MARCH 31, 2026

  “Find your authentic voice, become vulnerable, and then put yourself out there.” 

― Meredith Brooks

JUDGES 3-5

   31“Thus let all Your enemies perish, O LORD;
            But let those who love Him be like the rising of the sun in its might.”
            And the land was undisturbed for forty years. (5:31)

LUKE 7:31-50

31Jesus went on to say, “To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? 32They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other:

“ ‘We played the pipe for you,

and you did not dance;

we sang a dirge,

and you did not cry.’

33For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ 35But wisdom is proved right by all her children.”

JOURNAL

As I reflect on Israel’s cycle of rebellion and rescue, and Jesus confronting the Pharisees, I see something deeper than behavior change. Faithfulness is not performance. It is exposure. And there is something profound happening, not just spiritually, but biologically, when we step into that place.

The more I think about it, the more I realize that vulnerability is not weakness. It is transformation at the deepest level. When I stop performing and actually tell the truth about myself, my fears, my failures, my need, something shifts in my brain. The defenses quiet. The constant scanning for approval settles. It is as if my mind moves from survival into connection. And what is even more remarkable is that this does not just change me. It changes the people around me. When I am real, it gives others permission to be real. When I drop the mask, it disarms theirs. There is a kind of ripple effect where honesty rewires not just my own heart, but the emotional landscape of others.

This is why living for the approval of people is so empty. It keeps me locked in performance mode, constantly managing perception, never actually known. And biologically, that state keeps me guarded, anxious, and disconnected. No amount of applause can calm that. Jesus is pointing to this truth. People cannot be satisfied because performance never creates connection. Only authenticity does.

This is where the tension with the world shows up. The world says earn it, prove it, achieve it. God says bring your failure, confess it, and receive love. One path keeps me striving and guarded. The other invites me to be seen and transformed. And I am starting to see that God’s way is not just morally better, it is how I was designed to function. Facing my fears, my insecurities, my inconsistencies is not punishment. It is the doorway to freedom.

Because when I allow myself to be fully seen and still loved, everything changes. I no longer have to perform for love. I can actually give love. My actions stop being driven by fear and start being an overflow of gratitude. Even my scars and failures take on a different role. They are no longer things to hide, but the very places that create connection, empathy, and strength in me and in others.

This is the way of the cross. It is not about image management, it is about surrender. It requires me to admit my need and trust that I am loved in it. And in doing so, I begin to find my voice. A real one. Not constructed or curated, but honest. I can live in my own skin without comparison or pretending.

And in that place, something powerful happens. The very things I once feared become the bridge to others. My weakness becomes strength. My story becomes an invitation. My life becomes an expression of something far greater than myself.

This is the good news. Not just that I am saved, but that I am transformed. And that transformation, through vulnerability and truth, has the power to change not only me, but the hearts of those around me.

5Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”6Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you really know me, you will know^b my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” 

JOHN 14:5-7

MARCH 30, 2026

  “Most of the evil in this world is done by people with good intentions.”  

~ T.S. Eliot

JUDGES 1-2

20Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and said, “Because this nation has violated the covenant I ordained for their ancestors and has not listened to me, 21I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. 22I will use them to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the Lord and walk in it as their ancestors did.” 23The Lord had allowed those nations to remain; he did not drive them out at once by giving them into the hands of Joshua. (2:20-23)

LUKE 7:1-30

He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 9When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” 10Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.

JOURNAL

I’ve been sitting with the idea that much of the harm in this world is done by people who genuinely believe they are doing what is right. That realization used to frustrate me because I’ve always wanted to believe that if I could just think clearly enough, try hard enough, and stay disciplined enough, I could align my intentions and actions perfectly. But that simply hasn’t been true. What I am beginning to see is that even my best intentions are not pure in the way I want them to be. They are shaped by things I don’t fully see or understand, my past, my fears, my desire for control, my need for approval, and my pride. All of it mixes into what I call good, and yet underneath it there are motives and blind spots I cannot fully untangle on my own.

That realization is humbling in a way I cannot escape. It means I am not as reliable as I thought I was, even at my best. It means that trying to perfect my behavior or purify my motives through effort alone is an exhausting and endless pursuit. I can always look back and find something I missed, something I could have done better, something that was subtly about me instead of others. Humility, then, is not thinking less of myself, but recognizing clearly that even my best is limited. It is understanding that my good is still flawed, and that I do not have the ability to make it fully right on my own.

And strangely, that is where freedom begins. If that is true, then my role is not to perfect myself, but to surrender myself. To offer my actions, both good and bad, to God and trust that He is the only one who can take what is incomplete, imperfect, and even misguided, and use it for something meaningful. It shifts everything. It moves me away from striving to control outcomes or prove my worth and toward simply being present and faithful in this moment. It allows me to release the burden of trying to make everything right and instead trust the One who redeems all things.

It also changes how I see others. If I struggle to act purely even when I want to, then so does everyone else. That does not excuse harm, but it does create compassion. It reminds me that we are all limited, all influenced by things we do not fully understand, and all in need of grace. So where does that leave me? It leaves me in surrender, not passive but honest, offering what I have, knowing it is not enough on its own, and trusting that God is enough. It leaves me grateful that He does not require perfection, but instead works through imperfection. Maybe that is the point all along, not that I become flawless, but that I become dependent, not that my actions become perfect, but that I trust the One who can redeem them, because in the end even my best intentions need a Savior.

8When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. 9“This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”

10Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me.11The poor you will always have with you,^a but you will not always have me. 12When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. 13Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

MATTHEW 26:8-13

MARCH 29, 2026

  “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” 

― Martin Luther King Jr.

