Category: Wisdom Along the Way -Sacred Writings
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The Lord Looks at the Heart
Daily Office Reflection – I Samuel 16:1–13 & I John 2:18–25 🌿 Samuel’s Fear Is Real In First Book of Samuel 16:1–13, the prophet Samuel is sent to anoint a new king while Saul still sits on the throne. And Samuel is afraid. He says plainly, “How can I go? If Saul hears of it,…
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The Shepherd Who Stands Beside Us
Daily Office Reflection — Psalm 118; Isaiah 66:7–14; I John 3:4–10; John 10:7–16 The Lord Is at My Side Psalm 118 feels like a traveler’s song — the kind you sing after you have come through something. “The Lord is at my side; I will not fear.”“The stone the builders rejected has become the chief…
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Daily Office Reflection
Psalms 107 | Isaiah 66:1–6 | 1 Timothy 6:6–21 | Mark 12:35–44 “Whoever Is Wise, Let Them Consider the Mercies of the Lord.” The Psalmist in Psalm 107 recounts story after story of deliverance—wanderers in the desert, prisoners in chains, sailors caught in storms. Each refrain echoes: “Then they cried to the Lord in their…
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Daily Office Reflection
Psalm 102 | Isaiah 65:17–25 | 1 Timothy 5:17–25 | Mark 12:28–34 The Psalmist groans.He feels thin, worn down, forgotten. “I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop.” It is such an honest image. Not a soaring eagle. