FEBRUARY 19, 2026

   “The proud person always wants to do the right thing, the great thing. But because he wants to do it in his own strength, he is fighting not with man, but with God.” 

― Søren Kierkegaard

NUMBERS 1-2

34So the Israelites did everything the Lord commanded Moses; that is the way they encamped under their standards, and that is the way they set out, each of them with their clan and family. (2:34)

MARK 3:1-21

1Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. 2Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”

4Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.

5He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. 6Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.

JOURNAL 

Watching the Olympics this week, I found myself overwhelmed by a simple but profound truth: some will triumph and some will fail. That is not a flaw in the system. It is the system. It is life. Every athlete arrives carrying years of sacrifice, discipline, hope, and belief. Yet in a single moment, victory or defeat is decided. A perfect routine can end with a small mistake. A lifetime of preparation can be undone by injury, timing, or circumstances beyond control. And still, none of it invalidates the athlete. Failure does not erase worth. Loss does not cancel purpose. The struggle itself is part of the goodness of life.

What struck me most is that joy is not found only on the podium. Real joy is found in learning to live faithfully in both outcomes, to stand in triumph without pride and in disappointment without despair. Life asks us to hold both grief and celebration at the same time. This is what surrender looks like.

Kierkegaard wrote, “The proud person always wants to do the right thing, the great thing. But because he wants to do it in his own strength, he is fighting not with man, but with God.” I recognize myself in that warning. I want control over outcomes. I want certainty before obedience. I want victory without vulnerability. But faith does not promise victory as I define it. Faith invites trust regardless of outcome.

In Numbers, Israel simply moved when God said move and camped when God said camp. No debate, no overanalysis, no attempt to improve upon God's plan. They trusted the order given to them day by day. Their faithfulness was not measured by achievement but by obedience.

In Mark, the Pharisees stand in stark contrast. They are so committed to being right that they cannot recognize goodness standing directly in front of them. Jesus heals a man, restores life, and yet their rigid expectations blind them so completely that they begin plotting His death. Their certainty becomes their prison. How ironic that the desire to honor God can become the very thing that prevents us from seeing Him.

I see how easily I do the same. I build expectations about how life should unfold. I assume I know what success looks like, what healing should look like, how God should work. Then when reality differs, I struggle, resist, or miss the grace present in the moment. Trusting God means releasing my demand for outcomes. It means admitting that I may be wrong about what victory or failure truly is. It means living open-handed, willing to let God redefine success, timing, and even suffering.

Jesus’ words in Matthew remind me that clarity begins with humility. Before correcting the world, I must examine my own vision. Often the obstacle is not circumstance but my own assumptions, fears, and judgments. Like the athletes I watched, I am called simply to step onto the field of today. Some days will feel like victory. Others will feel like loss. Both belong to the journey God is shaping. The goal is not to avoid failure or secure triumph. The goal is faithfulness.

To live fully in the moment given.
To trust God in both grief and glory.
To surrender outcomes while offering effort.
To recognize that God is present not only in winning, but in becoming.

Because ultimate joy is not found in the result. It is found in trusting Him with all of it.

1“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

3“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

MATTHEW 7:1-5

FEBRUARY 18, 2026

 “A man who desires to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.” 

― Charles Darwin

LEVITICUS 26-27

14“ ‘But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, 15and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant, 16then I will do this to you: I will bring on you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and sap your strength. You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it. 17I will set my face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you. (26:14-17)

MARK 2

13Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.

15While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

17On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

JOURNAL 

Jesus came to redeem us from ourselves...he came to redeem us from a life where we reject God. Everyone needs his grace...everyone needs forgiveness. We are all poor, and in need of a savior...it doesn't matter what our bank statement says, or the titles we amass, or the records we break...we are all in desperate need of his salvation, his love, his grace. To not understand this is to be trapped in our own pride.

To truly be great means that we become humble servants, fully aware of our own failures and our weakness. It means that I am to recognize that I am a fallible human being whose life is merely a wisp...here today...gone tomorrow. While that feels a bit morbid and depressing it really is just reality. The more I embrace this...the more I cling to God and the more I realize that I need God to make sense of this life, I need God to help keep me moving forward, loving others and making the most of each and every day. 

Every day, every moment is a gift from God. No matter where it's spent or what it involves...it is a gift, that is to be cherished, celebrated and lived fully with intention and purpose. 

13Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 17If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

JAMES 4:13-17

FEBRUARY 17, 2026

 “If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it.” 

― Stephen Colbert

LEVITICUS 24-25

39“ ‘If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and sell themselves to you, do not make them work as slaves. 40They are to be treated as hired workers or temporary residents among you; they are to work for you until the Year of Jubilee. 41Then they and their children are to be released, and they will go back to their own clans and to the property of their ancestors. 42Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves. 43Do not rule over them ruthlessly, but fear your God. (25:35-43)

MARK 1:23-45

32That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. 33The whole town gathered at the door, 34and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.

Jesus Prays in a Solitary Place

35Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. 36Simon and his companions went to look for him, 37and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”

38Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.”39So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

JOURNAL 

I wonder why it is that greed and selfishness have become something to be admired in our American society. We reward those who hoard money and manipulate others in order to earn it. As long as someone doesn't break a law and often even if they do but justifiably get away with it...they are revered for their wealth and power. I can understand it more from a societal standpoint but it is really sad to see how it has taken over the identity of "conservative" churches. 