JOSHUA 23-24

14“Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (24:14-15)

LUKE 6:27-49

27“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. 30Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31Do to others as you would have them do to you.32“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 34And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. 35But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

JOURNAL

This passage from Joshua is one of those that draws a line in the sand as to what will define the believer.  Then in this chapter of Luke, defines love and how it's way deeper and more difficult than the feel-good ideas of our culture.  

This fly's in the face of everything that we are taught and that we teach our children in regard to living in our culture. This sort of love and this sort of devotion seems like self-sabotage, not love. Although I have read this passage multiple times it still is like cold water in the face...

It is impossible to live this way without Christ.  In our culture...following and loving this way seems as if it would lead to sure destruction.  Yet Jesus tells us clearly in no uncertain terms that this is how we are to love and this is how we are to live.  

How do we do this?  How do I give to those who hate me?  How do I lend and not expect repayment? How do I allow things to be taken and not ask for them? How do I allow someone to hurt me and continually love them in the face of that hurt?  It is impossible without Christ. I think this is where we truly have to live life one day at a time and trust Christ one moment and one circumstance at a time. 

If this is to be my guide then I need to consult God every day, every moment. I don't have time to worry about the future or the past. I truly believe this is the point...getting us to fully surrender. Getting us to abandon any agenda that does not line up with God's direction for our lives. 

7Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. 

GALATIANS 6:7-10

MARCH 28, 2026

 “Disasters, he proposed, create a "community of sufferers" that allow individuals to experience an immensely reassuring connection to others”

― Sebastian Junger

JOSHUA 21-22

4And now that the LORD your God has given your brothers rest as He promised them, you may return to your homes in the land that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you across the Jordan. 5But be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” (22:4-5)

LUKE 6:1-26

 20Looking at his disciples, he said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,

for yours is the kingdom of God.

21Blessed are you who hunger now,

for you will be satisfied.

Blessed are you who weep now,

for you will laugh.

22Blessed are you when people hate you,

when they exclude you and insult you

and reject your name as evil,

because of the Son of Man.

23“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.

JOURNAL

God gives the Israelites rest...rest from years of struggle and battle and wandering. They now have land and a kingdom in which to live and thrive. Some of the tribes build an altar and the worst is assumed until it is later clarified that it was built to God as a testament of their faith. Jesus names his key disciples and then begins to give a sermon in the midst of multitudes of people who had come out to hear him and be healed. 

Jesus begins the sermon with a paradox.   Jesus begins this sermon by claiming suffering and persecution as the place of greatest blessing. Who in their right mind would ever see suffering as being blessed. It reminds me of the Seinfeld episode when George makes a commitment to do the complete opposite of every decision he normally would make...his reasoning is that if all his decisions in the past have been wrong, then the opposite of those decisions would be right.

It is obviously not that simple...or is it?  If all selfishness ultimately leads to misery...then the opposite would logically seem to be the answer.  Seek to be a servant, to give more than I receive, to embrace suffering instead of running from it.  Seek to love rather than to be loved.  What does a life dedicated to the opposite of having it all look like...I think it looks a lot like Jesus.

Thinking through these initial words of Jesus really has a way of changing mindset. Many times in life it is hard to see circumstances as blessings. However, I think it's more the fact that when we suffer we need God and in that need we collectively become what God ultimately desires for us. We no longer deal with the pride of controlling our world or seeing ourselves as better than someone else. We are brought together under a common suffering. I also think there is a daily purpose there of putting ourselves in the midst of hard things...accepting them and even pursuing them. That little bit of self-inflicted suffering is called obedience and doing it is what following God is all about.  

Sebastian Junger wrote a book called Tribe. In it he documented cases upon cases of people bonding together during really difficult circumstances. One of the paradoxes was that when they looked back on those times they considered them as some of the most joyous of their lives.  It is comforting to know that God sees, God loves and God will always provide a way for love and joy...we must just be willing to trust and follow. 

27And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

 LUKE 14:27

MARCH 27, 2026

 

 “I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being good all the time. That would be hypocrisy.” 

~ Oscar Wilde

JOSHUA 19-20

7So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah. 8East of the Jordan (on the other side from Jericho) they designated Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau in the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead in the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan in the tribe of Manasseh. 9Any of the Israelites or any foreigner residing among them who killed someone accidentally could flee to these designated cities and not be killed by the avenger of blood prior to standing trial before the assembly.(20:7-9)

LUKE 5:17-39

 27After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, 28and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.29Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. 30But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”31Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

JOURNAL

The Israelites divide up the land between descendants of the 12 tribes and begin establishing rules for governing between the cities. Jesus calls Levi (Matthew) and is criticized for associating with "tax collectors and sinners". 

God is in the business of redemption.  "Perfect people" equal  arrogant, dishonest messes. It is only in the admitting of needing refuge, help and salvation that we ever get the joy found in Christ.  I love that Jesus never mixes words here, in fact he confronts the bearers of shame head on. Jesus sees that one of the greatest enemies to the joy of salvation is the shame heaped upon the people by the Pharisees. Jesus doesn't need their approval or to be in their ring of acceptance.  He goes to where the deepest need is...the rejects and sinners. This is where he hangs out...this is where he spends his time.

Jesus shows time and time again that we don't need to pretend or hide. He knows us, knows our deepest secrets, our worst thoughts, our hidden agendas and that's where he wants to spend his time, that's where he wants to connect first. That is so amazing and so freeing.  This is the beauty and brilliance of Jesus' words...they are far deeper than the initial surface. They go to the heart of every human who reads them. They go to the heart but not just to expose but rather to heal.

27“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. 

MATTHEW 23:27-28