Today is Saturday, the twenty-third day of August, 2025, in the Season of the Church.
May the peace of the Lord be with you always!
It is day 235 of 2025, with 130 days remaining.
Day 24,635 of my life.
It is nine days until our next holiday, which is Labor Day, which falls on September 1, this year. It won’t be an official day off for me, because I wasn’t scheduled to work that day, anyway. I mean, it will be a “day off,” but not because it’s a holiday. The library will be closed that day, though.
There are 30 days of summer left. Yesterday’s high was only 92, a couple degrees below the forecast. We had rain in the morning (while I was driving to work, naturally), a little over a half inch in my zip code. Today’s projected high is 94. The record high for this date was 107 in 2010. The average high over the next ten days is now 91.4, a whole degree down from yesterday. And there are now no triple-digit days in the forecast! The highest is 98 on Monday, and there are four days under 90 in the forecast! Dare I hope that September actually acts like September, this year, instead of August 2.0?
The last thing I got excited about was God’s Word. I know that sounds like such a preachy “Christianese” kind of thing to say, and frankly, I don’t care what anybody thinks about it. Because it’s not that. It is as real as anything I have ever experienced. And anyone who reads this on a regular basis knows that what I have experienced in the last six months is the real, authentic moving of Christ in my heart.
And last night, during my Jesus Time, I got excited about God’s Word. That’s not to say I’m not excited about it, this morning, because I am. But the readings and prayers that I got into last night focused more on the topic of His Word, and how it is the “love of my heart” and “the reflection of my mind” (from Endless Grace: Prayers Inspired by the Psalms). In the book of Jeremiah, the prophet says, “Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart.”
The further and deeper I go into this journey, the more this is true for me and real for me.
So today is an off day for me, and I don’t have much on my agenda for the day. I need (I say “need,” but that is probably not the right word) to go to World Market to get a can of my favorite tea. That happens to be Republic of Tea’s Bridgerton series, specifically the Ginger Peach Vanilla flavor. I am completely out of it, which is why I “need” to go get some. I also need to go to CVS to pick up a couple of scripts.
S wants to make a sign for her favorite baseball player for tomorrow’s game, so we may go somewhere to pick up some supplies to make that. That player is Jonah Heim, by the way.
I’ll be cooking my “signature” burgers for dinner tonight, probably inside on the oven, because it’s still a little warm outside to be grilling.
Since we have the afternoon baseball game tomorrow, S and I are planning to attend the 8:45 worship service and then come straight home so we can get to the ballpark plenty early. It was my idea to do that, because I just don’t want to miss Communion.
JESUS TIME
Dear Jesus, You taught Your disciples that we are created to give You glory in all that we say or do. Guide my tongue today so that what I say reflects Your love to those around me. Stop me from saying unkind words. I need Your strength, Lord, to stand up against temptation, whether it comes from Satan himself or from my own weak, sinful nature. If I am wronged by others, enable me to not want to hurt them back but to treat them with respect. Whether I am working or playing, help me remember that You are here beside me. You created me to be a part of the Body of believers. Your power is great and Your love is endless. Amen.
(Portals of Prayer – Prayer for Saturday Morning)
“You’re here
You prepare a table before me
You’re here
In the presence of my deepest pain
You’re here
And my heart is overflowing
‘Cause Your goodness and Your mercy follow me
All of my days”
It is significant that this song came up “randomly” in my feed for this hymn. Nothing is random in God’s kingdom, my friends.
When I thought, “My foot slips,”
your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up.
When the cares of my heart are many,
your consolations cheer my soul.
(Psalms 94:18-19 ESV)
Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
(Romans 12:12 ESV)
Today I am grateful:
- That Your steadfast love, O Lord, holds me up when I feel that I am slipping into darkness
- That it is possible, in Christ, to rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, and constant in prayer
- That I got to read Psalm 23 this morning; He knows, He loves, He cares
- That You, O Lord, are leading me “Further up. Further in.” Praise to You, Jesus!!
- That I can walk through my days, fearful of nothing, confident that, in all things, I am held secure in Your steadfast love. I have been set free by Your truth
Lord, in Your mercy, hear, now, the prayers lifted up to you for all who need strength, healing, comfort, and peace.
If you are reading this, I encourage you to stop and pray for someone, at this time. Or, if there is something on your heart, please leave a comment. What can I pray for you?
“Lord of those who gave us this Book of Life, speak now to our waiting souls through the lips of your servant and may every word be sanctified and declared in obedience to the law of Christ. IN his name we pray. Amen.”
(For All the Saints – Saturday of the Week of Pentecost 10, Opening Prayer)
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
(Psalms 51:15 ESV)
Indeed, Lord, my mouth will declare Your praise for all of my days.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
(Psalms 23:1-6 ESV)
“Christ,
in Your presence I lack no good thing.
You are the shepherd of my soul,
guiding me to places of rest,
far from noise and clamor;
a meadow of the heart –
tall grass against an azure sky;
cooling waters at my side.
Lead me, Lord.
Further up.
Further in.
When death looks like a specter over me
and I wander in a godless land,
speak comfort to me.
May Your Spirit be the light on my path;
the crook of Your staff guide me to safety.
