For anyone out there who wants to know, all my NCAA tournament brackets are now fodder for the shredder. ALL of them. In other words, all the teams I had pegged to win it all in each of my various brackets have lost.

Duke was the last to fall, making it official that I officially suck at picking winners at NCAA basketball. Next year, all my brackets may just be randomly selected by computers rather than by me.

But on the good news front, I picked up a pair of vintage Dan Post cowboy boots from Pre to Post Modern today. I wasn’t planning on buying any boots. In fact, boot buying wasn’t even a blip on my radar.

But I saw them. I remembered that my granddad had several pairs of Dan Posts back in the day. They were his favorite brand. So I broke down and made the purchase.

It’s nice to have something that ties you back to someone you loved like a grandparent or a parent. I can wear these and think of dear ol’ granddad.

Plus, they’re super comfortable and fit perfectly.

“The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling, a scrubby plant in a parched field. There was nothing attractive about him, nothing to cause us to take a second look. He was looked down on and passed over, a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand. One look at him and people turned away. We looked down on him, thought he was scum. But the fact is, it was ourpains he carried— our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. We thought he brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures. But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed. We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost. We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong, on him, on him” (Isaiah 53:3-4, The Message).

I realize that we’re still a few weeks away from Passion Week leading up to Easter Sunday, but these were fitting words that turned up on Bible Gateway’s Verse of the Day.

The next time you walk into any Target or Wal-Mart or any other store and see all the displays of Easter candy and fuzzy rabbits, remember that Isaiah 53 encapsulates what this holiday is really all about.

I can almost imagine cartoon Charlie Brown yelling out, “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Easter is really all about?”

“Sure, I can tell you that,” Linus replies. Then he proceeds to recite Isaiah 53. Jesus did it all for the love of you and me. He bore the penalty of the sins we had earned and died the death we deserved.

But Easter Sunday is more than just death. Jesus didn’t stay in that tomb. As the popular worship song goes, the tomb was borrowed for three days. Just a rental.

“The resurrection completes the inauguration of God’s kingdom. . . . It is the decisive event demonstrating thet God’s kingdom really has been launched on earth as it is in heaven. The message of Easter is that God’s new world has been unveiled in Jesus Christ and that you’re now invited to belong to it” (N.T. Wright).

I had one of my less thrilling homeward commutes today. In all, this little road trip took just less than 90 minutes.

It was slightly faster than being stuck in a parking lot, but only just. And there weren’t even any wrecks as far as I know to account for the unbearable creeping traffic.

But thankfully, I had good music to help me keep my sanity and all the slowgoings on the interstate.

I had the fantastic box set, Down Every Road, featuring all the great songs by one Mr. Merle Haggard, who sadly passed away in 2016 on the day of his 79th birthday.

To me, he’s the genuine article. His music is real, bonafide country music and holds up very well. He may be gone, but he left us with an incredible legacy of music that will last for generations to come.

It’s been a great week here in Middle Tennessee. Almost picture perfect. The weather’s just about perfect, and it feels like spring has finally arrived after many false starts and hints and allegations.

I say almost picture perfect because with all the warmer weather came all the ragweed and pollen that have invaded my sinuses and taken up residence in my nasal cavities.

Right at the moment, I feel like I could sleep for 3 days straight. Or at least a good solid 8 hours. Last night I feel like I woke up every five minutes. It was indeed annoying.

But as a friend and co-worker of mine always says, if that’s the worst thing that happens to me this week, I’m doing pretty good. I won’t moan and groan too much over some hay fever issues when people I know are dealing with illness and suffering, some of it beyond my ability to comprehend.

After all, I did wake up this morning. So that’s a win right there.

This pollen too shall pass. Soon, I hope.

“When I meditated on the word Guidance, I kept seeing ‘dance’ at the end of the word. I remember reading that doing God’s will is a lot like dancing.

When two people try to lead, nothing feels right. The movement doesn’t flow with the music, and everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky. When one person realizes that, and lets the other lead, both bodies begin to flow with the music. One gives gentle cues, perhaps with a nudge to the back or by pressing lightly in one direction or another. It’s as if two become one body, moving beautifully. The dance takes surrender, willingness, and attentiveness from one person and gentle guidance and skill from the other.

My eyes drew back to the word Guidance. When I saw ‘G: I thought of God, followed by ‘u’ and ‘i’. “God, ‘u’ and ‘i’ dance.’ God, you, and I dance. As I lowered my head, I became willing to trust that I would get guidance about my life. Once again, I became willing to let God lead.

My prayer for you today is that God’s blessings and mercies be upon you on this day and everyday. May you abide in God as God abides in you. Dance together with God, trusting God to lead and to guide you through each season of your life.

