OCTOBER 10, 2026

 “Any person who only sticks with Christianity as long as things are going his or her way, is a stranger to the cross” 

― Timothy J. Keller

ISAIAH 43-44

I have made you, you are my servant;

Israel, I will not forget you.

22I have swept away your offenses like a cloud,

your sins like the morning mist.

Return to me,

for I have redeemed you.” (44:21-22) 

COLOSSIANS 2

9For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. 11In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh^b was put off when you were circumcised by^c Christ, 12having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead

JOURNAL 

Reading Isaiah and Colossians, I am struck by the declaration of God's absolute power and the freedom that comes from living in obedience to Him. No earthly circumstance, no temporary disappointment, and no perceived failure can diminish His authority or alter His promises. The question is not whether life unfolds according to my expectations, but whether I remain in tune with God regardless of how it unfolds. His power is constant. It is my awareness of His presence and my willingness to surrender to His authority that fluctuate.

Isaiah reminds me that I belong to God, that He created me, redeemed me, and has not forgotten me. Colossians declares that Christ is above every power and authority and that through Him I have been brought to fullness. There is tremendous freedom in understanding this. I have nothing to prove to the world and nothing to gain from controlling outcomes. My responsibility is to pursue God, trust His wisdom, and discipline myself to live in obedience to Him. The more consistently I seek Him, the more my heart and mind become aligned with His Spirit. That alignment produces a peace and joy that circumstances cannot provide or take away.

This is the challenge of faith. It is easy to trust God when life is unfolding as I hoped. True obedience is revealed when it is not. The cross itself is the ultimate demonstration that earthly defeat does not determine eternal victory. What appeared to be the greatest failure in human history became the greatest victory. Stephen's death appeared to be another defeat, yet his witness became part of the story of Paul's transformation. God's purposes are not confined to what I can see or understand. His power is not dependent on favorable circumstances, and neither should my faith be.

I want to live with the discipline of continually returning my thoughts, desires, and decisions to God. Not to secure a particular result, but because He is God. The Creator of everything has redeemed me and invited me into a relationship with Him. Obedience is not the price of His love, but the response to it. The victory has already been won through Christ. My purpose today is to live in tune with that truth, trusting that whatever the earthly outcome, nothing can diminish the power, love, and grace of God.

12So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! 13Nothing has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted^d beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted,^e he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

1 CORINTHIANS 10:12-13

OCTOBER 9, 2026

  “Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” 

― Ralph Waldo Emerson

ISAIAH 41-42

 10So do not fear, for I am with you;

do not be dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you;

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (41:10)

COLOSSIANS 1

We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,^e 10so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you^f to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

JOURNAL 

 Paul in writing to the Colossians emphasizes that his desire is that they will receive the spirit in order to "live a life worthy of God", "pleasing him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work..." this spells out what my life is to be consumed doing...it is laboring in love and living a life that honors God in action and deed? Paul says that God has already "rescued us" and that we are now living in the "kingdom of the son".  We are forgiven and redeemed! Not in the future...now.

How then am I living this out? Is my life reflective of God's kingdom? Is my existence active and passionate? OR is my focus on what I have or what I have done?  Every day, every moment is a gift and as a believer I have been made new in a way that changes my focus and my goal. I am to share this good news in loving others and taking an active existence in living out the love of God in all I do and say.

Man this is good news but it also changes the game...its the opposite of the goals and focus of our culture. We have a culture that rewards, accumulation, greed and selfishness...however when tragedy strikes we see and know that what really matters are acts of love and sacrifice, not those of self-preservation and greed. The heroes of any great tragedy of the past history of mankind  are those that demonstrated sacrifice and love in the face of personal suffering, heartache and death. Position, title, wealth, social status...none of that mattered when tragedy struck...what mattered were acts of love, sacrifice and courage. 

The benefit of history is that we get to learn priceless lessons. We get to see what truly matters and the characteristics of true success. Each moment we get on this planet is a gift. I don't know how many I'll have. Yet I do get to choose how I live them. I have a choice...do I live it with gratitude, trusting and boldly living out God's love or do I live in regret, bitterness, fear and greed? According to scripture I have all I need to live a life that will honor God.  I have all I need to live a life that "bears fruit in every good work". I have been "strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might". There are no excuses...

11I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

PHILIPPIANS 4:11-13

OCTOBER 8, 2026

  “A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.” 

― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

ISAIAH 39-40

28Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary,

and his understanding no one can fathom.

29He gives strength to the weary

and increases the power of the weak.

30Even youths grow tired and weary,

and young men stumble and fall;

31but those who hope in the Lord

will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint. (40:28-31)

PHILIPPIANS 4

 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

JOURNAL 

I am struck by how often God gives me great perspective and how quickly I can lose it. There are moments when everything feels clear. I see life as a gift, feel grateful for what is in front of me, and recognize that God is present and providing. Then an outcome matters too much, something does not go the way I hoped, and my perspective narrows. I stop seeing the whole picture and begin living inside the circumstance.

That is why being still has such an impact. Ten minutes of meditation does not change anything around me, but it often changes what I see. This morning I found myself thinking about something as ordinary as breathing. Oxygen enters my lungs, moves into my blood, reaches every cell in my body, and allows me to think, move, love, and experience this life. All of it happens without my control. Life itself is a miracle I can become almost completely blind to.

Isaiah pulls me back to perspective. God is everlasting. He does not grow weary. His understanding is beyond mine. When I become exhausted trying to manage what happens next, I am trying to carry something that was never mine to carry. My responsibility is not to control the outcome. It is to trust God and keep walking.

