Category: Hope

Making Our Way

To God??

Friday, May 15, 2026

Or!

We Cannot Ever Make Our Way to God?!

Jeremiah 50:5

They shall ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, and they shall come and join themselves to the Lord by an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.

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2 Peter 1:3-7

His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants of the divine nature.

For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love.

…

Words of Grace for Today –

…

Oh, Peter, well 1 Peter, which was a disciple of Peter, maybe.

Like so many since it is set out that God has given us every knowledge and ability to save ourselves.

So, as they preach again and again: GET TO IT. SAVE YOURSELVES.

But!

Yes

A Big BUT.

But we cannot and do not save ourselves, and thinking that we do or can is the Devil’s great deceit, catching us away from God’s saving Grace.

By God’s Grace alone are we saved, or we are lost, lost, lost.

Thank God, Jesus paid the price so that our sins are not the record set before God, rather Jesus’ record is.

What a record to have.

And THAT saves us, and makes us ‘participants of the divine nature’!

Now it’s up to us to realize the abilities that gift gives us to help others!

So we do what we can and pray for what we cannot, and hope without reason or cause.

Like here

Yesterday.

The noisy campers have been arriving for days & loud late nights for the long weekend.

…

So

I prayed.

…

And

This Morning!

What!

…

….

What!

A

Wonderful morning.

…

Christmas

In May.

…

…

My

Prayers

Are

Answered!

…

God’s noise abatement system.

…

And the snow keeps falling, and falling, and falling.

Sound proofing, free and effective.

…

Another Example of God saving us.

God Hears

Our Cries

Tuesday, May 12, 2026

If we are prisoners or doomed to die.

Does God Hear Us In Our Humble Luxurious Life?

Psalm 102:18-22

Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet unborn may praise the Lord: that he looked down from his holy height, from heaven the Lord looked at the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die; so that the name of the Lord may be declared in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem, when peoples gather together, and kingdoms, to worship the Lord.

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James 5:16

Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.

…

Words of Grace for Today –

…

We live.

We live and breathe.

We live and breathe and hope

for the day when things will be better

but

will that day every come?

…

The promise of God through the ages is that God listens first to those in desperate need:

The prisoners, those doomed to die, the sick, the downtrodden, the refugees, the aliens, the poor, the homeless, the ones struggling to find clear water and nourishing food.

Is that us?

And if not!!!

Does God listen to us at all?

God is merciful and loving, finding no greater joy than in a sinner who repents.

Whoever we are, rich or poor, free or prisoner, doomed or secure, sick or healthy … anyone at all.

Whoever we are God hears us as well, and weeps for us and our flagrant sins that separate us from God, God’s people, and God’s good creation.

We have life.

We live, and breathe.

We live and breathe, and hope

for the day when things will be better

and

that

day

is the day that we listen to God’s Word

and share it with the next generations

so that God’s steadfast love and mercy

will be known and trusted

and lived

by all.

Blessings

For All,

Friday, October 17, 2025

Young and Old, maybe?

When All The Colour Has Drained Out of Life …

Genesis 32:26

Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.”

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Matthew 19:13a

Then little children were being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray.

…

Words of Grace for Today –

…

Youthful Jacob is able to demand a blessing from the angel he’s struggled against all night. Got a lame hip for it

and

a blessing in the end.

Jesus distributes blessings to the children freely, widely, readily.

…

but

is there a blessing for the old people.

Some cultures revere their older people.

Some respect them.

Ours ignores them.

…

Maybe there’s a blessing in that, too.

Betcha Can’t

Betcha God Can!

Tuesday, October 7, 2025

Thwarts and All Cannot Stop God’s Love

Canoe at 72?

Possible.

Be Saved Yet Again?

For God All Is Possible!

Job 42:2

Job to God: I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

.

Luke 1:37

For nothing will be impossible with God.

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Words of Grace for Today –

…

Trusting that God will not be stopped, that all things are possible for God, is the first good half of trusting God.

The other half is knowing, from experience (one’s own and those of the God’s people since the beginning of time) that God intends good for us, that God indeed loves us like we can only dimly imagine possible.

That’s seemingly impossible:

loving such miserable sinners as us,

mere blips in time,

vulnerable to

the smallest

bugs,

and so capable of

ugly and hateful destructive things

against the earth that supports life for us all,

towards people different than, and especially those so like, us,

and even to ourselves!

