I don’t know if this happens to anyone else, but I saw a car that brought back some memories of my late Uncle Bob.

I saw this Ford Bronco while sitting at a red light and instantly I thought of Bob, who drove something very similar. In fact, every time I see any Ford Bronco of any color, I automatically think of him.

He was a great uncle. Sure, he was flawed and he had his demons, but I was blessed to have him in my life. I can trace my love for music of all kinds to him and to my other Uncle Monty.

I sometimes wish I could let them know that I miss both of them. I wish I could let them know who I’ve become. I don’t think I appreciated either of them nearly enough while they were alive, and now I have that regret after they’re both gone.

I suppose I could try to be a better uncle myself. Maybe my nephews and niece will one day remember me with the same fondness that I remember my own uncles. Hopefully.

I also was listening to some vintage Grateful Dead in the car today. I’m sure Uncle Bob would have loved that. Thanks, Bob and Monty, for a great legacy to pass on.

The quest to watch all the episodes of classic Doctor Who continues. I’m currently in the midst of the 4th doctor aka Tom Baker and all his many and varied companions.

The latest companion is Romana I, played by the lovely Mary Tamm, and the current quest is to find all six components to the key of time before all sorts of unimaginable chaos and destruction ensues.

I’m still thankful for the good people at Britbox for making this quest possible. It’s been quite an adventure. The only downside is that so many of the earlier episodes remain lost due to carelessness and shortsightedness on the part of the BBC at the time.

My favorite companion at this point is Sarah Jane Smith, portrated by the late Elisabeth Sladen. I’m not quite sure who my favorite doctor is. I guess it depends on where I am in the series.

Stay tuned for more updates to come later. And yes, I am wearing my Doctor Who t-shirt as I write these words.

“Do not worry! Earthly goods deceive the human heart into believing that they give it security and freedom from worry. But in truth, they are what cause anxiety. The heart which clings to goods receives with them the choking burden of worry. Worry collects treasures, and treasures produce more worries. We desire to secure our lives with earthly goods; we want our worrying to make us worry-free, but the truth is the opposite. The chains which bind us to earthly goods, the clutches which hold the goods tight, are themselves worries.

When you share your story, whether spoken or written or sung or acted out, there will always be at least one other who will say, “That’s my story, too!”

Part of the healing that comes through sharing your story is that you find out that the old whisper about you being the only one to ever feel that way or act that way gets shown up to be the lie that it always was. There will be people who can relate, who have been there and done that.

So tell your story. Share the testimony God has given you. People can argue with you all day long over theology and doctrine, but no one can ever dispute what God has done in your own life. No one can argue with a transformed life.

“You have been taught to love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you this: love your enemies. Pray for those who torment you and persecute you—  in so doing, you become children of your Father in heaven. He, after all, loves each of us—good and evil, kind and cruel. He causes the sun to rise and shine on evil and good alike. He causes the rain to water the fields of the righteous and the fields of the sinner. It is easy to love those who love you—even a tax collector can love those who love him. And it is easy to greet your friends—even outsiders do that! But you are called to something higher: ‘Be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect'” (Matthew 5:43-48, The Voice).

Chris Brooks, Kairos pastor, made a point in his sermon that I’d honestly never thought about. He said that Jesus used the main character in the parable of the Good Samaritan for a reason. Jews and Samaritans did not get along. In fact, to the Jew at that time, there were no more hated enemies than the Samaritans.

What Jesus was saying in effect is that the enemy is your neighbor. When He says to love your neighbor and later on to love your enemy, they are often one and the same.

Who is the enemy you are called to love? Who is the one who Jesus calls you to pray for who persecutes you and torments you and basically makes your life a living hell?

Chris said that this is not promoting passive acceptance of abusive behavior toward you. What he’s saying is that you trust God to set things right.

Maybe your enemy is your boss. Maybe it’s a co-worker. Maybe it’s an actual neighbor down the street. It could be a family member. It could be those Trump supporters or those liberals out of Hollywood. Possibly your worst enemy is yourself and that inner critic that never shuts up or goes away.