Philippians 4 says much the same thing. Pray instead of being consumed by anxiety. Give thanks. Direct the mind toward what is true, good, lovely, and worthy of attention. This is not denial. It is perspective. It is refusing to allow one disappointing result to become larger than everything God has already given me.

That is why Goethe's words resonate with me. To hear music, read poetry, and see something beautiful every day so that worldly cares do not erase the sense of beauty God placed within us. The world can slowly dull that awareness if I allow outcomes and expectations to dominate my attention.

One of my favorite moments in Dead Poets Society carries the same reminder through Whitman: "the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse." I need that reminder often. I do not control the entire play. I do not even know what the next scene holds. I am simply called to be present and faithfully contribute my verse.

Paul says he learned to be content in every circumstance. That word learned stands out to me. Contentment was not automatic for him, and it is not automatic for me. It is a practice of returning. Returning to trust. Returning to gratitude. Returning to the present. Returning to God.

Being in tune with God does not mean I will never lose perspective. It means I learn to recognize when I have drifted and come back. I release the outcome again. I stop trying to force life into the shape I think it should take. I trust that God sees what I cannot. Then I continue to pursue the day and the moment for what it is, not what it can possibly become. That's a shift but it's also freeing. 

11I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

PHILIPPIANS 4:11-13

OCTOBER 7, 2026

  "Success: relentless pursuit to get better in spite of the result"

ISAIAH 37-38

15What can I say? He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done this. I will walk slowly all my years because of the anguish of my soul. 16O Lord, by such things men live, and in all of them my spirit finds life. You have restored me to health
and have let me live. 17Surely for my own welfare I had such great anguish;
but Your love has delivered me from the pit of oblivion, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back. 18For Sheol cannot thank You; Death cannot praise You. Those who descend to the Pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness. 19The living, only the living, can thank You as I do today; fathers will tell their children about Your faithfulness. 20The LORD will save me; we will play songs on stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the house of the LORD. (38:20)

PHILIPPIANS 3

 7But whatever was gain to me I count as loss for the sake of Christ. 8More than that, I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ,a the righteousness from God on the basis of faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.

JOURNAL 

There are so many things in my life that I can only explain as grace. Times when I was given something I did not earn, protected from consequences that could have been much worse, forgiven when I did not deserve forgiveness, or simply given another opportunity. The older I get, the more aware I become of this. When I honestly look back at my life, I cannot just count the disappointments. I also have to count the countless times things went better than I deserved. The mistakes that did not define me. The failures that did not finish me. The people who forgave me. The opportunities I was given again. The doors that opened. The protection I never even knew I needed. Isaiah looks back on his anguish and realizes that even within it, God was giving him life. “Surely for my own welfare I had such great anguish; but Your love has delivered me.” I can look backward and recognize the same thing. Even the difficult parts of my life have somehow been surrounded by grace.

That changes the way I see disappointment. If I believe I deserve a particular outcome, disappointment feels like something has been taken from me. But when I understand how much of my life has already been grace, disappointment becomes much easier to carry. I can be disappointed without becoming bitter. I can lose without believing life has treated me unfairly. I can fail and still be grateful. Paul seems to understand this when he writes Philippians from prison. He had lost almost everything the world would use to measure success, yet he continued to press forward. His goal was no longer controlling the circumstances of his life. His goal was knowing Christ. “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on.” That gives new meaning to success for me: Success is the relentless pursuit to get better in spite of the result.

Results matter, but they are not mine to control. I can pursue God. I can work. I can love. I can prepare. I can serve. I can become more disciplined. I can learn from failure and continue moving forward. But I cannot demand that any of those things produce the outcome I want. The result belongs to God, and grace reminds me that I have already received far more than I could ever demand from Him. That makes life lighter. I do not have to measure the value of today by whether it went my way. I can be disappointed and grateful at the same time. I can want something deeply and still surrender it. I can relentlessly pursue becoming better without needing the result to prove that the pursuit was worthwhile.

The treasure was never the achievement. It was Christ Himself. Knowing Him, becoming more in tune with Him, and allowing His love to move through my life toward other people.  So I press on, not trying to earn God's favor, but because I have already received it. Not trying to control the outcome, but trying to faithfully use what He has given me today. Get better. Love better. Serve better. Know God better. Then leave the results to Him.

1Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

1 JOHN 4:1

OCTOBER 6, 2026

  “Individual commitment to a group effort--that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.” 

― Vince Lombardi

ISAIAH 34-36

8And a highway will be there;

it will be called the Way of Holiness;

it will be for those who walk on that Way.

The unclean will not journey on it;

wicked fools will not go about on it.

9No lion will be there,

nor any ravenous beast;

they will not be found there.

But only the redeemed will walk there,

10and those the Lord has rescued will return.

They will enter Zion with singing;

everlasting joy will crown their heads.

Gladness and joy will overtake them,

and sorrow and sighing will flee away. (35:8-10)

PHILIPPIANS 2

1Therefore if you have any encouragement in Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being united in spirit and purpose.

3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

JOURNAL 

I really wish I could fully capture the mindset of this verse from Paul every moment of every day. Paul's mindset is completely fused in following Christ. That mindset is one of service. This verse states that our greatest calling and greatest achievement is in service, love and sacrifice to each other. Yes it is ultimately to God, but that extends and plays out to each other.

In the grand scheme of life and the vastness of the universe, we are a minuscule speck individually. Thankfully God does not require me to stand alone, God actually requires me to engage and be part of his kingdom.That means that my greatest joy will be experienced as part of a team. My greatest accomplishment will be what I do in sacrifice and love for another. My commitment and love for others is what makes my life more than a speck, more than an insignificant vapor in time.

16Rejoice always, 17pray continually, 18give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 THESSALONIANS 5:16-18