Dear God, I was spending time with a pastor friend of mine recently, and he told me he recently asked his congregation for sermon topics, and one that came back was, “Do we have to be born again?” Interesting question. Some pastors might respond, “Of course! John 3. Jesus and Nicodemus!” Others would say, “That term has some baggage that we now need to get away from. Let’s talk about it in a different way.” I have a feeling the person who sent in the question is likely in the latter camp. They might see people preaching “born again” as fire and brimstone preachers trying to scare people into heaven by selling them fire insurance.
I thought it was probably a topic that was going to fester with me, but then I heard this extraordinary talk by Skye Jethani of the Holy Post (behind a pay wall, but you can get a one-time free listen). He talked about the difference between “Jesus, save me” and “Jesus, transform me.” He told the story of how the writer of the hymn “Amazing Grace” was saved from a storm at sea early in his life after he shouted into the wind, “God, have mercy on us,” or something like that, but that wasn’t transformation. It was just resuscitation. His life was just prolonged. That boat was a slave trading boat, and he went on capturing humans and selling them to others. It wasn’t until later in his life that he considered himself to have been transformed by you. Skye made the point that Newton’s life only got better after the saving on the boat. He eventually became a captain. But after the transformation and he repented of slave trading and started working to abolish it, his life actually got harder. But that’s when he wrote the words, “I was blind, but now I see.” It wasn’t after being saved in the storm. It was after he was resurrected and born again, a la 1 Corinthians 5:17: “If anyone is born in Christ he is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come.”
The first question is, “Am I born again?” Not, “Am I resuscitated?” Am I changed and am I continuing to be changed in Jesus? I think I am, but there is a lot of chane that still needs to happen.
The next question is, “While I am on my journey, am I selling change to my friends and those I know? Am I selling born again, or am I just selling resuscitation?”
The person asking the original question was probably relating it to getting into heaven. They were probably similar to the rich young ruler who was asking Jesus, “What must I do to be saved?”
Father, I love you. Thank you for giving me not just a prolonged life, but a new life. I am different now than before I started growing in you. I am grateful. I love you. Help me to keep growing. To press on (Philippians 3:14).
Dear God, I was listening to the Holy Post podcast this morning, and one of the things they mentioned is a common question they get is around people asking them which biblical commentary is the one they can trust. Or they’ll get asked, “Which translation do you use?” Their take was that people are looking for someone they can trust to just tell them the truth. They want certainty in their beliefs.
It reminds me of the pastor in 2020 who, after having just barely survived Covid, said in an interview that he decided through the experience that we’ve made an idol out of certainty. You are the only thing that is the same yesterday, today, and forever, but we will try to put our certainty in our spouse, children, health, economy, bank account, government, etc. I would add our theology to that as well. We want to be right about everything. That’s why we leave churches when someone disagrees with us. That’s why we try to shame others for their sin while we ignore our own. We have a need to be right.
A couple of weeks ago, I asked a friend that if we were to stand before you after we die and we asked you what percentage of our theology was correct while we were here on earth, what percentage do we think you’d come back with. Frankly, my answer was that I’d be really pleased if you told me I had 20% of it correct, meaning I would not understand, be partially wrong, or completely wrong about 80% of it. The problem is, I just don’t know which 80% is wrong and which 20% is right (assuming I’m as high as 20%).
Father, at the end of the day, I know you are there. I am all in on the Jesus virgin birth, life, death, resurrection, and assumption narrative. I’m all in on his being part of you–begotten, not made. I’m all in on the Holy Spirit. Basically, I’m all in on the Nicene Creed. Everything else is a little squishy for me. Even the specific lines that will help me be “saved.” So my choice is to live today. I am going to worship you. I am going to love others. I’m going to work hard. And I’m going to share my life vulnerably so that others might feel a touch of you through me, and so I might feel a touch of you through them. To you be the glory.
