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Ignorance

01 Mar

Dear God, I learned yesterday that our nation took extensive military action on another nation, killing it’s top leader and several beneath him. Was it a good thing? Was it a bad thing? The right thing to do? The wrong thing to do? I’d love to say that I know, but how could I possibly know? There are things that people know about this situation that I don’t know. And then there are things that you know in the spiritual realm that they don’t know. I’m just a little guy in a small town in the United States with incomplete information. So my response was to ask my wife to go to our church’s chapel and pray for…well, everyone. It was a prayer of ignorance, just asking for you to move in this historical moment. To move in your mysterious way. Does that prayer change you and your actions? Does my little prayer make a cosmic difference? I don’t know, but it felt important to do it, not only for your glory and plan, but for my understanding of my place in all of this and learning to trust you.

As I thought about our trip to the chapel, I thought about these prayers I’m doing to you about prayer. This is certainly an area of prayer–praying in ignorance. I don’t understand a given situation in my life. I don’t know why this family member, friend, or community member is acting the way they are, but I know they need prayer. I know they need to be part of your kingdom. I know they need your peace that only comes through walking through the narrow gate. I know they need your daily bread and forgiveness.

Father, when it comes right down to it, every prayer I pray is laced with ignorance because I have no idea what you’re doing or what is going on around me. I don’t know what you’re doing in my life, my wife’s life, my children’s lives, my friends’ lives, etc. at any given moment, much less the activities in the entire world. That’s why I submit myself to your kingdom and your will. Your kingdom come. Your will be done. My will is foolish and ignorant. I will likely almost always ask for the wrong thing. So I offer you the prayer today that I offered you last night. Be in every situation. Help the leaders to receive your counsel through voices they can hear around them. But regardless of how this all turns out or how it even impacts my life or my personal safety, my hope is not in anything that is happening here. My hope is only in you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 1, 2026 in Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories

 

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Prayer: Orientation, Disorientation, and Reorientation

27 Feb

Dear God, while I was working out this morning I got to thinking about this talk on prayer I’m supposed to give on the 18th, and wondered what I need to consider next. That’s when this thought came to me: orientation, disorientation, and reorientation. I take it from something I heard about a few years ago by Walter Brueggemann. He was talking about the psalms, but I don’t think we have to be writing songs or poetry for our prayers to fall and the state of our hearts to be in one or more of these categories at a given time. And I think it’s important that we acknowledge this.

Okay, I just remembered a dream I had last night. I was preaching in a church and I was saying all the platitudes that churchgoers have heard all their lives. God is love. Jesus loves you. God is for you. The words were empty, and I made eye contact with a woman in the audience (I don’t know who she was) whose expression told me that I was just giving a bunch of empty words. The look jolted me out of it and I switched my talk/sermon into challenging people with practical takeaways. So I guess I need to think and pray about–make that pray and think about–what you really want people to walk about of my talk that night with. I can get up there and give them a bunch of ideas, but if they don’t walk out with a piece of you to carry with them and pursue then I’ll just be a clanging gong.

Back to orientation, disorientation, and reorientation, I think that sometimes we think we are only allowed to be oriented towards your awesomeness or reoriented after a trial, but we deny ourselves the idea of being disoriented in our lives with you. And sometimes I’ve been disoriented. I’ve had times where I’ve been disappointed in you and disillusioned by you. And the word disillusion can normally be seen as a negative word, but I think, in its best sense, it means that we had an unreal illusion that was destroyed. And I’ve had that of you to some extent at times in my life. I had illusions about what I thought I should expect from you because of our relationship. I thought you should cater to my desires a little more. And I thought my desires were noble, but even those noble desires hid idols I was trying to protect.

Idols. It always seems to come back to idols and the first commandment. Love you with everything I have and have no other gods before you. I guess part of the disorienting prayer is to find and get rid of the idols. I like that.