Yet there it is to see: God loves us, forgives us, and does the impossible:

God gives us life, and then renews life for us when we botch it so badly.

Given the Wilds of Climate Change

We Need Jesus to Do More –

Than Walk On Water

Friday, September 12, 2025

We Need God to Stabilize the Water Everywhere!

Storms A’Brewin’

Proverbs 3:25-26

Do not be afraid of sudden panic, or of the storm that strikes the wicked; for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.

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Matthew 14:26-27

But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”

…

Words of Grace for Today –

…

it’s just fine to deny that we are the cause of climate change.

Just go a head and bury your head in the sand,

so you can carry on blithely, making it so much worse for us all.

Now if we’d followed Jimmy Carter’s plan for 20% solar power, started in 1979,

(adapting it in each country, like our own, eh?)

We’d not be in the such terrible grips of climate change with smoke and wildfires and drought and floods, and storms so wild we’ve never seen the likes of them.

…

But wishing doesn’t make it so.

And only lots of action, guided by wise thoughts (dreams and prayers as well),

will make our future a bit better than

the even worse it is each year

because

we

did

nothing

when

it

counted

the

most.

…

Now our actions

or in-actions

count

again

the

most.

The Learning Curve

Yearning Enough

Sunday, July 13, 2025

To Go Out As The Sun Goes Down

To Pray: God Save Us!

Isaiah 26:9

My soul yearns for you in the night, my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

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Mark 1:35

In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.

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Words of Grace for Today –

…

Oh that it were so.

Or so.

So that we could climb the steep curve to learn justice.

And that we could make justice be equal for all, and life be abundant for all, and all be able to enjoy the basics of life, and …

well, that God’s will were on earth as it is in heaven!

We yearn for lots of things,

but our greatest, rightest, most worthy yearnings are that God’s judgments to be applied for all on earth,

for we trust God’s mercy and abounding steadfast love, to forgive when we need it, and when do we not need it!

Yet

so much interferes

each day

so

we seek the calm of the approaching dark to beg God

to come

and save us

also this day

and this night.

The Last Hope

For Life Lost

Friday, July 4, 2025

Where Will You See It?

Waves Come In and Go Out

Washing Us Free.

Psalm 119:114

You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your word.

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John 6:40

This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.

…

Words of Grace for Today –

…

How do you find that precious slice of time-place-tempo-song that gives you

everything to live for,

that gives you hope,

for another day, week, year, decade?

In the lives of those who have found a way to move from desperate-despair-loss-end

to become someone for someone, and maybe for a few more than one or two, maybe even for us all?

In the words that inspire one to dig deep?

Or in the faces of sounds defying the obvious end, despite the great loss getting into tomorrow from here?

Or in the safety of laughter and joy with children not yet stained by the short-harsh-brutish?

…

in the turmoil that is inevitably life,

the only hope for all kinds of life is

…

knowing that God is with us, for us, and

more than eager to redeem us, renew us, and give us renewed life each day.

Get Going, To Good

While You Still Can

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

Time Will Ravage Also You.

Don’t Be A Chicken And Run Away!

Face Life and It’s Challenges

Each Day.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

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John 21:18

Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.”

…

Words of Grace for Today –

…

Getting old is not for sissies, and it’s not for everyone.

Just look at all the people who die young, who will die young because they live hard lives. I’m not talking about those who are caught in a hard life. That’s most people who have and will ever live. I’m talking about those who choose to live fast, furious, stupid, pleasure seeking, danger seeking, alcohol or drug or nicotine or sugar induced entertainment until it becomes an addiction.

Getting old is tough.

Real tough.

So while you are young,

start doing what you know is right.

If you don’t who is going to do what only you can do

to help the helpless

to feed the hungry, in famines and wars and poverty cages,

to bring water to those caught in droughts or dry areas because someone steals their water,

give clothing to those without, who suffer the environmental dangers and risks each day,

give homes to the homeless, as their number multiples year after year,

give peace to the troubled, whether they’ve made their own trouble or had it dumped on them,

give hope to the hopeless, for what else is there!

Give love to the loveless, for to be unable to love is a curse greater than any other.

And receive God’s thanks, for as a servant, this is what God gave you life for.

God will reward you with straight paths,

straight to heaven on earth,

or, if you resist and refuse and deny and turn away and rebel against the Holy Spirit, there will be a path straight to hell on earth, a hell of your own making.