I guess it falls in line with the idea that if someone has wealth and power then that is an affirmation and a blessing of God. So the reverse is also thought of as true...if someone is poor and destitute then God is punishing them and they are not blessed by God. However scripture continually turns all of this on its head...yet for some reason, it fails to find its way into our churches. 

However, the more I am learning from reading scripture the more I realize that sitting in judgment of others is just as wrong. It is such a temptation to sit back and condemn others...it's so easy to see where others...even the church have missed the mark. However, that is me trying to sit on the judgment seat and play God. That's not my place...that's not what he created me to do.  What I have learned and what I now am continually coming back to is God commands me to

• Serve others in whatever capacity in which I am blessed
• Win the moment by giving my very best without fear of the future or shame of the past
• Lastly, do all this with a passionate spirit of joy and hope 

3“Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4Blessed are those who mourn,

for they will be comforted.

5Blessed are the meek,

for they will inherit the earth.

6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they will be filled.

7Blessed are the merciful,

for they will be shown mercy.

8Blessed are the pure in heart,

for they will see God.

9Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they will be called children of God.

10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

MATTHEW 5:3-12

FEBRUARY 16, 2026

  “I was born for a controversial world, and I cannot escape my destiny. John Quincy Adams” 

― Paul C. Nagel, John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, a Private Life

LEVITICUS 22-23

22“ ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the Lord your God.’ ”(23:22)

MARK 1:1-22

9At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

12At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, 13and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted^g by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.

JOURNAL 

Nearly everything we celebrate in life is rooted in overcoming conflict. Sports exist because there is an opponent. Business is built on risk, pressure, and competition. Progress, personal, cultural, and spiritual, comes through resistance. Even the stories that move us most are not about comfort, but about endurance, sacrifice, and victory forged in difficulty.

And yet, despite being wired to admire conflict overcome, something deep inside me still longs for comfort over confrontation. I want affirmation without fire, growth without resistance, peace without the wilderness. That desire runs directly against how life actually works and against how God works. Jesus is baptized. Heaven opens. The Father affirms Him: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” And immediately, without pause, the Spirit drives Him into the wilderness. Not into celebration. Not into rest. Into hunger. Isolation. Temptation. Direct conflict with Satan.

That is unsettling if my view of God is comfort first. But it makes perfect sense if conflict is not a detour from purpose, but the purpose. Jesus was not sent into the world to avoid battle but to enter it fully and decisively. His affirmation was not a reward; it was a commissioning. This exposes my flawed assumptions about God and difficulty. I often imagine that obedience should lead to ease, that faithfulness should result in protection from hardship. But Scripture paints the opposite picture. Affirmation precedes testing. Calling leads to conflict. Love does not remove the wilderness; it sends us into it, equipped.

Our culture dreams of success for what it promises: wealth, comfort, recognition, control. But that is not what we are promised. We are promised purpose. We are promised presence. We are promised victory, but not the absence of battle. Conflict, then, is not something to escape. It is something to accept, engage, and endure. We are here to build God’s kingdom, and kingdoms are not built without resistance. Sin must be confronted. Truth must be defended. Love must be practiced when it costs us something.

The victory is already assured, but the battles are still real. And we are not sent into them alone. We are sent with power, with love, and with discipline. Not for comfort, but for faithfulness. Maybe the real question is not why God allows conflict, but why I keep hoping for a life without it, when everything I value most has always required overcoming it.

5But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to keep his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

JOSHUA 22:2-5

FEBRUARY 15, 2026

 “It's the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there'll be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.” 

― Mahatma Gandhi

LEVITICUS 20-21

7“ ‘Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the Lordyour God. 8Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the Lord, who makes you holy.

(20:7-8)

MATTHEW 28:1-20

16Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

JOURNAL 

“Some doubted.” That phrase captures something deeply human. Doubt is not a flaw in our design; it is the shadow side of intelligence. We can imagine alternatives, question narratives, and test what we are told. But doubt becomes destructive when it no longer seeks truth and instead avoids it.

Truth is hard because it exposes worlds we wish were different. It reveals things about ourselves we would rather keep hidden and dismantles the stories we build to survive. From the beginning, doubt has been used not to pursue truth, but to distort it. Humanity’s struggle has never been only with sin, but with honesty.

This is why the cross is both terrifying and beautiful. The cross works only if we are honest. It cannot be used to hide, manipulate, or clean up our image. It is not a curtain. It is a spotlight. Its purpose is to bring into the open what we keep in the dark. No wonder fear tempts me to withdraw. Hiding is one of our most practiced skills, and also our greatest weakness.

When we run from truth or withhold it from those we love, we do not protect ourselves. We lose joy. We thin our relationships. Life shrinks. The cross strips away every covering and calls us to stand exposed before God. And in that moment, when there is nothing left to manage or perform, God meets us with love. We are fully forgiven, but more than that, we are redeemed. Not because we fixed ourselves, but because we stopped hiding.

I know what doubt does to me. It freezes me. It convinces me that action will only cause harm, so inaction feels safer. It leads to procrastination, avoidance, and retreat. But Scripture and the quiet work of God’s Spirit remind me that truth, though hard, leads to freedom. The world may not be as I hoped, but God remains faithful and present.

Hiding has never been the answer. God does not call us to withdraw, but to move forward in truth. Faith is not passive belief; it is lived obedience. Action matters, even when outcomes are unseen or delayed.

If I do nothing, nothing changes.

Faith without action is hollow. Truth without movement is incomplete. The cross does not invite me to hide. It sends me forward, honest, exposed, and free.

14What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

JAMES 2:14-17