I will put my instructions within them and engrave them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. Jeremiah 31: 33 (CEB) Will it hurt, Lord? When you engrave my heart? Engraving implies a deep insertion of your word. Heart surgery is always serious and risky. I will be vulnerable. I will be transformed. To engrave means to carve into a hard object. Forgive my closed heart. Soften my dense inner world. Chisel my false casing and scrape off the dead shell covering my spirit. May I be more like soften clay in an Artist hand than concrete. I hear your soothing promise to be my God. My heart melts at the invitation to be your people. When I turn to you, my fear is gone. There is comfort and peace within your promise. Pour your wisdom and instruction within me, Lord. I stand before you, Great Engraver – open to receive and unmasked in your presence.       … [Read more...]

“For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. 1 Corinthians 1: 25 Make me your fool, Lord. Then I will know your wisdom. Make me weak, Lord. Then I will know your strength. How senseless of me to even ask these prayers as I am already unwise in so many ways. Even in my most brilliant moments where I falsely believe I am in control, I am clever, I am tough – even then I am out of my league. I need your wisdom, Lord. I desperately rely on your strength. I am nothing without you. The world tells us we can do it all. We are strong. We are rulers of our fate. The evil one whispers we have the power on our own and we are in charge. But I am nothing without you. Come, Lord, show me how to be your fool. A fool for God. A weakling in your shadow. Help me let go of human wisdom and embrace your foolishness. The world may call me a fool for believing the irrational concept that God would … [Read more...]

“He called the crowds with his disciples and said to them ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.’” Mark 8: 34 Lord, remember that moment yesterday? I thought of you. I was arranging the pulpit area at church for our Lenten services. What was missing? Then I knew. The wooden cross with the crown of thorns. I went to the upstairs storage area and found it. I picked it up forgetting just how heavy it was. My arms ached as I dragged it to the top of the stairs. Ouch! A splinter pricked my thumb. Slowly I descended, one step at a time, the cross battering on my shoulder with each move down. When I reached the bottom, I still had 25 feet to drag this awkward, bulky representation of death forward to the front of the church. That’s when I thought of you.  My minor inconvenience of a simple cross of display compared to the instrument of death for you. When you carried your cross through … [Read more...]

“He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.” Mark 1: 13 40 days, Lord. 40 days of rain for Noah. 40 days with God for Moses. 40 days of wilderness for Jesus. 40 days of Lent for me, Lord. Days to open my heart to your presence. Days to let go of what blocks me from you. Days to soak in your word. 40 days to watch for your tender touch throughout the day. 40 days to leave my self-centeredness and reach out to help others. 40 days to stand like Noah in your healing rain, with my arms open and my heart vulnerable, allowing you to wash away my sin. 40 days to wait like Moses listening for your whisper, knowing you keep your promises. 40 days to wander like Jesus through the wilderness of this troubled world, acknowledging you are with me in every way. 40 days, Lord. I offer these 40 days of Lent up to you, Lord. Please walk with me these 40 days of wilderness, … [Read more...]

Just then a light-radiant cloud enveloped them, and from deep in the cloud, a voice: “This is my Son, marked by my love. Listen to him.” Mark 9: 7   Listen to him. What a moment, Lord, for Jesus’ friends. Their hearts must have burst open when they realized who they were seeing – the famous Elijah and Moses. Standing there with their master, their lord, their teacher. Holy ground. Divine moment. Sacred occasion. Let’s capture this moment. Take a selfie. Build a dwelling to house everyone. But God surprised them by creating an even more spectacular and incredible encounter – not just with his most faithful messengers, but with God himself. A divine occurrence that couldn’t be embraced by a house or by manmade mechanisms. God arrived as a light- radiant cloud.      Lord, open my eyes to see your light radiating in my life Then God spoke from deep within the cloud.    Lord, clear my ears to hear your voice. “This is my Son.”      Lord, I … [Read more...]

“He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up.” Mark 1: 31a You healed Peter’s mother-in-law with just your touch, Lord. Come take my hand too. Lift me up into the path you want me to walk upon. Lead me to your still waters and refreshing wisdom. Help me serve others so they too can experience your touch. Your touch – that is all it takes. A simple gesture, a sacred second, a tiny taste of the divine. I am blinded by looking for massive miracles and giant glimpses of you, but so often I find you in the small moments. You don’t speak in the thunder and the roaring fire but in the whisper of a silent heart. Just a plain touch of your hand – pure, practical and down to earth. Help me see you today in the simple, Lord. To hear you in uncomplicated, open words. To feel your presence in every breath. To know you by the touch of your hand.         … [Read more...]

They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee. Mark 1: 21-28   Oh Lord, this floods my memory of a few months ago, standing in the ruins of the synagogue in Capernaum in Israel. I felt your presence. Knew you taught … [Read more...]

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him. Mark 1: 14-20 Lord, your entire lectionary reading this week flows with the sense of time. But the word that jumps into my heart from your heart is immediately. Immediately – without delay, no hesitation, a prompt response. I overthink.  I pause and second-guess. I fail to answer your … [Read more...]