And I Hope You Dance!!!!!!!!”

“Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer at sin’s every beck and call! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ’s sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That’s what Jesus did” (Romans 6:11-16, The Message).

Tonight at Kairos, we celebrated the baptism of four individuals. We believe that none of them were saved by the act of baptism but that each of them chose immersion into the water as a response in obedience to what Jesus has already done in and through them.

While we believe that baptism is an outward symbol of an inward transformation, we also believe that it’s more than just getting wet in a baptistry.

The water is more than just mere water.

The water is a declaration of dying to self and coming alive in Christ. The old adage in baptism holds true — buried with Christ in baptism and raised to walk in newness of life.

We believe that the water represents a surrender to the call of Jesus and a willingness to follow, regardless of the consequences. Even if it means losing our lives. We still believe that you find your life by losing it and you find your most fulfilling life by giving it away.

Most of all, it means that Jesus doesn’t make you a better or more improved you. He makes you brand new. That is the gospel.

“Isn’t this the fast I choose:
To break the chains of wickedness,
to untie the ropes of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free,
and to tear off every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
to bring the poor and homeless into your house,
to clothe the naked when you see him,
and not to ignore your own flesh and blood?” (Isaiah 58:6-7, CSB).

The whole season of Room in the Inn flew by. It felt like almost no time at all had passed. In fact, stepping outside into the chilly drizzly night could have easily led to the conclusion that it was November and not March.

But we wrapped up the 2018-2019 season with a bang. The homeless men got treated to a a place to stay the night, a good meal, good conversations, an ice cream sundae bonanza and, of course, a Bible study.

Tom Woods spoke from Mark 12 about the scribe who asked Jesus what He believed to be the greatest commandment in all of Scripture. Not to trap or test Jesus, as the others had done, but out of sincere and authentic intent.

The answer Jesus gave was to quote the prophet Moses. Love God will your whole being and love your neighbor as yourself. These two are greater than all the sacrifices and offerings combined.

I couldn’t help but think about Isaiah 58. God doesn’t want empty rituals or hollow liturgy. God doesn’t want our religious activities and gatherings.

He wants us to love Him, and we do that first and foremost by how we love others, chiefly those who are the least lovable. He called us to go out to the orphans and the widows, the marginalized and the outcasts.

Room in the Inn has been a safe environment for me in which to serve the homeless and find myself being way more blessed than I could ever hope to bless anyone else.

I’m already counting down the days until next November so I can start Room in the Inn all over again.

“Forgive me for using casual language to compensate for your natural weakness of human understanding. I want to be perfectly clear. In the same way you gave your bodily members away as slaves to corrupt and lawless living and found yourselves deeper in your unruly lives, now devote your members as slaves to right and reconciled lives so you will find yourselves deeper in holy living. In the days when you lived as slaves to sin, you had no obligation to do the right thing. In that regard, you were free. But what do you have to show from your former lives besides shame? The outcome of that life is death, guaranteed. But now that you have been emancipated from the death grip of sin and are God’s slave, you have a different sort of life, a growing holiness. The outcome of that life is eternal life. The payoff for a life of sin is death, but God is offering us a free gift—eternal life through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, the Liberating King” (Romans 6:19-23, The Voice).

“I used to spend a lotta time worryin that I was different from other people, even from other homeless folks. Then, after I met Miss Debbie and Mr. Ron, I worried that I was so different from them that we wadn’t ever gon’ have no kind a’ future. But I found out everybody’s different – the same kind of different as me. We’re all just regular folks walkin down the road God done set in front of us. The truth about it is, whether we is rich or poor or somethin in between, this earth ain’t no final restin place. So in a way, we is all homeless – just workin our way toward home” (Denver Moore, Same Kind of Different as Me).

If you’ve read the book, which I have, I can’t emphasize enough how much you need to see the movie based on the book. It stars Greg Kinnear, Renée Zellweger, and Djimon Hounsou and captures beautifully the heart of the book. It delves into the sadder aspects of the story without becoming melodramatic or cliched.

That book, more than anything else, was what really got me involved in the homeless ministry, so if you haven’t read it, do that first. Then see the movie.

It’s officially spring. The calendar tells me, and so do my sinuses.

I think today must have been another high pollen count day, because the inside of my head was feeling it.

I’m pretty sure I had a mild case of hay fever to go with some sneezing and headachyness. It was not my most enjoyable or fun moment ever.

Still, in the grand scheme of things, hay fever is far from the worst that can happen to me. In fact, if it’s the worst thing that happens to me all day, I’d call it a pretty good day.

All I need is to take my Vitamin C and rest. That and the weekend should go a long way toward curing what ails me.