Dear God, I want to just talk a little with you today about what happened 31 years ago. My best friend from high school got married, and I was grateful to be selected as his best man. My wife and I had been married three years at that point, and we flew from our home in Dallas to Houston for the wedding. During the rehearsal dinner, my wife started having abdominal pain. I took her back to our hotel room after the dinner and then went out with the groom and some of his college friends and hung out until about 2:00 in the morning. When I got back to the room, my wife was still in a lot of pain, so I took her to a local Emergency Room. I can’t remember if it was while we were waiting to be taken back (which took a couple of hours) or while we were waiting for a room where she could be admitted (which took even more hours), at some point she told me that before we left Dallas she felt like you had told her, “Your pregnant. It’s a girl. It’s not going to work out.” As it turned out, she had an ectopic pregnancy and we were afraid she would have to lose one of her fallopian tubes. Of course, that would impact our ability to have children in the future. Our doctor was Iranian and it was difficult to understand him through his accent (and he didn’t have the warmest personality). My mother-in-law’s GYN consulted with us by phone and helped us in our decision making. My mother-in-law came from Austin. My parents were already in Houston for the wedding. Thankfully, later that night my mother was with my wife when she passed the pregnancy on her own. I left for a few hours during that Saturday to be part of the wedding, but I didn’t stick around for the reception. I just went back to the hospital as soon as I could.
I have a distinct memory of being on my knees at her bedside and praying to you. I was praying that I trusted you. My heart was broken. I was crying. But I told you that I believed and trusted in you so much that even if I was wrong and the path of following you led to hell then I would follow you to hell. The did surgery on her two days later to make sure everything was okay. She was able to not have anything removed, and we would end up getting pregnant with our son just two months later. One of the hardest parts was getting my wife home. I had to drive her to the airport with only a big t-shirt on and a stuffed dog I bought her at a local Toys R Us sitting in her lap. Every imperfection in the road hurt. I wheeled her through the airport, we boarded our Southwest flight, got back to Love Field in Dallas and then drove back to our third-floor apartment. It was quite the thing for a 24- (her) and 25-year old (me) to go through.
We named our unborn girl Sandra, and every year I remember August 12 as her “birthday,” or the day my wife passed her pregnancy on her own. I also remember my friends anniversary that same day. I always know how long they’ve been married too.
Father, I don’t know where Sandra is right now. I like to imagine her looking down on the parents who never met her, but whom she loves and cares about. As she looks at her two siblings, one of whom would not have been born if her pregnancy had made it, I like to think of her praying for them. That she loves them even though I don’t think they regard her existence as very real. But I do. I think she prays for my wife and me too. Especially our struggles and sorrows. I told my wife that I hope she’s proud of us as she watches to move through life. I hope she’s enjoying the love she feels from my wife’s parents who have already passed from this world into the next. From my grandparents. She’s part of our family. Our legacy. And I’ll get to meet her one day. One day, I will understand so much more than I understand now. Oh, what a joy that will be. So happy anniversary, 31st Johnny and Karen. Happy 31st birthday, Sandra. All of you have my love. Father, please bless Johnny and Karen with your presence in their lives and enjoy the worship and presence of my daughter.
Dear God, you gave us this weird thing of free will. There was a man I used to know who would say that “everyone is born with a half-full cup. It’s what you do with the cup that matters.” My personal thought is that some people are born with more hurdles than others. The old thing of an advantaged person being “born on third base, but they think they hit a triple,” vs. the child born into poverty with a drug-addicted mother who is in and out of jail, father is gone, and grandmother is struggling to support him and his older sister. They are starting from different places. But the person born on third base can try to steal home and get thrown or tagged out, and the person starting at the plate can work the pitches until they either get the one they want or walk. The choice is up to each of us.
Mr. Paige knew that well. He was apparently a phenomenal baseball pitcher, but he was limited to the Negro League because black players weren’t allowed into the Major League. It wasn’t until he was 42, well past his prime, that he was allowed to play in MLB. So how did you use that pain and struggle in his life? How did you use it to form him? How did you use the awful, reprehensible things of racism and hate to make him the inspiration he later became?
While I was praying, a friend just told me about his wife who was laid off yesterday. I know there is hurt, fear, and pain. I pray that this hurt, fear, and pain won’t be wasted. I pray that you will provide for them, love them, and use it to bond them together. Make them one in every way: spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically. Let this be a weird answer to the prayers they’ve been praying. That we’ve all prayed.
