Tag: discipleship (Page 3 of 29)

When Life Is Snowed In, the Invitation Still Stands

January 28, 2026 / / 0 Comments

There’s something about a big winter storm that exposes how little control we actually have.

You make plans.
You clear the driveway.
You check the forecast.

And then twelve inches of snow shows up anyway.

Schedules get wrecked. Kids are suddenly home from school. The grocery run feels like an expedition. Temperatures drop below zero and stay there for days. Add in the start of tax season, and a lot of people are carrying more than usual right now.

It’s the kind of week that drains momentum.

I was reminded of that as I thought about a moment from the beginning of Jesus’ story when He starts gathering the people who would follow Him.

They weren’t searching for a new religion.
They weren’t in a seminar.
They weren’t waiting for a life upgrade.

They were just…working.

Fishing. Walking. Talking. Living normal lives.

Jesus didn’t launch into a long speech. He didn’t hand them a checklist. He didn’t tell them to fix their lives first.

He simply said something incredibly simple: Come and see.

To a few others, the invitation sounded like this: Follow me.

That’s it.

Not, “Get everything together and then come.”
Not, “Wait until life slows down.”
Not, “Clear your schedule and solve your problems first.”

Just: come.

I keep thinking about how timely that feels.

Most of us don’t meet God when conditions are perfect. We meet Him when the roads are bad, the calendar is crowded, the money feels tight, and we’re tired of shoveling the same driveway for the fifth time in a single day.

What I love about those early encounters with Jesus is how ordinary they are. He meets people exactly where they are and invites them to take one step closer. No pressure, no hype, no pretending. Just show up.

Which makes me wonder how often we talk ourselves out of spiritual movement because the week feels too chaotic.

“I’ll slow down when things settle.”
“I’ll think about God when this season passes.”
“I’ll get back to that once life feels manageable.”

But what if the invitation isn’t waiting for better weather?

What if it’s standing right here in the middle of frozen fingers, delayed plans, and cluttered kitchens?

Come and see.

Maybe that looks less dramatic than we think.

Maybe it’s a quiet moment before you grab your phone in the morning.

Maybe it’s an honest thought on the drive to work: God, if You’re real, I could use some help today.

Maybe it’s opening up one of the stories about Jesus and reading a few lines, not because you have to, but because you’re curious.

Maybe it’s choosing patience with your kids when everyone’s stir-crazy.

Maybe it’s reaching out to someone else who’s stuck at home and checking in.

Small steps still count.

What struck me most in that story is that the people who accepted the invitation didn’t know where it would lead. They didn’t have a roadmap. They didn’t understand the full picture yet.

They just took a step.

And sometimes that’s all forward movement really is.

One simple step.

In a week like this when it’s cold, disrupted, exhausting remember you don’t need to reinvent your life. You don’t need to solve everything. You don’t need to feel especially spiritual.

You just need to respond to the invitation that still stands:

Come and see.

Follow me.

Even now.
Especially now.

You Are Being Discipled. The Only Question Is: By Whom?

January 22, 2026 / / 0 Comments

Let’s stop pretending neutrality exists.

Every Christian, heck every single person in North America is being discipled every single day. The only question is whether it’s happening by the way of Jesus or by an algorithm designed to keep your attention, monetize your outrage, and slowly shape who and how you love.

That might sound dramatic. But it most certainly is not.

If you spend more time scrolling than praying, more time consuming commentary than Scripture, more time listening to talking heads than walking with other believers, then you are being formed. Just not by the church. Not by the Word. Not by the Spirit.

By a feed.

Algorithms Are Excellent Disciplers, They’re Just Not Good Ones

Social media doesn’t just show you content.
It studies you.

It learns what makes you angry.
What makes you afraid.
What makes you feel superior.
What confirms what you already believe.

And then slowly, subtly, relentlessly it feeds you more of it. And it pushes you to extremes without you being aware.

Over time, it doesn’t just shape your opinions. It shapes your reflexes.

Who you distrust.
Who you dismiss.
Who you blame.
Who you dehumanize.

And here’s the uncomfortable truth:
Many Christians today are more fluent in the language of outrage than repentance, more practiced in sarcasm than gentleness, and more shaped by cultural tribes than by the Sermon on the Mount.

And friends that didn’t happen overnight.
It happened one scroll at a time.