Father, I’ve certainly felt all three of these states of my heart. I think I’m fairly oriented right now. I’m grateful for what you have done, are doing, and will do. I have no expectations of you right now, but I know we are only one piece of bad news away from being disoriented. Like my friend who found out recently she has breast cancer. Like my friend who was in a bad car accident. Life can come at you out of the blue. So help me to use this time of orientation well and not take it for granted because I know the time of disorientation could happen at any moment, and I don’t want to let anything, even terrible catastrophe, get in the way of my relationship with you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 27, 2026 in Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories

 

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Luke 11:1-13

26 Feb

11 Once Jesus was in a certain place praying. As he finished, one of his disciples came to him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

2 Jesus said, “This is how you should pray:

“Father, may your name be kept holy.
    May your Kingdom come soon.
3 Give us each day the food we need,
4 and forgive us our sins,
    as we forgive those who sin against us.
And don’t let us yield to temptation.”

5 Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, 6 ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ 7 And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ 8 But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence.

9 “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

11 “You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? 12 Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! 13 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”

Luke 11:1-13

Dear God, I think there might be a Bible Project series on the Lord’s Prayer. At least, I am pretty sure one of the podcasts I listen to–Bible Project, Voxology, or Slow Theology–did a series on it, looking at it slowly. A church has asked me to do a talk on prayer at one of their Lenten services in a few weeks, so I thought I’d take a look at how you taught us to pray this morning.

My biggest weakness in prayer is intercessory prayer. Praying for my friends who are ailing physically, struggling through life’s trials like divorce or losing a loved one or money, or who are just struggling with emotional pain. Then I noticed something about the Lord’s Prayer when I read it here in Luke this morning. As far as the prayer goes, Jesus doesn’t have praying for my neighbor as part of it. Hmm. That’s weird. The prayer is pretty self-centered (and not in a bad way). It’s about my worship of you. It’s about my wish for your kingdom here, in the present. It’s about my repentance and my temptations. It’s about my daily bread. Or is it?

I think I’ve been doing something wrong when I pray this prayer. I’ve intentionally personalized it and changed the “us” to “me.” “Give me this day my daily bread.” I’ve tried to make this an intentional prayer, but maybe the collective “us” was intentional on Jesus’s part. Both Matthew and Luke say it that way in the different English translations. And maybe that’s where the prayers for others comes in. For example, I have a friend in a physical rehab facility after a car accident. When I pray the collective “us,” maybe I’m praying for her provision for daily bread as well. And that’s part of her daily bread. Her healing–both physical and emotionally after the trauma of the accident and the road to recovery she’s facing.

Father, you are in heaven and you are glorious. You have left the world your Holy Spirit through Jesus. You are everything. You are powerful. You are God. Your name is to amazing, so I can only use words like Father or add a capital G to God to reference you. I do pray that they kingdom you designed us to be will come today on this earth. I pray that in the areas of the world, our country, and our community that are far from you will experience your light, love, joy, and peace. I pray for the daily bread–physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually–for my family, friends, and me. And I pray that you will forgive all of us, and help us know what it means to forgive and to give that forgiveness freely, for our own sake as well as for the forgiven. And protect us from Satan and his plans to tempt us in the wrong direction. To lead us into selfishness, idolatry, and away from you and your best for us. Father, the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 26, 2026 in Luke

 

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Nehemiah 1:1-4

11 Feb

1 These are the memoirs of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah.

In late autumn, in the month of Kislev, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes’ reign, I was at the fortress of Susa. 2 Hanani, one of my brothers, came to visit me with some other men who had just arrived from Judah. I asked them about the Jews who had returned there from captivity and about how things were going in Jerusalem.

3 They said to me, “Things are not going well for those who returned to the province of Judah. They are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down, and the gates have been destroyed by fire.”

4 When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven. 

Nehemiah 1:1-4

Dear God, the first time I remember reading these words was just over 23 years ago. They were actually life-changing for me. I saw something in Nehemiah that I didn’t see in myself at the time. I was a Christian. I loved you. I worshipped you. I loved my family. I studied scripture. But what you showed me in Nehemiah in these four verses was that I lacked compassion for others and a motivation to act on it. Sure, if someone I knew was having a hard time, I would reach out to them or try to comfort them. I remember in the summer five years earlier when my wife and I were generous to someone we came across with. So I wasn’t heartless or even selfish. But I still insulated myself in my safe middleclass world and didn’t really expose myself to other people’s pain. That’s what I heard you tell me. That I wasn’t really willing to touch other people’s pain. I threw that out in my prayer that day. That you would make me willing to touch other people’s pain.