Father, I have choices today. I can be common or uncommon. Help me to glorify you in an uncommon way. To you be the glory for the great things you have done. So loved you the world that you gave us your son who yielded his life as atonement for sin and opened the life gate that all may go in. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear your voice! Praise the Lord, praise the lord, let the people rejoice! Oh, come to the Father through Jesus your son, and give you the glory for great things you have done.
“Secure” by Grace Pelley. From the poetry collection A Measured Universe.
Dear God, I was listening to the Voxology podcast two weeks ago, and they were talking about this special camp in Alabama for children with disabilities. One of the hosts, who is a pastor and also the father of a son with Down Syndrome, described the camp from his experience of having just taken his son there and also being a volunteer. The place sounds amazing.
During his description of the camp, he talked about this woman with cerebral palsey. Her name is Grace Pelley, and she has written a wonderful book of poetry called A Measured Universe. He read two poems from the book, and I knew I had to get it for my wife. It came in last week. I’ve only looked at a few of the poems, but knowing the personal pain and frustration from which they are written makes them incredibly rich in meaning.
I decided I wanted to spend some time with one of these poems and see what kind of insights Ms. Pelley might have for me. What I might learn about you through her. But being someone who doesn’t spend much time with poetry, I wanted to start with a shorter one. I’ll pick some longer ones later.
This first one–“Secure”–did not disappoint. Just starting with the title, this makes me think about the pastor I heard back in 2020 who said we make an idol out of “certainty.” We want to feel certain, i.e. secure. We want to know what’s going on.
Before I start with the poem, the title alone makes me think of Job 38:4-5, when you are setting Job straight, so to speak:
4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much. 5 Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line?
Your universe is measured and intentional. I have to accept that I cannot always see why. I’m sure Ms. Pelley has struggled to see why sometimes too. But she has found your universe to be measured, indeed.
So what do I see here?
“Beyond what we can see is the real Reality and its good, gracious King.” Beyond the reality I can see. I can see so little of what is happening around me. Powers. Principalities. Plans beyond my comprehension.
“He exalts children.” Jesus and the children. Those who offer nothing. As adults, we think we have something to offer, but to you, we have no more to offer than the child who brings us a fingerpainting and thinks they’ve given us the world. And to their parent, they have. And to you, our Father, we have. I wonder if we get disappointed in ourselves because we don’t realize just how much closer to being children we are than being like you.
“And crowns those the world discards.” I think of the people who Jesus healed. Then I think of the man on the cross Jesus forgave. A discarded person if ever there was one. He didn’t even repent. He just worshipped and revered.
“Already his rule is slipping out from the veil and finding us.” We can’t see you, but we get glimpses. We get moments. Visitations. Maybe from angels we are hosting unaware. Maybe through the words of a friend or a poetry book suggested by a podcast host. Maybe through the nature you created that sometimes breaks beyond what we can control. You are too big and mighty to be hidden. And then you sent Jesus. We got a real good look at you through…well, you. You lifted the veil for 33 years and gave us a good look.
“The curatin will be lifted soon.” In death? Certainly. Possibly in the second coming of Jesus in my lifetime, although I doubt it. More likely in death, I will see through this veil. This curtain. I’ll see it all. It reminds me of the last letter in Screwtape Letters, when, after the human “patient” dies in a bombing, the master demon Screwtape asks the demon Wormwood what it was like when the human saw him for the first time. I cannot imagine what the first moment looking through the curtain will look like.
“and we’ll know He never could have lost.” This goes back to the idol of our certainty. The reality is big and it is obvious. We just cannot see it–yet.
“There is nothing to fear.” ‘Nuff said.
Father, there is nothing to fear. There are things to mourn. There are things to struggle against with your power and for the sake of others more than myself. But there is nothing to fear. The reality is that you will never lose.
I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Dear God, we are going to try this again tonight. Last week, the flooding in South Texas prevented us from having the graduation for the men in this Christian Men’s Life Skills Class, so we are doing it one week later. I hope all of the men and their families can come.
And I have the opportunity to speak to them. I’ve prayed through what to say before, and I have a lot of ideas. Here they are in raw form:
I need to start with a story. I need an entry point for them. I’ll come back to this.
I want to integrate the organization’s foundational verse, Proverbs 27:17 – As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend. I think this is important. You saw early on, before the fall, that it was not good for humans to be alone. We need someone. Adam needed Eve, and Eve needed Adam. And they both needed you. We need positive peer pressure. We need influence. That makes me think about the Fellowship of Christian Athletes picture called “Influence.” I have a copy of it hanging on my office wall.