Loving Jesus Is Not the Same as Being Formed by Him

Let’s be totally clear. I’m not questioning your sincerity. I totally trust that you believe in Jesus.

You love Jesus.
You love worship.
You show up on Sundays.
You believe the right things.

But belief without formation produces fragile faith. And friend that’s being generous.

If your faith collapses under cultural pressure…
If your joy evaporates with the news cycle…
If your prayer life is thin but your opinions are sharp…
If you feel constantly anxious, angry, or exhausted…

That’s not a failure of love.
It’s a failure of discipleship.

Jesus didn’t say, “Go and make converts.”
He said, “Go and make disciples.”

Disciples don’t just admire Jesus.
They arrange their lives around Him.

The Cost of Neglecting Deep Discipleship

When Scripture becomes occasional instead of central…
When community becomes optional instead of essential…
When spiritual practices are replaced with spiritual content…

We shouldn’t be surprised when:

  • Faith becomes reactive instead of rooted
  • Churches fracture instead of mature
  • Christians sound more like cable news than the Kingdom of God

Formation always wins. Something will shape you.

And if you don’t intentionally submit yourself to the slow, counter-cultural way of Jesus, something faster, louder, and angrier will happily take His place.

Jesus Deserves More Than Your Leftover Attention

Jesus gave everything not a fraction, not a scroll-length moment, not a distracted nod between notifications.

He gave His body.
His blood.
His life.

And we offer Him… ten minutes if we’re not tired?

This isn’t about guilt.
It’s about honesty.

What if the exhaustion so many Christians feel isn’t from following Jesus too closely, but from trying to follow Him casually in a world that disciples aggressively?

A Loving but Serious Invitation

What if you:

  • Opened Scripture before opening an app
  • Chose a small group over another stream
  • Let a trusted believer ask hard questions
  • Practiced silence in a world addicted to noise

What if you stopped outsourcing your spiritual formation to platforms that don’t love your soul?

Jesus is not competing for your attention.
He is inviting your allegiance.

Not because He wants something from you, but because He has something for you.

Life.
Freedom.
Depth.
Peace that algorithms can’t manufacture.

So Choose Your Discipler

This isn’t a call to abandon technology.
It’s a call to reclaim formation.

To dig deep again.
To slow down.
To walk with others.
To sit with Scripture long enough for it to confront and comfort you.

Because friend, you are being discipled.

And the One who gave everything for you is still saying, quietly but firmly:

“Follow Me.”

Grace Upon Grace

January 19, 2026 / / 0 Comments

Why Jesus Forgives You Again… and Again… and Again

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” (John 1:14, ESV)

That sentence doesn’t whisper.
It crashes into with us tremendous force.

The Word didn’t stay distant.
The Word didn’t send instructions.
The Word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood.

Jesus isn’t just the one who talks about grace.
He is grace with skin on.
The gospel with a heartbeat.
The Word in the womb.

When John says, “we have seen his glory,” he’s not talking about explosions or divine light shows. Every time people see raw holiness in Scripture, they fall apart. Moses saw the hem of God’s garment and his face glowed. Isaiah saw the Lord and unraveled. No one walks away unchanged.

But John saw something different.

He saw glory wrapped in mercy.
Holiness that didn’t destroy sinners.
Truth that didn’t crush them.

“No one has ever seen God,” John says, “but the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (John 1:18).

If you want to know what God is like just look at Jesus.

That’s why Philip’s request in John 14 is so revealing: “Jesus, show us the Father.”

Jesus’ response is almost painful in its honesty:
“Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me? If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father.”

God is not harsher than Jesus.
God is not less patient than Jesus.
God is not secretly waiting to run out of grace.

Jesus is the Father made visible.

Grace Isn’t Achieved. It’s Received.

Here’s the pivot point.
The spine of the message.
The line everything hangs on:

“For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” (John 1:16)

Not earned.
Not unlocked.
Not deserved.

Received.

John’s claim is devastating to religious pride:

Everything we receive from God flows out of Christ’s fullness
not our faithfulness,
not our effort,
not our spiritual résumé.

No elite access.
No spiritual SEAL Team.
No one gets bonus grace because they tried harder.

From his fullness we have all received.

That’s the posture of the Christian life:
Hands open.
Empty.
Dependent.

Grace Upon Grace Means Jesus Forgives Again

“Grace upon grace” doesn’t mean:
Grace once.
Grace at conversion.
Grace until you should know better.

It means forgiveness layered on forgiveness.