You answered that prayer a few weeks later when a friend invited me to tour a nonprofit in South Waco called Talitha Koum. With that, you sent my entire life into a new direction. Now, 23 years later, I not only help underprivileged people as a vocation, but I also reach out and volunteer for other organizations to help people. I don’t say this to pump myself up or to make myself look good. I say it because, in the end, it’s what Jesus called us to do. We can’t just love you with all we have. We have to love our neighbors as ourselves. Why? Well, 1.) we are your Plan A for the world and there is no Plan B. And 2.) it is good for me to get out of my selfish tendencies and put, as Rotary International puts it, service above self.

Father, I’m going to be speaking at a church on Sunday, and I think I’m going to end up, basically, giving my testimony. Not of how I got “saved” and first came to faith in you, but how you and I have been working out my faith over the last 26 years (when I started doing these prayer journals). It’s been a slow process, but it’s been awesome. And you are patient with me. You are kind. You are loving. Thank you for meeting me here. Thank you for revealing my deficiencies to me 23 years ago. Thank you for continuing to reveal my deficiencies even up to today. I love you. I worship you. I give you my heart and soul.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 11, 2026 in Nehemiah

 

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2 Samuel 7:17-29

29 Jan

17 So Nathan went back to David and told him everything the Lord had said in this vision.

18 Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and prayed,

“Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? 19 And now, Sovereign Lord, in addition to everything else, you speak of giving your servant a lasting dynasty! Do you deal with everyone this way, O Sovereign Lord?

20 “What more can I say to you? You know what your servant is really like, Sovereign Lord. 21 Because of your promise and according to your will, you have done all these great things and have made them known to your servant.

22 “How great you are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you. We have never even heard of another God like you! 23 What other nation on earth is like your people Israel? What other nation, O God, have you redeemed from slavery to be your own people? You made a great name for yourself when you redeemed your people from Egypt. You performed awesome miracles and drove out the nations and gods that stood in their way. 24 You made Israel your very own people forever, and you, O Lord, became their God.

25 “And now, O Lord God, I am your servant; do as you have promised concerning me and my family. Confirm it as a promise that will last forever. 26 And may your name be honored forever so that everyone will say, ‘The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is God over Israel!’ And may the house of your servant David continue before you forever.

27 “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, God of Israel, I have been bold enough to pray this prayer to you because you have revealed all this to your servant, saying, ‘I will build a house for you—a dynasty of kings!’ 28 For you are God, O Sovereign Lord. Your words are truth, and you have promised these good things to your servant. 29 And now, may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue forever before you. For you have spoken, and when you grant a blessing to your servant, O Sovereign Lord, it is an eternal blessing!”

2 Samuel 7:17-29

Dear God, even with what Nathan had prophesied to him before, David still didn’t have the complete picture. There’s no way he could have. When the writers of Ruth wrote down the story of David’s great-grandmother, they only had the pieces of the puzzle that lead to David and maybe Solomon. There’s no way they could no how it would lead to Jesus. And what kind of King Jesus would be–to the whole world. David was honored and humbled by the prophecy, but he was also ignorant as to what it truly meant. Frankly, he’d have been more humbled and awed by the whole truth, even as even what I know of your plan is probably still just a little part of your plan.

As for me, I have work to do today. Help me to do it well. I’m no David. I’m no Abraham, Elijah, or Moses. I’m not even an Andrew, Bartholomew, or Mark. I just one little guy sitting in his little house in a small town. Thank you for doing some little things through me and in me. Even in my little way, I do feel a little like David as he goes to sit before you and just ask, “Who am I that you have brought me this far?” No, you didn’t call me so that I can just revel in your love and sit in a little self-made cocoon. You created me so that I could develop a relationship with you through worship and service. Help me to worship and serve well today.