I want to talk about the influence our friends have on us. How I’ve heard it said that we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with.
One of the teachers who has been through the program suggested I really stress the importance of participating in the weekly alumni program and encouraging the families to positively reinforce the good changes they see in their husbands/boyfriends/fathers/sons.
And I want to lean into the parable of the wheat at the tares from Matthew 13. I spoke about this the other night at the alumni meeting. Jesus made a point that it would not be good to rip up the weeds because some of the good wheat would get ripped up too. No, wait until the harvest, take it all up together, and then sort it out. All of us, including me, were spared a good weed-pulling. You spared us and gave us a chance to change. We’ve been through pain. It’s time for us to make the pain count.
Father, given what I just typed above, I think a rough outline will be:
Opening story. I have some thoughts, but I still need a good one.
I think I want to do the parable of the wheat and the tares next.
Then I want to do “we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with.”
Then the iron sharpens iron verse.
Then encouragement to not let this pain be wasted. Make it count.
Make it count for all of us to grow.
Get involved in alumni.
Encourage your loved one who completed the course.
Maybe learn from the material he learned from.
Finally, this was Christian Men’s Life Skills. All of the teachers and leaders did this because, ultimately, we want the men and their families to know the Jesus/God we know.
Love your enemies.
Serve the poor.
Die to yourself.
Find the narrow path.
With that said, tonight is everyone’s chance to commit themselves to Jesus and then spend the rest of your earthly life in relationship with you and becoming more and more like you.
Close with prayer.
Father, please help me tonight. Help me decrease as you increase. Prepare the hearts, minds, and souls of everyone in the room. Help the two men who have been arrested for previous crimes in the past two weeks.
I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Dear God, as usual, I need your help. I not only need your help. I want your help. That’s different and, in this case, better. I’ve been asked to give a small talk at the graduation ceremony tomorrow night for the Christian Men’s Life Skills class I’ve been helping with. I’m incredibly honored because some great guys have given these talks in the past three graduations I’ve been to, including one I really admire here in my town. And this talk will be different because I’ll be talking not only to these men as a group of 20 for the last time, but their families will be there too. Keeping in mind that all but one of these men participated in this class because of a felony they were dealing with, I’m sure their families would have a story to tell about each of them too. So what do I say to a group like this? This is where I want your help. Holy Spirit, what would the Father have me say to them?
When I thought about this last night, it made me think about a marketing tool someone taught me to use 30 years ago. Start out by asking four questions:
Who am I talking to?
What do they think?
What do I want them to think?
How do I get them to think that?
So what are the answers to those questions? Honestly, I don’t know them all. One idea I have is to call one of the leaders of the class who was a student about three or four years ago because of legal problems he himself had. What does he think the guys in the class and their families need to hear? I have my ideas, but I’ve never been in their situation–thankfully.
The one thing I’ve thought of as I’ve been thinking about this is the idea of “making the pain count.” What the guys and their families have been through was too painful to let it be wasted. Life is full of pain. I’m going to a funeral this weekend of a young woman in her 30s who died tragically last weekend. Yesterday, I found myself praying for her friends and family, asking that if this pain is to be experienced, don’t let it be wasted. Make it count. And that’s what I’m thinking about for these guys and their families. They have an opportunity to make this count. To use it to change their lives.
Holy Spirit, point me to a biblical character I can use tomorrow night who made a huge mistake but he made it count. Right now, I’m thinking of Peter and how he denied Jesus, was ashamed, but then he made the pain count. He used that humility to lead the early church. To break out of the Jewish paradigm and take Jesus to Gentiles. For the Catholic church, he was the first pope. But whatever I might be thinking now, shape me over the next 36 hours. Speak to me. Guide me. I take this honor very seriously. I want to make this opportunity count for everyone there.
I pray all of this in Jesus and with the Holy Spirit,
Dear God, this evening, I will be presenting the Gospel to a group of men. Help me. I want you to speak through me. I want you to draw them to yourself through me. I don’t want to scare them. I don’t want to threaten them. I want to invite them. I want to show them who you really are and what you mean to me. Why I’m here nearly every morning praying to you. Why I pray to you througout the day. Why I listen to Christian teaching. Why I read Christian things. Why I have Christian friends. I’m not here because I’m afraid of hell. I’m here because I love you. I’m here because I worship you. I’m here because I need this relationship with you today. You make me better. You grow your fruit in me. That’s what I want to offer these men tonight.