With mercy, You lead me to Your table;
a feast of rich food and aged wine
in Your presence –
my Head and Host.
You delight in honoring me,
that all who see would know
I am the beloved of God.
My head is blessed with oil;
my joy overflowing.
Your grace chases me.
Your kindness pursues me.
How can I outrun You?
In Your house are many rooms.
In Your presence I find rest.”
(Sheltering Mercy: Prayers Inspired by the Psalms – Psalm 23: Further Up and Further In)
The significance of this is not to be missed, this morning. Today being August 23, when I went to read my psalm for the day, I realized that it would be Psalm 23. I had already listened to the first hymn, the one above, “All of My Days,” by Ellie Holcomb. Again, that came up “randomly” as the first song in my playlist when I clicked “shuffle.” But there is no “random.” I, along with Anne Lamott, do not believe in “out of the blue.”
There is something going on that I don’t want to share, just yet, that makes all of this very significant. And this is Jesus, reassuring me, through His Word, and through the prayers of others, that everything in His Kingdom is going to be okay. There are trials; there are afflictions; we are never promised otherwise.
When Paul, in Philippians, tells us to “be anxious for nothing,” and to let our requests be made known to God, with thanksgiving, he does not say that those afflictions are going to go away. What he does promise, though, is peace; peace that passes all understanding. Just like the psalmist, who says that when he walks through the valley, he will fear no evil.
Notice that he does not pray to be kept away from the valley. He knows that he will walk through that valley. We have to walk through those valleys. But we don’t have to fear. And we can have peace.
Jesus knew exactly what I needed, this morning. After showing me, last night, that His Word is the delight of my heart, this morning, He gave me that Word, knowing that I would delight in it and take great comfort from it.
Christ is everything! Nothing else matters. Nothing and no one else satisifes.
“You give me life
In abundance joyful and complete
And Your steadfast love
Is so much better
Than anything I’ve seen
Oh, Lord, You satisfy me
Like nobody else can
Lord, You satisfy me
In Your presence there is fullness of joy
At Your right hand
Are pleasures forevermore”
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
(Psalms 16:11 ESV)
He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief.
And he went about among the villages teaching.
And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts— but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics. And he said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.
(Mark 6:1-13 ESV)
“Healing is a sacrament because its purpose or end is not health as such, the restoration of physical health, but the entrance of man into the life of the Kingdom, into the ‘joy and peace’ of the Holy Spirit. In Christ everything in this world, and this means health and disease, joy and suffering, has become an ascension to, and entrance into this new life, its expectation and anticipation.
“In this world suffering and disease are indeed ‘normal,’ but their very ‘normalcy’ is abnormal. They reveal the ultimate and permanent defeat of life, a defeat which no partial victories of medicine, however wonderful and truly miraculous, can ultimately overcome. But in Christ suffering is not ‘removed’; it is transformed into victory. The defeat itself becomes victory, a way, an entrance into the Kingdom, and this is the only true healing.”
(For All the Saints – Saturday of the Week of Pentecost 10, Reading IV: Alexander Schmemann, For the Life of the World)
“This week we may be given
challenges instead of ease,
courage instead of contentment,
opportunities instead of rest.
But we have a Savior who brings
strength out of service,
faith out of struggle,
and victory out of defeat.
Go then, fearful of nothing,
sure that in everything,
we are held secure
in the Master’s steadfast love. Amen.”
(For All the Saints – Saturday of the Week of Pentecost 10, Closing Prayer: E. Lee Phillips)
to show the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
the oath that he swore to our father Abraham,
to grant us that we,
being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
(Luke 1:72-75 ESV emphasis added)
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
(John 8:31-32 ESV)
My Jesus, You have truly set me free. I admit that I am still processing what You did with this verse on Wednesday night. I think I will be processing this for quite a while. But I know that, in You, I am abiding in Your Word, in Your Truth (You ARE Truth, You ARE the Word, and Your Word IS Truth), and because of this, You have set me free. From what? Maybe from everything. I’m still kind of standing in awe of all of this, Lord, unable to fully digest what is happening, and what has been happening for six months.
I wish that I could adequately express everything, Jesus. I just can’t. The words that I come up with, even when I’m trying to tell other people what You have done in me, aren’t adequate. They just don’t express what is going on in my soul, what I am feeling in my heart, sometimes even physically! It is so beautiful, my Jesus, but even “beautiful” isn’t enough!
But I thank You! I thank You that You are giving me life, life abundant and free; that You have set me free from all fears and doubts and that You are holding me close when I am tempted, so that I do not fall. And when the enemy tries to drag me into darkness, You have made me able to lean in to You, Your Word, Your Truth, and give me that peace and hold me up in the light.
I love You so much, Jesus! You are life, You are light, You are everything!
And I pray everything in Your holy name, Your beautiful name, Your powerful name, Your wonderful name, the name above all names, the name by which I am saved, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus! Thank You, thank You, thank You!
Amen.
“There is no song we could sing
To honor the weight of Your glory
There are no words we could speak
To capture the depth of Your beauty
Jesus, there’s no one like You
Jesus, we love You, ever adore You,
There’s no one like You
Jesus, we love You, ever adore You
We adore You”
Grace and peace, my brothers and sisters! ❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥
Listening To His Voice 