A PERSONAL PRAYER God, I guess I fit my name pretty well. They call him “doubting Thomas.” I am a doubter by nature. Someone today just told me a story that seemed hard to believe. So… I didn’t believe it. I meet so many people who seem so sure about everything – their religious convictions, their politics, their judgments about other people. I just wish I was as convinced of one thing, God, as they seem to be about everything. Shouldn’t there be some humility? The more I study and learn about you, the more I realize how much I don’t know. Surely there [...]

A PERSONAL PRAYER Early morning on Friday…  snapshots from my imagination trickle through my mind. All night prayers in the garden, the anguish, sleeping disciples, kiss of betrayal by a friend, the clank of shackles.             The horrors and indignities of Caiaphas, the chief priests.                       The early morning walk to Pilate, to Herod, the cruel crowd shouts for blood                                              The scourge, the beloved man collapsed, the mocking, the crown of thorns                                                 The journey out from the city, stumbling, barely alive already.                                                             The nails. The cross. The gasps for breath. The darkness.                                                                         Death. Yes, real [...]

A PERSONAL PRAYER Dear Jesus, my Redeemer, There are moments in my life that I prefer not to remember, times I have done things of which I am not proud. When I call these to mind, they sting and burn like poison and fog my mind with regret. They rob me of self-confidence and snatch away my sense of self-worth. I have tried to wash them away with your love, but it doesn’t seem to work. I know that they have left self-inflicted scars, and underneath those scars there is an ache, a sensitivity to touch that makes me wince [...]

A PERSONAL PRAYER God of my salvation, Some days, I think I have it all pretty well under control. I face my challenges head on, without wavering. I make decisions – some of them good ones even – and I learn from the ones that are not as good that I might not make the same mistakes again. I prioritize life according to values that I have chosen intentionally, hopefully led by the Holy Spirit. I have it together. I run my life well. But there are other days, Lord… Oh My God… those other days. There are days the only [...]

We pray. We study the Bible. We make friends. We tell our stories. We give ourselves away in generosity and service. A PERSONAL PRAYER God, I watched the news last night and there saw the replay story of a murder/suicide in the home of a nice family. So much pain… It was followed by the story of a couple of young parents neglecting their children. I looked at their photos, and I felt for them… so over their heads. I heard at a meeting yesterday about the overwhelming problems of opioid abuse, and saw the testimony about it. [...]

A PERSONAL PRAYER Gracious God, Sometimes I wonder what it must have been like for Jesus. On the one hand, the crowds followed him and cheered for him. He was a celebrity. They loved him, as much as you can love someone when what you really want is for that person to do something for you. On the other hand, there were so many who hated him, who rejected him, who denied him. They even tried to kill him. No, they didn’t just try – they did kill him. That is the ultimate form of rejection. There were some times he seemed to worry what people [...]