I still love this one interview that Andy Stanley did with John Dickson on how Christians have poorly played the music of a faith you authored for us through Jesus 2,000 years ago. What makes us misunderstand what Jesus taught us? I think it’s grasping for idols. Power to mask our uncertainty. If we think it will be more beneficial in the short-term then we will go for it.
The one I think about is the Crusades. What were they trying to prove? Where did they find that in Jesus’s teaching?
Father, maybe I’m wrong about all of this, but I go back to another thing that Mr. Dickson said in this interview. At least I think it was Mr. Dickson in this interview. Anyway, someone told Andy one time that you gave us four tools to use to impact our world: Prayer, Service, Persuasion, and Suffering. Help me to embrace those tools and those tools only today, tonight, and tomorrow as I tell the world–and these 24 men tonight–about the narrow path and your love.
I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Dear God, the creation of this document and the path it set the world on has been incredibly consequential. As a country, we have certainly had a great influence over the last 120 years or so. Therefore, I wanted to spend a little time with this document this morning. I don’t think I’ve read it since high school. My first reaction is that it’s longer than I remember it being. I had it more along the lines of the preamble to the constitution. So here’s an outline of what I’m seeing here:
Paragraph one is like we are serving England with divorce papers.
Paragraph two is saying we all have a right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” but England has been deying those rights to us. We’ll give you some examples. [My note: I heard someone recently compare gerrymandering that’s been going on all over the country by both political parties as a form of taxation without representation and that only 35-ish of the 435 US House of Representatives seats are competitive. That worries me.]
He won’t support the laws we want to make for ourselves. [Interesting that this one is the lead-off hitter.]
More about not supporting local colonial laws by the King. [This must have been a bigger deal than I realized. I thought it was more about England passing laws we didn’t like. It’s interesting that these are the first two.]
Several paragraphs about how he has handled the local governing bodies in a way that is manipulative.
These manipulations of local governing bodies has left the colonies vulnerable to outside attacks.
Unfair court practices.
He has used his own puppet politicians to control and harrass. [It strikes me that this must have been felt at the most basic levels of society for these men who wrote and signed the Declaration of Independence to have been able to recruit an army willing to fight to the death over it.]
Quartering British troups. [This was such a sticking point that they later made it an amendment to our own constitution that the government couldn’t force this.]
The military could supersede local civil power. [I think they ensured against this in the constitution as well.]
Cutting off trade with different parts of the world.
Taxation without representation. [I would have thought this one would be higher on the list because it’s the one we talk about more today.]
Unfair judiciary system including sending people to England for trial.
Suspending English laws nearby and then trying to cause that system to reign over the colonies.
Setting up puppet local governments.
“…declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.” [I need to know more about this.]
Sending mercenary armies to enforce his will on the colonists. [I thought the mercenaries were a result of the war, not one of the causes.]
“He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.” [What’s that about?]
He has incited the Native Americans to attack us.
We’ve tried to address these issues peacefully, but to no avail.
We, therefore, declare our independence from England.
So that was it. And now, here we are 250 years later. Still so young compared with some civilizations and countries. Just a baby nation, really. I think about our enemies in the world, and while some of their national names and borders might not be as old, their cultures and cultural identities go back thousands of years. I heard a quote from President Reagan that says something to the effect that you can move to France and not be a Frenchman. You can move to Germany and not be a German. But anyone can move here from anywhere and be an American.
Father, I am grateful for this country. I’m incredibly grateful to be part of the 5% of the world’s population that lives here. I’ve been especially proud during the World Cup to see all of the people from around the world who have come here and found how great it is here. Yes, we have problems, but it’s a remarkable society. So show me my part. If we have 350 million people living here, I am only one person, but I have a part you want me to play. It’s to love you and love my neighbors. It’s to do what I can to make the people living around me as fulfilled in you as they can be. And that’s not done by coercion or passing laws that will supposedly make them respect you. It’s through what Jesus did: prayer, service, persuasion, and suffering. Thank you for putting me in a place where I can have the space to live that way and have these priorities.
