I added yet another coffee mug to my collection today. I wasn’t planning on it, but it spoke to my caffeinated soul in a way that I could not resist. Plus, it’s another excuse to drink more coffee.

I can’t think of anything more appropriate. Yes, I drink coffee because adulting is hard. If I wasn’t forced to wake up every morning at some ungodly hour, I would have no need for that wonderful potion made from magic beans (with lots of creamer and sugar thrown in).

I adult better because there is coffee. Other people appreciate the fact that I drink coffee because it allows me to form sentences and to not forget to wear pants.

So you’re welcome.

I think this speaks for itself.

“Lord, some things look pretty impossible from where we stand right now.
So that’s what we do: we pray for the impossible things, the improbable, implausible, impractical things.
We don’t just pray for the possible — because ours is the God who whispers: “With Me nothing, Nothing, NOTHING is impossible.” 

You are the God who makes the ridiculously impossible into the miraculously possible, the unbelievable into the you-better-believe-it, the never into the now. 
We are the people who pray it tonight: BUT GOD. We pray the impossible prayers — because as long we are with You, *nothing is impossible*” (Ann Voskamp, #HonestPrayers).

I have a friend who is walking through the dark valley of cancer right now, facing a scary surgery in a couple of weeks.

I have another friends who have some concerns about their unborn baby after the latest ultrasound.

I know a couple in my church who are friends with my parents who are watching as their own daughter is in hospice with failing health.

I also have a God who specializes in turning the ridiculously impossible into the miraculously possible. He’s the God for whom what seems impossible to us isn’t even remotely difficult for Him.

That’s the God who hears my prayers tonight and will show up mightily in all these circumstances. This is the God Incarnate who knows the way out of the tomb, over whom death has no power at all.

This is where my hope lies tonight.

I’ve decided I’m starting a new quest. This particular one is to collect retro Memphis jerseys such as the Showboats, Chicks, and Grizzlies (the World Football League version). I also know that Memphis had a few incarnations of a pro basketball team back in the 70s as well as more than a few soccer teams back in the day.

I’ve already hit up my Memphis friends on social media for help in this quest. Ideally, I think it’d be great to find these at thrift shops or consignment stores. In other words, for less than one arm and one leg.

I feel like representing my hometown and its incredible sports legacy through the years. I don’t think Memphis gets the respect it deserves as a sports loving city. And I keep hoping against hope that those NBA Memphis Grizzlies can maybe bring home a championship to the city.

At the very least, Penny Hardaway is making University of Memphis basketball exciting and relevant again. So there’s that.

As much as I love living in Nashville, Memphis will always be the place of my birth and my true hometown.

PS I will be more than willing to pay by whatever means for whatever you find. Just throwing that out there.

Beware the ferocious killer kitten that goes by the alias of Peanut. She’s got these lethal claws and crazed look on her face. You can tell she’s not one to be messed with. She’s a hellion in a fur coat . . . I can’t even keep a straight face.

She doesn’t have a single mean bone in her 12-pound body. She’d rather nap than fight. If an intruder actually broke in, she’d probably hide underneath the bed until he was gone.

Some kind of guard cat she is. But I still kinda like her.

“To be grateful for the good things that happen in our lives is easy, but to be grateful for all of our lives-the good as well as the bad, the moments of joy as well as the moments of sorrow, the successes as well as the failures, the rewards as well as the rejections-that requires hard spiritual work. Still, we are only truly grateful people when we can say thank you to all that has brought us to the present moment. As long as we keep dividing our lives between events and people we would like to remember and those we would rather forget, we cannot claim the fullness of our beings as a gift of God to be grateful for.

Let’s not be afraid to look at everything that has brought us to where we are now and trust that we will soon see in it the guiding hand of a loving God” (Henri Nouwen).

The Bible commands us to give thanks in every circumstance. Note that it does not say to give thanks FOR everything but in everything with the confidence that God is able to work even the worst of things for the best.

So there it is. Give thanks on good days and bad, for the happy and the sad, on the best of days and the worst, and everything in between.

Give thanks that the God of the sunshine is also the God of the rain, that the God of the day is also God of the night, that the God in all joy is also God in all sorrow.

Some of you are walking through the valley of the shadow of death. My prayer is that you will find God has been with you from the start and will be with you to the end and beyond. So give thanks, not for the valley, but for God in the valley with you.

It’s Friday night, and my brain is fried. This marks the end of the first official 5-day work week in a while.

Right now, as I type these words, I’m laying in bed with some very soothing chamber music playing on my bluetooth portable speaker through Amazon music. It’s very relaxing.

I should probably put more classical music in my mind. Especially at night when I’m needing to unwind.

So far, it’s working. I can feel those remaining tensions and stresses leaving my body, being replaced by calm. Calm is good.

I suppose it’s a little like a Sabbath.

There’s a reason God designed the Sabbath. Not to add more rules and regulations, but to provide much needed rest. No one can go 24/7/365. All of us need down time, quiet, and rest.

Preferably with a little chamber music thrown in.

Can I say that I’m not used to being back in the 5-day work week yet?

I’m particularly fond of that week when I only worked 3 days.

Still, I’m surviving. I’m thankful that I had a job waiting for me at the end of all those vacation days and holidays. I remember not all that long ago when I didn’t.

I’m not saying that I don’t look forward to Friday, but I don’t live from weekend to weekend. At least I try not to.

Here and now is where I want to be, not wasting time wishing for Friday or the next big holiday.

I want to be present in my present and be fully alive in the moment.

Plus getting the occasional sleep-in on Saturday. Those are pretty great, too.

I must admit that it felt great to be back at Kairos on Tuesday. It had been just shy of a month since the last Kairos service way back in the year of our Lord 2018.

I think that if tonight was any indication, 2019 is going to be spectacular. Chris Brooks spoke on how to spend less time trying harder to win God’s approval and more time training in the everyday disciplines to live out of the overflow of God’s love and approval that we already have in Jesus.

I confess that my default setting is works-based. I still feel in some way that I need to earn God’s favor, even though I know deep down that’s impossible. The more you try to be good enough to work your way to God, you realize just how lacking you are.

But the more you confess your own brokenness and reach out for God’s mercy and love in Jesus, you know how deep that God’s grace goes. You find that the joy of the Lord truly is your strength.

That grace and mercy are available to all who ask, seek, and knock. If you but cry out to Jesus, He will hear you and come find you, not waiting for you to get yourself cleaned up or straightened up or anything else. All He asks is for a willing and surrendered heart.

I can’t wait to see what next week’s Kairos brings.