Category: Grace

Not Found

Zeroed out.

Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Goners

Smoke steals air

on our way to

zeroing ourselves out of life.

Jeremiah 50:20

In those days and at that time, says the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and none shall be found; for I will pardon the remnant that I have spared.

.

1 Peter 2:24

He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.

…

Words of Grace for Today –

…

The order was given

by the devil’s generals

to zero us all out.

Out of shelter, clothing, food, water, even air.

Out of energy, movement, thought.

Out of time, out of hope, out of love.

…

Instead God came to zero out our sins

so that we might live free from the incapacitating chains of fear

so that we might live ready and able to give life to others

so that we might be filled with hope and love for all people.

An impossible journey made possible by the only one who made the journey to death and hell to pay for our sins of helping the generals of the devil zero out other people.

So we step forward, against all expectations

into the light of humble penance,

and hope for love that

can transform us

and

the world.

Confirm

Or conform?

Tuesday, March 11, 2025

And Get Squashed

No more able to conform to the badlands

than to the devil’s wishes

and yet ….

Joshua 24:22

Then Joshua said to the people, ‘You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him.’ And they said, ‘We are witnesses.’

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2 Peter 1:10-11

Therefore, brothers and sisters, be all the more eager to confirm your call and election, for if you do this, you will never stumble. For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.

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Words of Grace for Today –

…

Standing in the crowd, most people bow to the emotions and direction of charismatic rulers, as those leaders promise to provide better days for the crowds, even as those charismatic punks steal everything and everything possible from the crowds for themselves and those who pave the way to power for the weak people desperate to be rules.

So the crowd conforms.

So the crowd confirms.

So the crowd gives weak people power over them, to let themselves be robbed of life, hope, and peace.

On this necessary journey of Lent,

seeking to find the reason for all this chaos,

we remember God chose and called us,

equipped us and sent us out to

the most vulnerable

with the most valuable words

the Word of God,

the promise

of life

for

all.

Drowning

Drowning

Monday, March 10, 2025

Drowned in our own arrogance

Drowning with creation

in the pollution of

arrogance, CO2

Psalm 4:9

I will both lie down and sleep in peace; for you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety.

.

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

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Words of Grace for Today –

…

Drowning in violence staged by uber-hubric arrogance.

Drowning in hate that robs life from so many around the world

and us here, without a home.

Drowning is troubles and horrors, that should long ago have been eliminated from human lives, hearts, minds.

Drowning

Drowning

Drowning on this obligatory journey.

So we cry, save us, God.

Save us and give us peace at night and through our days.

Save us.

Save us.

Save

us.

Just

Friday, March 7, 2025

Just A Broken Body,

Not Alone,

By God,

By God’s Grace.

Proverbs 10:19

When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but the prudent are restrained in speech.

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Matthew 5:37

Let your word be “Yes, Yes” or “No, No”; anything more than this comes from the evil one.

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Words of Grace for Today –

…

In a word

just

just me

That’s what each of us have,

Even if others are around us, love us, hold us, wonder with us,

in the end

it’s just

…

not that others loving us, holding us, wondering with us is nothing … because

because it is about all the bonus life has for us,

still

in the end

it’s just

…

me

…

for each of us.

…

Doesn’t take many words to say it all.

Just me.

Except it really is

…

as God shows us again and again,

it’s nothing about

me

for each of us.

It’s all about God’s love

that we share with others.

Just me, because God loves me,

is what each of us can say,

which is really to say

just nothing about me at all.

Gathering

At the Feast

Thursday, March 6, 2025

Some are Huge and Expensive,

Some are Simple and Free.

This one is the best

and

free.

Malachi 1:11

For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering; for my name is great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts.

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Matthew 8:11

I tell you, many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

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Words of Grace for Today –

…

There’s a feast set

and you are invited,

just don’t bring your

– well do bring your ratty friend, your enemy, your troubled heart, and anything else usually not welcome at snobby feasts.

This feast is hosted by Jesus,

for all the sinners

here on earth.

Drink up. Eat your fill. It’s the feast of life, all is free.

…

…

PS: Snobby sinners also welcome.

Enter

The Light of the World

Tuesday, March 4, 2025

See the Light

of the World!

Zechariah 2:10

Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! For lo, I will come and dwell in your midst, says the Lord.

.

Matthew 21:10

When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, ‘Who is this?’

…

Words of Grace for Today –

We seldom see God entering our lives.

First because we seldom see God.

But most of all because God is always in our lives, we just don’t see.

Many would say: open your eyes.