Father, I guess that’s it. You won’t use my life like you used David’s, and you don’t have to in order for me to know you love me. I love you, Lord. I lift my voice to worship you. Oh, my soul, rejoice! Take joy my King in what you hear. Let it me a sweet, sweet sound in your ear.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on January 29, 2026 in 2 Samuel

 

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Nehemiah 1:1-4

18 Jan

1 These are the memoirs of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah.

In late autumn, in the month of Kislev, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes’ reign, I was at the fortress of Susa. 2 Hanani, one of my brothers, came to visit me with some other men who had just arrived from Judah. I asked them about the Jews who had returned there from captivity and about how things were going in Jerusalem.

3 They said to me, “Things are not going well for those who returned to the province of Judah. They are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down, and the gates have been destroyed by fire.”

4 When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven.

Nehemiah 1:1-4

Dear God, this story still moves me. I think I first read it just over 23 years ago in December 2002. The fact that Nehemiah was so moved that he sat down and wept over Jerusalem and the Jews who returned from exile. He ached for them. He didn’t know what to do, but he lamented. In verses 5-11 he just prays. He begs your mercy. He begs for your help. In chapter 2, it wasn’t until the following spring that you provided the opportunity for him to become the leader of restoring Jerusalem and the culture of the Jews who had returned to Judah. Things didn’t move fast, necessarily, but they moved in your time. But it started with lament and then prayer.

The woman who started the clinic where I work almost 34 years ago started in a similar way. She started with a recognition of a need and prayer to you. Then she did the next thing. And nothing happened instantly. I’m always surprised how long things can take. But here we 34 years later and what she started–the seed you planted that found good soil–has continued to grow. And you have blessed it. Sometimes it seems to be that you have blessed it unreasonably so.

Now, I’m talking to a church this morning in a couple of hours about our work, but I want it to be about more than just our clinic. That seems like such a waste of an opportunity, especially an opportunity to speak during a worship service. I want to point the congregation to you. I want to point them to what you might be calling them to do. I want to be your voice to them if you will let me.

Father, be glorified through me this morning. Help me to speak with your voice. Help me to speak with authority granted only by you. Holy Spirit, take over what I’m going to say. I love you, Lord. Use me.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on January 18, 2026 in Nehemiah

 

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Mark 6:45-46

07 Jan

45 Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and head across the lake to Bethsaida, while he sent the people home. 46 After telling everyone good-bye, he went up into the hills by himself to pray.

Mark 6:45-46

Dear God, I wonder what Jesus’s alone prayer time looked like. I’m sure it was completely different than mine. And better. Much, much better. I wonder if Moses and Elijah (and you) visited directly with him during these times. Did he transfigure like he did the one time he took James, John, and Peter along with him? How much time did he spend hearing for you and learning? How much time did he spend being encouraged? How much time did he spend praying for his disciples and the people he knew? I just thought of the time in Luke 22 when Jesus tells Peter he prayed for him: 31 “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. 32 But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers.” Was that during one of these times. Has Satan asked to sift me like wheat. What would that sifting look like? Is it happening now? So many questions.

I was with a group of men last night from the Christian Men’s Life Skills program I’m involved with, and we talked about everything around us that we can’t see. As the Nicene Creed puts it, you are the creator of everything visible and invisible. What all is invisible around me right now that I am just ignorant to? It’s all a reminder that I’m so small.

I’m going to a men’s retreat this weekend. Maybe what I need to explore is the idea of getting alone in prayer and how I need to pray. For whom I need to pray. I know I should be much better about praying for others.

Father, teach me to pray. That’s my request this morning. It’s actually a scary thing to ask. I don’t know what I’m unleashing on myself if I make this request, but my life isn’t about me and my comfort. It’s about you. Please teach me to pray.

I ask this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on January 7, 2026 in Mark

 

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Number 6:22-27

01 Jan

22 Then the Lord said to Moses, 23 “Tell Aaron and his sons to bless the people of Israel with this special blessing:

24 ‘May the Lord bless you
    and protect you.
25 May the Lord smile on you
    and be gracious to you.
26 May the Lord show you his favor
    and give you his peace.’