Whatever the case, Jesus doesn’t give any opt-outs for this command. He set the standard high. In fact, He set the standard so high that only though the power of the Holy Spirit in you can you possibly live up to it.

It’s not easy, as with most of Jesus’ teachings, but it’s more than worth any pain or sacrifice if it makes you a little more like Jesus in the end.

According to my Apple watch, I set some new personal records.

I burned 1,551 calories, I exercised 219 minutes, and I put in a grand total of 31,039 steps and 15.71 miles today.

No wonder I’m tired and my feet hurt.

My challenge to you is to strive to be better today than you were yesterday.

If you succeed, you can set the bar a little higher the next day.

If not, you can always try again tomorrow.

Today, I had the amazing privilege of witnessing a girl making a public profession of the fact that she received Jesus as Lord a few weeks back. She will be baptized next week, and a host of angels in heaven and a crowd of people down here will rejoice.

I was a bit stunned as she was a church attender and had been in the same life group as me for a while. At the time, I assumed, as did probably everyone else there, that she was a believer.

I was also extremely grateful for the grace that can save anyone anywhere at any time. Once again, I learned that it’s never too late for God’s plan of redemption to take effect in someone’s life.

I also was reminded to never assume when it comes to someone’s salvation. Just because a person does Christian activities like attending church services or reading their Bible doesn’t mean that person has saving faith. They may know of Jesus and know about Jesus and not know Jesus.

It also encouraged me to never give up praying for those loved ones who I’m not sure about their eternal destiny. It may take 5 days or 50 years, but God has a way of showing up in a person’s life at just the right moment in time.

As my pastor has said, it’s a blessing when God gives you a front row seat to witness His work in the world. In this case, I believe it was nothing short of a miracle that God worked in the life of one new believer whose life will never ever be the same again.

Every now and then, something will show up in my Facebook memories that I had completely forgotten about. Tonight, a poem appeared that I had posted 8 years ago.

I posted it for the beautiful words and deeply heartfelt expression (and not because of anything I was going through personally at the time.

I hope it will speak deeply into your soul:

Broken Cry

“Distill my soul with your blood,
marring the pride I hold tight,
until it crumbles and slips
past my wounded clasp.

Flow through my broken veins,
breathing deeply in my mourning.
Open my stubborn eyes,
to the beauty of your mercies severe.

Bend my shattered world,
crushing the pieces,
collapsing my life.
Surrender my tears to prayer
and bow my heart at your feet.

Clothe me in brokenness,
birthing my suffering heart,
through the pressures of my sorrow
that shine in the power of your grace.

Rain down holy tears,
filling the springs of my heart,
pouring the light of your promise
into my soul’s darkest night.

By Christi Armstrong – http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1222802324

Copyright 2010 Christi Armstrong

“What we call ‘being in love’ is a glorious state, and, in several ways, good for us. It helps to make us generous and courageous, it opens our eyes not only to the beauty of the beloved but to all beauty, and it subordinates (especially at first) our merely animal sexuality; in that sense, love is the great conqueror of lust. No one in his senses would deny that being in love is far better than either common sensuality or cold self-centredness. But, as I said before, ‘the most dangerous thing you can do is to take any one impulse of our own nature and set it up as the thing you ought to follow at all costs’. Being in love is a good thing, but it is not the best thing. There are many things below it, but there are also things above it. You cannot make it the basis of a whole life. It is a noble feeling, but it is still a feeling. Now no feeling can be relied on to last in its full intensity, or even to last at all. Knowledge can last, principles can last, habits can last; but feelings come and go. And in fact, whatever people say, the state called ‘being in love’ usually does not last” (C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity).”

Love isn’t a feeling.

Actually, love is an action that encompasses but transcends feelings.

Love of any kind– whether for spouse, family, friends, or even pets– is an act of the will, a choice.

If you truly love, you do acts of love even when you don’t feel love.

Ultimate love is that while we were yet the enemies of God and sinners, Christ died for us.

We can only love at all because God in Christ first loved us.