I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Dear God, I heard a term this weekend listening to an interview a Catholic priest did with David Brooks: Numinous Moment. Mr. Brooks was describing a time when he felt a sense of your supernatural presence and could see, just a little, with your eyes. It made me stop and wonder about my own numinous moment(s). Have I had any? Are there places in my life when the veil between you and me got just a little thinner?
I know I’ve had times like this, but the one that seeminly hit me out of the blue with no explanation was when I was about 15 years old. I was home alone on a Saturday night and, I have no idea what inspired be to do this outside of the Holy Spirit coaxing me, I decided to just start reading the Bible. I opened to 1 Samuel (again, I can’t explain why) and started reading it like it was a novel. I think I got all of the way through 1 Samuel and was at least part of the way through 2 Samuel when I was just overcome by worship for you. I found myself running around the living room, shouting praise to you. I was Baptist at the time, and I had been “saved” for several years. And I can’t say that there were any long-lasting effects from this moment except the memory that I carry with me to this day. It wasn’t until two years later after an FCA Leadership Conference in Abilene that I really became a discipling Christian. But that moment. That evening. sometime in the fall of ’85 or the spring of ’86, I was all in on you. I could almost see you. And it was just from reading some stories from the Bible.
To this day, I have a special place in my heart for 1 and 2 Samuel. They are two of my favorite books. I try to get people to read them like a novel because that’s how I read them on that evening. Almost none of them do. I’m teaching a Bible study for some men right now, and I started with 1 Samuel 8, and next week I’ll finish the series by doing the first few chapters of 2 Samuel. We finiahed 1 Samuel last night.
One thing that Fr. Martin and Mr. Brooks talked about was how some people have numinous moments and then still decide to reject you. They mentioned a specific example of a woman that I can’t now remember her name. I guess that was kind of me back then. I was certainly sensitive to you. I was sensitive to my need for grace and mercy. I just had zero idea how to put discipleship into action until I went to that FCA Leadership Conference.
Father, I pray that you will help me to see the moments today when the veil between you and me might be a little thinner. I pray for those moments for my family and friends. I pray for them for my coworkers and our volunteers and patients. Give me eyes to see and ears and a heart to hear.
Emails to God 
“Which translation do you use?”
Dear God, I was listening to the Holy Post podcast this morning, and one of the things they mentioned is a common question they get is around people asking them which biblical commentary is the one they can trust. Or they’ll get asked, “Which translation do you use?” Their take was that people are looking for someone they can trust to just tell them the truth. They want certainty in their beliefs.
It reminds me of the pastor in 2020 who, after having just barely survived Covid, said in an interview that he decided through the experience that we’ve made an idol out of certainty. You are the only thing that is the same yesterday, today, and forever, but we will try to put our certainty in our spouse, children, health, economy, bank account, government, etc. I would add our theology to that as well. We want to be right about everything. That’s why we leave churches when someone disagrees with us. That’s why we try to shame others for their sin while we ignore our own. We have a need to be right.
A couple of weeks ago, I asked a friend that if we were to stand before you after we die and we asked you what percentage of our theology was correct while we were here on earth, what percentage do we think you’d come back with. Frankly, my answer was that I’d be really pleased if you told me I had 20% of it correct, meaning I would not understand, be partially wrong, or completely wrong about 80% of it. The problem is, I just don’t know which 80% is wrong and which 20% is right (assuming I’m as high as 20%).
Father, at the end of the day, I know you are there. I am all in on the Jesus virgin birth, life, death, resurrection, and assumption narrative. I’m all in on his being part of you–begotten, not made. I’m all in on the Holy Spirit. Basically, I’m all in on the Nicene Creed. Everything else is a little squishy for me. Even the specific lines that will help me be “saved.” So my choice is to live today. I am going to worship you. I am going to love others. I’m going to work hard. And I’m going to share my life vulnerably so that others might feel a touch of you through me, and so I might feel a touch of you through them. To you be the glory.
I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Amen
Posted by John D. Willome on August 19, 2026 in Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories
Tags: bible, Biblical Commentaries, Biblical Translations, christianity, Faith, God, Holy Post, Jesus