“Blessed be thy mercy that laid help on one that is mighty and willing, one that is able to save to that uttermost. Make us deeply sensible of our need of his saving grace, of the blood that cleanses, of the rest he has promised, And impute to us that righteousness which justifies the guilty, gives them a title to eternal life, and posession of the Spirit.”

This morning, one of my tires gave up the ghost in spectacular fashion, blowing into shreds on Nolensville Pike a block or two before the Wal-Mart parking lot. Thankfully, I was able to limp into the parking lot and assess the damage.

Said tire is definitely in Michelin heaven and I am sporting a new tire. I am also on the far side of that stressful situation, which is by far my preference. I don’t want to go through that ordeal for a very, very long time (if ever).

I probably should have paid more attention to my tires. I probably should have noticed something was off sooner. I could go on and on and beat myself up for days and it won’t resurrect my late lamented tire. And it won’t help me much.

Or I could remember that while my tire is deceased, I am not. I am still sans toe tag. For that, I am thankful.

Everything good in my life is due to grace and mercy. Anything that I have or that I do that is remotely decent is because of God’s goodness. Even my next breath is God’s gift to me that I don’t deserve.

My stomach still hasn’t quite recovered from being in knots the whole day due to worrying about my old Jeep. I thought I had really screwed up this time. Thankfully, it was only the tire and some minor cosmetic damage to my car that can be easily fixed.

Even when I choose worry over faith, God is still faithful. It’s probably a small miracle that I didn’t damage the wheel rim. It could have been on the interstate, which would have most likely been way worse to both me and my car.

I can learn my lesson about being more diligent with taking car of things like checking my tire pressure more often. Better yet, I can breathe a deep sigh of relief for another reminder of God’s never-ending lovingkindness toward me.

“The Gospel is bad news before it is good news. It is the news that man is a sinner, to use the old word, that he is evil in the imagination of his heart, that when he looks in the mirror all in a lather what he sees is at least eight parts chicken, phony, slob. That is the tragedy. But it is also the news that he is loved anyway, cherished, forgiven, bleeding to be sure, but also bled for. That is the comedy. And yet, so what? So what if even in his sin the slob is loved and forgiven when the very mark and substance of his sin and of his slobbery is that he keeps turning down the love and forgiveness because he either doesn’t believe them or doesn’t want them or just doesn’t give a damn? In answer, the news of the Gospel is that extraordinary things happen. . . .Zaccheus climbs up a sycamore tree a crook and climbs down a saint. Paul sets out a hatchet man for the Pharisees and comes back a fool for Christ. It is impossible for anybody to leave behind the darkness of the world he carries on his back like a snail, but for God all things are possible. That is the fairy tale. All together they are the truth (Frederick Buechner, Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy & Fairy Tale).

Something I was reminded of again is that we never outgrow our need of the gospel that first saved us. We never get beyond it. We never grow past it. We only deepen in our understanding of it as it reaches deeper into our lives and hearts.

When we neglect the gospel, we tend to forget it. We will slip away from it into error. As the old saying goes, no one drifts into holiness. If anything, we will drift into worldliness and bad doctrine. We will drift into thinking that actions and lifestyles are are acceptable when the Bible calls them sin. We will commend what the Bible condemns.

But when we keep the gospel first, we never get past our need of God. We will not only grow in the gospel and in grace but also in humility. We will never forget the wonder of when we first believed and the biggest desire of our hearts will be for others to know the joy we know.

The good news is still the best news ever. May we never get tired of it or get past it or get to where we don’t want or think we need it.

I think that just about says it all.

I can’t think of too many more powerful examples of the transformative grace of God than Rahab. She literally was a prostitute who chose the promises of God over her own people.

Then there’s Saul, religious henchman and persecutor of God’s people who later became one of the foremost preachers of the gospel that he formerly tried to destroy..

So many stories throughout the Bible showcase God’s ability to change lives and purposes for His glory. As I heard before, the sin and scars that served shame now serve a purpose — testifying to the goodness of God.

No matter how lost or hopeless you feel, there’s always a hope for a new start and a new story. Let God write yours and you will be the most amazed at all people at what God can do.

All of these are worship. It’s not about how well or how loud you can sing songs of praise. It’s about presenting your bodies asan acceptable offering for God to use however He chooses. It’s about being renewed and transformed by the power of God.

Worship is declaring the ultimate and infinite worth of God, whether it’s in a church service or in an office building or even cleaning toilets.

I would give credit for these images, but I can’t remember who first posted them or who created them. It wasn’t me.

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭12‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭MSG‬‬
https://bible.com/bible/97/rom.12.1-2.MSG

First, a disclaimer. It’s technically not spooky season just yet, though I am all for all the Halloween decorations at this point. It feels too hot to adequately celebrate spooky things.

I do love that I get another opportunity to take care of my favorite pups ever. At this point, they’re both super chill and just want all the pets and all the naps. I can relate.