27 Whenever Aaron and his sons bless the people of Israel in my name, I myself will bless them.”

Number 6:22-27

Dear God, I’m about to see an old friend. I want to be what you need me to be for her. She’s a good woman who is facing some challenges. I want to be kind. I want to be insightful. I want her to leave here feeling a sense of your presence. Your smile. Your graciousness. Your favor. Your peace.

But we can’t just get that. It is a two-way street. We have to be in a position to receive it. My wife and I were talking last night, and I told her that she is remarkable because she puts herself in a position to allow your fruit to grow in her. She exudes it for others. She is a “good hang” for friends because she emits your presence. Your fruit. I want to be that too. I want to emit your presence and your fruit. I want to share your love and mercy. I also want to share your call to walk through the narrow gate. I talked about that a day or two ago–how I define the narrow gate. They path through the narrow gate ended up looking a lot like the 12 Steps for AA. That’s the path I need to walk, and that is the path I want to be part of helping others not only find but be willing to walk to.

So in thinking about my friend right now, I pray that you would love and keep her. That your face would shine upon her. That you would bless and keep her. That she would feel your smile. That she would find your favor and peace. I pray the same for those I love, those who frustrate me, and those whom I think are acting against you. Bring us all into right relationship with you and guide us into the narrow path.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on January 1, 2026 in Numbers

 

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Acts 6:8-10

26 Dec

8 Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed amazing miracles and signs among the people. 9 But one day some men from the Synagogue of Freed Slaves, as it was called, started to debate with him. They were Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and the province of Asia. 10 None of them could stand against the wisdom and the Spirit with which Stephen spoke.

Acts 6:8-10

Dear God, I need some wisdom. Not only in the words that I speak, but the actions I take–or should not take. I woke up this morning so frustrated with a couple of people. Why are they acting the way they are acting? Why are they making this harder than it has to be? And I’m really afraid they are making decisions now that they won’t be able to undo later and that they will regret. Pain now. Regret later. I can see it now and I can see it coming. And I know that behind it all is pain and injury of some kind. Secrets that are being protected. Shame that is being clung to.

I’m praying about this from this passage because sometimes I am compelled to reach out and say something to them, but I never know whether it is the right thing to say or the wrong thing to say. Should I remain silent? Should I pray for your words to share with them? Should I just pray that you will raise up people in their lives who will give them your words.

Father, I guess I’m praying myself into the serenity prayer from AA and the 12-step programs: Father, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. That is my prayer today. Give me serenity (peace), courage (strength), and wisdom (discernment).

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on December 26, 2025 in Acts

 

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1 John 4:9-10

30 Nov

9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

1 John 4:9-10

Dear God, I was reading something by Charles Stanley this morning on how this decision on your part to have Jesus come and do what he did was a turning point in our timed history. I think he’s right. I mean, it literally reset how the world counted years, after all. What you did in the incarnation is amazing. What you did through the incarnation is amazing. What you continue to do through the incarnation is amazing.

I’ve had a surprisingly hectic couple of days since I got back from vacation. One thing I’ve done is committed myself to doing the Advent thing with Parents of the Bible that I hadn’t really planned to do, but it made sense to do it. The number of journals and the days until Christmas just added up too well. But it is going to take a lot of focused time on my part. Help me to work that in with everything else I have going on this time of year (especially at work).

I also want to take a moment to pray for those I love during this Advent. My children. My nieces, nephews, and siblings. My parents. The boy I’m mentoring. My friends and coworkers. Those I don’t even know. I pray for all of them that you would be with us as we walk through this time of year. Let it be a time when we can all lay down our pride and fear and accept and give love from and to you, and then from and to each other. I pray for mercy. I pray for healing of souls as well as bodies. I pray that the world will go according to your plan.

Father, I am here because Jesus came 2,000 years ago. You entered the world and showed us your true nature. The Old Testament was a bit convoluted with a lot of weird commands and decisions you were having to make to try to protect your promise to us. But Jesus removed the veil and showed us how you think. How you love. How you correct. How you teach. How you see the laws you gave us. Help me to embrace all of this and live it out so that others might find healing in you as well.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on November 30, 2025 in 1 John

 

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