Jesus doesn’t forgive you once and then wait for you to mess it up permanently.
He forgives…
and forgives…
and forgives again.

Not because sin doesn’t matter.
But because his fullness never runs out.

Romans 5 says where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.
Not matched.
Not barely kept up.
Overflowed.

And Romans 8 explains why:

What the law couldn’t do because it was weakened by the flesh God did by sending his Son in the flesh. God took our weakness and used it to overcome our greatest adversary.

The law exposes sin.
Jesus condemns sin in his flesh.

Which means forgiveness doesn’t depend on your consistency.
It depends on his cross.

This Isn’t Anti-Law. It’s Anti-Confidence in the Law.

“The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17)

That’s not an insult to Moses.
It’s a correction to us.

The law was never meant to supply life.
It was meant to reveal need.

Religious effort loves to pretend:
Obedience = leverage
Proximity = entitlement
Performance = progress

But John dismantles that illusion.

Grace doesn’t flow from Moses to Jesus.
Grace flows from Jesus alone.

Everyone comes empty-handed.
Everyone lives by reception.

You Don’t Graduate From Grace

Isaiah says our righteous deeds are filthy rags not because they’re evil, but because they’re incapable of producing life.

Good works don’t generate grace.
They don’t trigger forgiveness.
They don’t refill the tank.

Only Christ’s fullness does.

John Kleinig says it plainly:
The Christian life is sustained by repeated reception of God’s gifts.

You don’t move past grace.
You return to it.

Again.
And again.
And again.

Jesus Didn’t Come to Make Life Easy He Came to Make Life New

Grace doesn’t mean life gets simpler.
It means you’re no longer alone in it.

Jesus didn’t come to eliminate trouble.
He came to enter it, carry it, die under it, and rise through it.

Grace often feels repetitive because forgiveness is repetitive.
Repentance is repetitive.
Receiving is repetitive.

And that’s not failure.
That’s faith.

Faith Makes Us Family

January 12, 2026 / / 1 Comment

Most people assume belonging has to be earned.

Work hard enough.
Clean yourself up enough.
Prove you’re serious enough.

That assumption shows up everywhere from jobs and friendships, to families and even our faith lives. But John 1:6-13 blows that whole idea up.

The central message is simple and even a little unsettling: Faith makes us family. Not effort. Not achievement. Not spiritual hustle. Faith.

Before we go any further, there’s a small but important detail that helps this section make sense. There are two Johns here.

John the Baptist is the one being talked about. While John the Apostle is the one writing.

John the Baptist’s role is clear:

“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness… so that everyone might believe through him.” (John 1:6–7, ESV)

In other words, he’s not the main point. He’s pointing beyond himself.

That matters, because we’re tempted to make faith about what we do, how consistent we are, how strong we feel, how well we perform. But from the start, this story keeps redirecting attention away from us and toward Jesus.

John describes Jesus as light entering darkness.

And when the light shows up, people respond in different ways.

Some people don’t recognize the light.

“The true light… was coming into the world. He was in the world… yet the world did not know him.” (John 1:9–10)

This isn’t about intelligence. It’s about expectations.

People were waiting for something powerful, flashy, and forceful. What they got was humility, grace, and truth. The light didn’t look like they thought it would, so they missed it.

Others recognize the light but don’t want it.

“He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.” (John 1:11)

These people see what Jesus is about, and that’s the problem.

Light exposes things.
It challenges us.
It tells the truth about who we are.

Some people don’t reject Jesus because they don’t understand him but because they don’t like what he says about their lives.

And then there are those who feel too far gone.

They hear the message.
They feel the weight of their past.
They assume they’ve crossed a line that can’t be uncrossed.

This might be good for other people but not me.

That’s why what comes next is so important:

“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” (John 1:12)

Not helpers.
Not outsiders.
Not people on thin ice.

Family.

And John is careful to make sure we don’t misunderstand how that happens:

“Not because of their background, not because of human effort, not because someone else decided it—but because of God.” (John 1:13, paraphrased)

This isn’t about where you come from.
It’s not about willpower.
It’s not about trying harder.

It’s about trust.

And if you think your past disqualifies you, look at the people God actually uses.

David abused his power, took advantage of a woman, and arranged for her husband to be killed. Moses lost his temper repeatedly and struggled to trust God when things went wrong. Abraham lied about his wife to save himself.

These are not role models for good behavior.