…

So he said to himself, as he rose to another day, wishing for youthful energy, fewer challenges of age, and a long list of must-do’s and should-do’s

and little opportunity to help others

much.

…

What about you?

Need a word of encouragement? Heaven or hell? Which is it for you today?

The End

Averted or

Thursday, June 19, 2025

Coming

Is the Bulldozer come to build

or raze?

Isaiah 56:8

Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.

.

Matthew 24:14

And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations; and then the end will come.

…

Words of Grace for Today –

…

It’s okay, maybe fun, to watch in films or read in books as the End of All life is portrayed, brought on by forces unstoppable …

and then averted.

Who doesn’t want to know we have ingenuity and heart enough to avert the End of All Ends?

It’s okay, maybe fun, to watch in films or read in books as the End of Love is portrayed, brought on by forces that should have been stoppable, but selfish choices still brought on the end …

only to have true love inspire and move a simple person of heart to express love in actions that cannot be denied so that

…

love

wins

and lives on in hearts that were hardened.

But in real life …

all that is not fun to watch or be involved in.

In real life the stakes are higher,

for everyone involved.

The only thing that saves us

each day

is

the Holy Spirit working in us

to love where there is no room for love.

Only God saves us from ourselves and other people’s wish to hate us.

What Do You Do

When It’s Got You?

Saturday, June 7, 2025

The Darkness Steals Everything Away?

No One Sees Much

In Our Dark

Small

Worlds.

Second Chronicles 20:5-6

Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, and said, “O Lord, God of our ancestors, are you not God in heaven? Do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? In your hand are power and might, so that no one is able to withstand you.

.

Luke 4:29-30

They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

…

Words of Grace for Today –

…

Jehoshaphat cries to God, knowing that no one can stand in the way of God doing what God wishes to do. So save me, he cries.

The people, enraged by Jesus’ claims to be somebody, drive him out of town to a cliff and …

Well Jesus is God so he simply walks through the middle of the angry mob, and goes on his way … to bring God’s Word to people who will receive him.

In an episode of West Wing, Josh has been shot in the chest. Only surgery that lasts all night saves his life. He relives the trauma, over and over again, triggered by … music of all things. He’s out of control, angry, yelling, hurting himself breaking a window … all while he is unaware of his real surroundings and the memories replay in his mind as if real … again.

A counsellor comes, talks him through his experiences. Gets him to admit what is happening to him. Session done. Josh is not healed, but able to start healing.

Leo waits outside the session for him. Tells him a story:

There was a guy walking down the street who fell into a hole with sides so steep he couldn’t get out. The guy cried for help. A doctor walked by and heard his cries. The doc wrote a prescription and through it down the hole. The guy kept crying for help. A priest walked by and heard his cries. He wrote a prayer and tossed it down the hole. The guy kept crying for help. A friend came by and the guy cried to his friend to help him. The friend jumped down in the hole. The guy said to his friend, ‘that was really stupid. Now we’re both stuck down here.’ The friend responded, ‘it’s ok, I’ve been down here before and I know a way out.’

Leo, the recovering alcoholic, says to Josh, ‘As long as I have a job, you will have a job.’ Then he sends him off to the hospital to get his hand looked at. Josh cut it by breaking a window during one of his PTSD episodes.

Trouble is, there’s lots of people caught in dark holes.

They all could say:

I’ve been crying. I’m not even sure where this hole is. I’ve had prescriptions thrown down on me, and more than a few prayers. Many have yelled at me to stop crying. I’ve been called all sorts of things. I’ve had everything taken from me. I’m still in this hole. I don’t cry for help anymore. I try hard to pretend I’m not really in a deep dark hole alone. I work hard to stay alive. I try to help other people but I don’t trust many people at all. Mostly I cry quietly to myself. Sometimes I think that God is here with me in the darkness. It seems to make it less painful. I still cry. It’s still dark.

Who is going to jump down with all of them, in all of the deep, dark holes the world has?

Who is going to be Jesus, walking with them in the dark, showing them the way out of the darkness, the way to walk through the angry mobs to freedom, to the people who also want to walk in the light?

Who is going to even notice, when they are too tired to cry for help any more?

And who is going to help all those who walk by those holes, not noticing, not caring, not seeing beyond their own small darkened worlds of misery?

Lord, you know no one can stand against you, not even the Devil of darkness.

Save us all.

Send someone to lead us out,

Someone whose been here before.

Give us Light.