But that is not something we can do when it comes to seeing God. It’s not our choice. It is a gift from God, given to us by the Holy Spirit.

We can choose to sing.

And sing God’s praises we should, can and have many reasons and opportunities to do so,

like

breathing

waking to a new day

laying down to rest

working hard

basking in the bright sun

feeling the fresh breeze on our face

enjoying a nutritious meal

being able to give to others what they most need, including the joy of being alive.

Remember

Saturday 1 March 2025

Remember the Golden Times

of Years Gone,

Gone,

Gone,

Or is it golden even now?

Isaiah 46:9

… remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like me,

Revelation 1:8

‘I am the Alpha and the Omega’, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

…

Words of Grace For Today

…

if only we could remember.

Remember where we put things.

Remember why we are here.

Remember God?

That’s so far beyond possible.

Or is it?

Will God keep us from remembering even God?

We would hope.

Hope that God is powerful enough from Alpha to Omega, Beginning to End,

and certainly from our beginnings to our ends

to remember us.

And then all is well, all is well, all manner of things are well.

Finding God

Or?

Friday 28 February 2025

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mount_Everest_as_seen_from_Drukair2_PLW_edit_Cropped.jpg

Mt. Everest, The Highest Place On Earth

But Not The Closest To God!

Psalm 66:12

You let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a spacious place.

2 Corinthians 4:9-10

… persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies.

…

Words of Grace For Today

…

When I was much younger, I had two older friends, a married couple, who kept suffering the same loss, over and over again. They lost their glasses. I experienced their searches a few times before I realized that most often they had their glasses in a pocket or even on their head.

That’s us when we search for God. God is always with us, night and day, though God doesn’t allow our expectations to determine how God is with us, or how we can know God is there. We certainly don’t need to go find God, not even on a mountaintop, though sometimes after being on the summit we see life and God and all God’s wonders more clearly. We get a bit closer to God’s view of us.

No matter where we end up in life, through fire and water, persecutions and exiles, God is always with us, giving us the abilities to show Christ through our hardships

and our joys.

Delights Abused

Always Cost Us Life Abundant

Monday 24 February 2025

Beauty and Delight,

Or Chemical Escape

As Deadly As Lies

That Kill In So Many Ways?

Amos 6:4a, 6

Alas for those who drink wine from bowls, and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!

Ephesians 5:18

Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit

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Words of Grace For Today

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God has given us many ways to enjoy life on earth, only one of them is alcohol.

When we use what God has given for enjoyment as a way to dull our way through life, in order to deal with the pain life can be, we suffer.

Some suffer alcoholism, a disease of addiction that always beckons as an escape, an escape that always ends in death, unless one continually recovers, finding the goodness of life, starting always with honesty with oneself.

Other prices are many all the ways we take God’s delights, and turning them into escapes from honesty, from reality, from the suffering of life (ours and others.)

Honesty.

It’s hard.

But it is so much easier in the long term.

…

For God intends for us to find delight in life, even as we remain sinners, causing pain for ourselves and others.

For God intends for us to pursue justice for all, and to share all that we receive as gifts from God, so that more and more people can find delights in life.

Faith

A Most Precious Gift

Sunday 23 February 2025

Guarded By God

https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/features/northern-lights

Wonders of Wonders,

And More To Come!

Zechariah 9:8

Then I will encamp at my house as a guard, so that no one shall march to and fro; no oppressor shall again overrun them, for now I have seen with my own eyes.

Luke 8:24-25

They went to him and woke him up, shouting, ‘Master, Master, we are perishing!’ And he woke up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves; they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, ‘Where is your faith?’ They were afraid and amazed, and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?’

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Words of Grace For Today

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Life has all sorts of challenges.

Many would do us in.

More would just make our lives a whole lot more difficult, leading to an earlier death.

How do we hang on to our faith in the midst of these challenges?

…

If faith were our own making, the news would be devastating. We could not hang on to our faith. We’d lose it. We’d be toast.

Thank God, the Holy Spirit creates faith in us, and through our experiences collected from our forebearers and our own experiences, we can learn that there simply are no challenges to us, not even imminent death, that need create fear in us that we are on our own, that God has abandoned us to the deep and deadly.

For God stands as sentry to our hearts, minds, and spirits, protecting us from all that would do us in. For, since God has made us sinners into saints (though we also remain sinners), we are therefore spiritual beings on a human journey, not mere humans on a failing spiritual journey.

Death is not our end, just an end to this journey, and then comes …

well that we will find out, but God promises it will be more wondrous than this journey as humans.

Thanks be to God.