They’re reminders that God doesn’t wait for people to be polished before welcoming them.

And notice what the text does not say.

It doesn’t say “believe strongly enough.”
It doesn’t say “believe fully enough.”
It doesn’t say “believe after you fix yourself.”

It just says believe.

No adjectives or adverbs.
No levels.
No fine print.

Belief isn’t something you earn.
It’s not a reward for effort.

It’s the open door.

And on the other side of that door isn’t shame or judgment. It’s grace.

Because faith makes us family.

Drift Is The Enemy

January 7, 2026 / / 1 Comment

Most people don’t fail their New Year goals because they quit.

They fail because they drift.

They start January with energy, motivation, and good intentions. They don’t abandon the plan outright. They just slowly stop paying attention. Days blur together. Priorities soften. What once felt urgent becomes optional. And before they know it, they’re moving… just not anywhere that actually matters.

Drift is far more dangerous than quitting.

When you quit, you know it. When you drift, you convince yourself you’re still “basically fine.”

Spiritually, relationally, physically no one drifts toward health, depth, or faithfulness. Drift always moves you somewhere unintended.

“Pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.” (Hebrews 2:1)

That verse exists for a reason.

Motion Is Not Direction

Busyness is not faithfulness. Activity is not obedience. Motion is not direction.

You can fill your calendar, crush tasks, and still slowly drift away from who God is calling you to be. You can stay “productive” while losing clarity, purpose, and conviction.

Drift happens when:

  • You stop deciding and start reacting
  • You stop praying and start assuming
  • You stop leading your life and start letting it happen

The reality is: If you don’t choose a direction, your life will choose one for you.

You Don’t Need 12 Goals. You Need a Compass

This is why I’m convinced most people don’t need more resolutions. They need more focus.

Not a to-do list.
Not a productivity hack.
A directional anchor.

Ask yourself this uncomfortable question:

If I keep living exactly the way I am right now, where will I end up?

Not where you hope to end up.
Where your current habits are actually taking you.

That answer doesn’t lie.

This is where a Word or Theme for the Year becomes powerful. It’s not just trendy, not cute, but clarifying. One word that acts like a compass. A filter. A line you refuse to cross.

Words like:

  • Faithful
  • Courage
  • Rooted
  • Undivided
  • Obedient

Not aspirational fluff directional clarity.

Drift Is Subtle. Direction Is Chosen Daily.

You don’t drift all at once. You drift a little at a time:

  • One skipped prayer
  • One unguarded yes
  • One “I’ll deal with that later”

That’s why direction has to be chosen daily, not annually.

Daily rhythms beat big intentions every time.

If you don’t decide:

  • when you’ll pray
  • how you’ll be in the Word
  • what you’ll say no to
  • who speaks into your life

Then friend, you are already drifting.

Hard Question Time

Let’s be honest:

  • Where have you been drifting spiritually?
  • What conviction have you softened?
  • What discipline have you rationalized away?
  • What decision are you avoiding because clarity would require courage?

Drift feels harmless until one day you look up and don’t recognize where you are.

Let me leave you with two coaching challenges.

1. Name the Drift.
You can’t correct what you won’t confront. Write it down. Say it out loud. Bring it into the light. Drift loses its power when it’s named.

2. Decide One Non-Negotiable.
Just one. A daily practice, boundary, or rhythm that anchors you to direction. Small. Clear. Unbreakable. This is how momentum becomes faithfulness.

You don’t need a perfect plan for the year.

You need clarity, conviction, and the courage to refuse drift.

Don’t just avoid quitting this year.

Choose direction and walk it on purpose.

Jesus Small Enough to Carry Can’t Carry You

January 6, 2026 / / 0 Comments

This week, we dove into John 1:1-5. We wrestled with the reality that: Jesus isn’t just some abstract idea or a distant deity. He’s the Logos – the Word – God’s ultimate communication to us, the very source of life and light breaking into the brutal, suffocating darkness of this world.

Now let’s unpack that Greek for a second. Logos. It’s not just “word” like we say it or write it. It’s the meaning, power, reason, the divine force behind everything real. This Logos didn’t just pop up in a manger. He’s existed from the beginning. Jesus is life itself. Real, unstoppable, relentless life.

