God’s heroes, God’s saints, God’s servants, God’s vicegerents. A man can pray better because of the prayers of the past. A man can live holier because of the prayers of the past.

The Best Heritage to Leave

    The man of many and acceptable prayers has done the truest and greatest service to the incoming generation. The prayers of God’s saints strengthen the unborn generation against the desolating waves of sin and evil. Woe to the generation of sons who find their censers empty of the rich incense of prayer; whose fathers have been too busy or too unbelieving to pray, and perils inexpressible and consequences untold are their unhappy heritage. Fortunate are they whose fathers and mothers have left them a wealthy patrimony of prayer.

Effect of Prayer in Heaven

    The prayers of God’s saints are the capital stock in heaven by which Christ carries on His great work upon earth. The great throes and mighty convulsions on earth are the results of these prayers. Earth is changed, revolutionized, angels move on more powerful, more rapid wing, and God’s policy is shaped as the prayers are more numerous, more efficient.

    It is true that the mightiest successes that come to God’s cause are created and carried on by prayer. God’s day of power; the angelic days of activity and power are when God’s church comes into its mightiest inheritance of mightiest faith and mightiest prayer.

    God’s conquering days are when the saints have given themselves to mightiest prayer. When God’s house on earth is a house of prayer, then God’s house in heaven is busy and all-potent in its plans and movements, then His earthly armies are clothed with the triumphs and spoils of victory and His enemies defeated on every hand.

    God conditions the very life and prosperity of His cause on prayer. The condition was put in the very existence of God’s cause in this world. ‘Ask of Me‘ is the one condition God puts in the very advance and triumph of His cause. Men are to pray – to pray for the advance of God’s cause. Prayer puts God in full force in the world.

    To a prayerful man God is present in realized force; to a prayerful church God is present in glorious power. The Second Psalm is the divine description of the establishment of God’s cause through Jesus Christ. All inferior dispensations have merged in the enthronement of Jesus Christ. God declares the enthronement of His Son. The nations are incensed with bitter hatred against His cause. God is described as laughing at their enfeebled hate.

    “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. …Yet have I set My king upon My holy hill of Zion.” The decree has passedimmutable and eternal:

    ‘I will declare the decree: The Lord hath said unto Me, Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee. Ask of Me, and I shall give Thee the nations for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel’ (Psa. 2:4-9).

    ‘Ask of Me‘ is the condition – a praying people willing and obedient. Under this universal and simple promise, men and women of old laid themselves out for God. They prayed and God answered their prayers, and the cause of God was kept alive in the world by the flame of their praying” (E. M. Bounds).