I don’t take things like this for granted. I know how changeable and fleeting life is. I appreciate more and more how much of a gift each day is and how no one, including me, is promised a tomorrow.

So my plan is to pet all the dogs and be thankful. I think that’s a good plan, don’t you?

I have to confess that I am a fan of change . . . until it actually happens. Then I really like the way it used to be and want to go back.

I’m still getting used to the new rhythm of having Kairos once a month. Or more accurately, the Nights of Worship Formerly Known as Kairos. Hopefully, someone will come up with something more catchy or at least shorter.

But something magical always happens when people gather together in worship. It’s something where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. We could each all individually worship in separate places, but it would be nowhere near as powerful as all those voices raised as one.

I was reminded again tonight that worship is about more than singing. It’s about a surrender that leads to transformation. It’s about not conforming or allowing the world around you to shape you into its image, but allowing God to transform you and shape you into His image.

Real worship isn’t pretty. It’s messy and broken, because we who offer up our worship to God are messy and broken. Sometimes, authentic worship looks and sounds like a broken hallelujah. Sometimes, there are no words but only tears.

Richard Foster once said, “If worship does not propel us into greater obedience, it has not been worship. To stand before the Holy One of eternity is to change.”

I can’t worship God in spirit and truth and remain the same. If I have the greatest emotional catharsis and the most moving experience, but am no different when I leave, then it has not been worship. If I can continue in my own sinful lifestyle and not feel the need to repent over my sin afterward, then it has not been worship.

True revival isn’t about miracles and being emotionally overwhelmed. It’s about repentance that leads to renewal that becomes revival. And it starts not with singing but with surrender.

“To be grateful for an unanswered prayer, to give thanks in a state of interior desolation, to trust in the love of God in the face of the marvels, cruel circumstances, obscenities, and commonplaces of life is to whisper a doxology in darkness.” (Brennan Manning).

I love this quote so much. I’m sure I’ve put it in a blog post before, but it’s just so good. And true.

It’s one thing to sing praise songs when the weather’s nice, when my job is going well, when everybody I love is happy and healthy, and when my checkbook is solidly in the black.

But how many could sing a doxology staring in the face of death? How many could still worship in the wake of financial hardships or health scares?

The answer is yes, but only by the grace of God.

Left to myself, I won’t choose to sing. I might choose to curse, but not to worship. I’d definitely complain more than I’d belt out praise choruses.

The true test of a faithful witness isn’t how loudly we sing when life is good, but how you and I can keep reminding each other of the goodness of God when life gets hard. We can still sing, even if it’s just a whisper . . . or even no words come out at all.

A single doxology in the darkness brings God more joy than all the Hallelujah choruses and all the Beethoven’s Fifth Symphonies and all the greatest choirs singing all the greatest hymns ever written. Just one.

I know that according to the calendar, it’s already fall. But sense when did the great state of Tennessee pay any attention to calendars or seasons? It does what it wants to when it wants to. I can attest that we have all four seasons in one week sometimes.

But I’m ready for real, honest to goodness fall. I want flannel weather with my spooky season. I want all things pumpkin spice, apple cider, and bonfire. I want for there to be just a nip in the air in the mornings and for me not to break into a sweat in the afternoons for merely going outside.

I mean I’m not complaining about the less hot temperatures and the very low humidity. It’s better than over 90 degrees with all the steamy humidity.

But still I want fall. That weather, that particular scent that only comes in autumn, can conjure up a million memories from yore. I can suddenly remember the faces of those who are no longer here. Plus, there are the Pumpkin-shaped Reese’s.

I believe in the Word of God. I believe that the Word of God refers to the holy Scriptures as presented in the Bible. I believe the Bible to be inerrant and infallible.

That being said, I confess that I am not always the best at studying it.

I read it. Sometimes, I admit that I speed-read through some of the slower parts, like the genealogies and the laws and all the begats. I can read a text sometimes and go away and not remember a thing, much like the man in the book of James who looks in a mirror and goes away and instantly forgets what he looks like.

But I found this prayer that might be helpful. “We pray for the energy and the courage, that we might not leave the text until we wrench your blessing from it.”

It’s a reference to Jacob wrestling with God, unwilling to let go until God blessed him. Unwilling to let go even though it was crippling him.

How often to I come to the Word of God already thinking about the next task or the next day? How often do I treat reading the very Word of God as an item to be completed and checked off my list rather than an opportunity to hear from God Himself?

Wrestling takes time. Wrestling involves intimacy. As I heard it said once, you can wrestle with someone who’s far away. Wrestling with God in His word means coming close enough to hear His words, and lingering there until I have heard them.

So while I have read the Bible through several times, I can’t really say that I have let the Bible read me. I can’t say that I have given God time to speak to me through the reading of His word.

Lord, give me the courage and the patience to not leave your Word until I have indeed wrenched a blessing from it and heard from You. Amen.