APRIL 3, 2026

   “Talent is cheap; dedication is expensive. It will cost you your life.” 

― Irving Stone, The Agony and the Ecstasy

JUDGES 10-11

29Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites. 30And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord: “If you give the Ammonites into my hands, 31whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.”

32Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into his hands. 33He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued Ammon.

34When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of timbrels! She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter. 35When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, “Oh no, my daughter! You have brought me down and I am devastated. I have made a vow to the Lord that I cannot break.”

36“My father,” she replied, “you have given your word to the Lord. Do to me just as you promised, now that the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites. 37But grant me this one request,” she said. “Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry.”

38“You may go,” he said. And he let her go for two months. She and her friends went into the hills and wept because she would never marry. 39After the two months, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin.

From this comes the Israelite tradition 40that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.(11:29-40)

LUKE 9:1-36

23Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. 25What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? 26Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

JOURNAL 

There are moments in Scripture that unsettle me, that don’t fit neatly into my understanding of God. The story of Jephthah and his daughter is one of those. It feels heavy, even disturbing. A man makes a vow, and the cost is devastating. It forces me to wrestle with the reality that not everything done in God’s name actually reflects His heart.

When I step back and look closer, I see that Jephthah’s vow was not something God required. It came from a place of fear and control, shaped by surrounding culture more than by trust. Even though God was with him, Jephthah still tried to secure the outcome on his own terms. He bargained instead of believing. And that attempt to control what only God holds led to tragic consequences.

That realization lands closer to home than I’d like. Following God does not automatically keep me from acting out of fear or making misguided decisions. I can still try to manage outcomes, to negotiate, to hold onto control instead of surrendering it. I can still confuse activity for faith, or effort for trust.

Jesus’ words in Luke cut through that. To follow Him means letting go of my own agenda daily. It means releasing the need to control outcomes and trusting that obedience is enough. It is not about striking deals with God or trying to secure blessings. It is about surrender. Trust without manipulation. Obedience without conditions.

Freedom in Christ is not the freedom to grasp or control, but the freedom to love and serve without fear. When I try to take control, I move away from that freedom. But when I surrender, I step into it.

13You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh^a ; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”^b 15If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

GALATIANS 5:13-15

APRIL 2, 2026

 “A proud man is always looking down on things and  

people; and, of course, as long as you are looking 
down, you cannot see something that is above you.”  

~ C.S. Lewis

JUDGES 8-9

22The Israelites said to Gideon, “Rule over us—you, your son and your grandson—because you have saved us from the hand of Midian.”

23But Gideon told them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you.” (8:22-23)

LUKE 8:22-56

38The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39“Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him. 

JOURNAL

Gideon refuses to rule over the Israelites. Jesus heals the demon-possessed man, the woman bleeding and Jairus' daughter. 

Power and influence have a way of corrupting us.  This is precisely why Gideon refuses to be anointed King.  It is also why Christ continually pulls away and always instructs those he heals to praise God.  There is an insatiable danger of wanting to become all powerful and begin to  believe your own press clippings. Jesus has a day where he cures the incurable in various ways and yet in the end instructs people not to tell anyone. 

Ultimately the future Kings in Israel will deviate from this path of humility and will seek honor and therefore will deviate away from God. The deviation will lead them ultimately into slavery again. The lesson there is that humility always comes...in one way or another we will be forced to acknowledge our fallibility and weakness. Even David...as great as he was struggled with this very issue. Early on though he had a firm grasp that humility was the path...not honor and accolades. 

17“Far be it from me, Lord, to do this!” he said. “Is it 

not the blood of men who went at the risk of their 

lives?” And David would not drink it. 

2 SAMUEL 23:17

APRIL 1, 2026

 “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”

― Viktor E. Frankl

JUDGES 6-7

11The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”

13“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

14The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

15“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

16The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”(6:11-16)

LUKE 8:1-21

11“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. 12Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. 14The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. 15But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.

JOURNAL 

Gideon comes into power and leads Israel out of the predicament with the Midianites. Then in Luke Jesus confirms that it is the heart that really matters.

I absolutely love the story of Gideon...he is a nobody and yet God uses him, chooses him to lead a band of just 300 men to overcome tens of thousands. It is interesting that these two verses get paired together. Jesus' words confirm exactly what we see in Gideon. It is the heart that matters...The seed needs good soil. We must be the good soil to receive God's power and love in a way that produces fruit. 

I love that our God is a God of underdogs, I love that he continually uses the least to accomplish the greatest feats. The daily challenge in life is to see and truly understand the incredible opportunity that exists no matter our circumstance. The opportunity to live a life of purpose and joy and to share that life with others. That opportunity exists every single day and each moment of that day. To get caught up in the noise and weeds of life is the greatest threat to that purpose and joy. It all goes back to what is the desire of our hearts. If it is for anything other than obeying God and responding to the world with his power, love and discipline then we will not be the fertile soil and the fruit of the spirit will evade us. 

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

GALATIANS 5:22-23

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