But here’s the kicker: if Jesus is “small enough to carry,” He’s not carrying you. If your version of Jesus fits neatly into a box that you can hold, then that Jesus doesn’t have the power to carry your mess. Because the Jesus who is life and light isn’t a tiny, manageable faith accessory. He’s a cosmic force shattering darkness,. And if He can’t break into the dark places in your soul, then you’re holding onto the wrong Jesus.

John tells us the light shines in the darkness and darkness can’t overcome it. Darkness runs when real light steps into the room. Your fear, your shame, your failures they don’t get to stay just because you want them to. The Logos came to illuminate, to expose, to liberate.

But beware: light exposes darkness in us, not just out there somewhere. This means Jesus isn’t here to make you comfortable by hiding your flaws. No. That’s not how this works.

He’s here to confront them head-on. The small Jesus you carry around can’t do that. Only the Logos, the eternal Word, the unquenchable light is able to do this.

So here’s this week’s challenge: Stop carrying your Jesus like a teddy bear. Stop trying to tame the light. Jesus is the light that pushes back the darkness, but if you want Him to carry your load, He has to be big enough to do it.

Light doesn’t just flicker; it floods. Life doesn’t just exist; it conquers. And Jesus is both.

If you want a Jesus who can carry you, you’ve got to wrestle with the eternal, uncontainable, unshakable Word who holds all things together including you.

Saying Yes Changes Everything

December 1, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Yesterday we kicked off Advent with a deep dive into Luke 1:26-38. You know the story. Mary, a teenage girl from a nowhere town called Nazareth, gets the shock of her life when an angel tells her she’s been chosen to carry the Savior of the world. Yeah, that Mary.

Here’s the kicker: Mary had zero qualifications. No royal bloodline. No political connections. No resume that screamed, “I’m ready to be a world-changer.” Just a quiet life, a lot of questions, and a giant, terrifying call.

But God didn’t pick someone likely. He picked someone available.

Why Mary’s story is a punch in the face to our excuses

How often do we sit on the sidelines because we think we’re not enough? Not skilled enough, not bold enough, not experienced enough? Mary is the ultimate “Hold my beer” moment in the Bible. She’s God’s way of saying, “Stop waiting for permission. Stop waiting for perfect. Just show up.”

When the angel shows up, Mary doesn’t get a detailed step-by-step plan. She doesn’t get all the answers or guarantees. She just says, “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.”

Now that’s faith.

Here’s your Monday challenge

Look at your week ahead. What’s the call you’ve been pretending not to hear? What’s the opportunity that feels too big or too scary? Whatever it is, remember God’s calling doesn’t come to the “most qualified.” It comes to the available. The willing. The ready to say “yes” even when the path is uncertain.

So what’s stopping you? Fear? Doubt? That little voice telling you you’re not enough? It’s a lie. All of it! Mary was essentially just a kid. If God can work through her, He can absolutely work through you.

This week, don’t just hope for change. Step into it. Say yes to the impossible. Step out of your comfort zone. Be the unexpected hero God is calling you to be. The world doesn’t need perfect. It needs you showing up and doing what only you can do.

Get uncomfortable. Get brave. Get moving. Your ‘yes’ could be the spark that changes everything.

Ready to stop waiting and start living your calling? Share your “yes” this week in the comments. Let’s fuel each other’s courage to be the unlikely heroes God is raising up right now.

Why Losing Focus Is Killing Your Mission

November 25, 2025 / / 0 Comments

When a person, a church, or any organization loses focus, it’s not just a minor slip-up, it’s a wrecking ball that smashes everything around them. If your goal is to help people grow and thrive in life and leadership, but all you do is shape them to fit your personal preferences, congratulations you’re not cultivating leaders, you’re making clones. Boring, lifeless copies with zero originality.

The church exists to make disciples real, passionate, life-changing disciples – not to obsess over boards, budgets, or butts in seats. When your priorities are stuck on numbers and committees instead of people’s souls, you’re not doing the work of God. You’re acting like the very religious folks Jesus called out in the New Testament who were more focused on appearances and power than on love and truth.

If you say you care about people but live like dollars rule your world, you’re sending a message louder than any sermon ever could. You don’t actually care.

So here’s the hard truth: Losing focus isn’t a small mistake. It’s spiritual malpractice. It’s a betrayal of the mission. And it’s why so many people check out not because they don’t need the church, but because the church stopped needing them.

Refocus or fold. Because discipleship is messy. It’s uncomfortable. It demands sacrifice. But anything less? It’s just cloning, and cloning is dead.

The Power of Coaching in Personal Growth

November 20, 2025 / / 0 Comments
Diagram illustrating the difference between mentoring, counseling, and coaching for personal and spiritual growth.

Understanding where coaching fits in life and ministry — and why it uniquely unlocks potential.

When people hear the word coaching, they often confuse it with mentoring or counseling. And that’s understandable because all three involve guidance, support, and personal growth. But they’re not the same, and understanding the difference matters if you want to use each effectively in life or leadership development.

Mentoring is usually about experience. A mentor shares wisdom, often from their own journey, to help you navigate similar paths. Think of it as “Here’s what worked for me, and here’s what I’ve learned.”

Counseling is about healing. A counselor helps you work through emotional, psychological, or relational challenges. They function as guides to help you process trauma, resolve conflict, or regain mental and emotional balance.

Coaching is different. Coaching is about unlocking potential. It’s not about giving answers or telling you what to do. It’s about asking the right questions, helping you see blind spots, and empowering you to take action that aligns with your goals, values, and calling. Ultimately coaching is about what’s already in your life.

I’ve experienced this difference firsthand. Mentors have modeled wisdom for me. Counselors have helped me process life’s difficult moments. But coaching has been the space where I step back, reflect, and discover my own next steps even when they weren’t obvious.

I’ve also seen it work in ministry: helping pastors, leaders, and followers of Jesus clarify priorities, see opportunities for growth, and take responsibility for change without being “told what to do.”

Coaching works because it’s relational and intentional. It honors your agency while guiding you toward clarity and progress. It’s about asking, “What do you see? What matters most? What’s your next step?” rather than “Here’s the answer.”

That subtle shift makes all the difference because real growth happens when people own it themselves.

Understanding these distinctions also matters for ministry. Leaders who can mentor, counsel, and coach in their respective contexts provide holistic support without blurring roles. Coaching becomes a tool to help others step into their God-given potential without dependency, a discipline that fosters both accountability and transformation.

At the heart of it, coaching is an invitation: to pause, reflect, and act intentionally. It’s about creating space for insight, growth, and action not giving all the answers, but helping people discover the ones that are already inside them.

Call-to-Action (CTA)

Reflect this week: Where in your life could mentoring, counseling, or coaching help you grow? Which approach fits your current need most?

Finding Gratitude in Life’s Messy Moments

November 14, 2025 / / 0 Comments

If I’m being honest not every day feels like something to be thankful for. Some days feel like a sitcom with no laugh track. You spill coffee on your shirt before the meeting. Your kiddo’s missing shoe somehow ends up in the front yard. And the leaf blower that worked fine yesterday decides today’s the day to bite the big one.

Yeah, one of those kind of days.

But here’s the thing: Gratitude isn’t just for the good days. It’s for the messy ones too. Because that’s where God does some of His best work.

Just look at the Christmas story. It wasn’t neat and polished. Jesus entered the world in a feeding trough surrounded by animals. Yeah mooove over for the messiah…

The resurrection? It came through betrayal, blood, and an empty tomb. God’s never been scared of a little mess. So he’s surely not scared of yours either!

The problem isn’t the chaos around us. It’s that we expect faith to clean it all up. Look real gratitude starts when we learn to thank God in the mess, not after it’s over. Somehow we’ve come the conclusion that following Jesus means that life will be easier or lighter in some way. But I just don’t see that.

My life isn’t smooth sailing. Not by a stretch! I still deal with family drama. I have conflict with people who I call friends. I have to deal with interpersonal communication issues on ministry teams in the church for crying out loud! Following Jesus doesn’t exclude you from the problems of life! It just changes how you see the struggles.

When the dishes pile up and life feels more exhausting than inspiring, maybe that’s the exact space where God’s trying to talk to you. Maybe that’s where He’s saying, “I’m here. I’m working. Even in this.”

My grandma gave me a paper when I was in high school that said “Something For God to Do Today.” It had a poem of sorts on it that I can’t remember completely but the gist is simple. There are things that are in your control. And there are things out of your control. When we approach life following Jesus, we’ll be able to confidently place things in the something for Jesus to do today box knowing that He has it under control.

So, maybe this weekend you don’t need to fix the mess. Maybe you just need to pause long enough to see God standing right in the middle of it with you.

Because the mess doesn’t mean He’s missing. It means He’s moving with you through it.

So for that… yeah, I’m thankful.

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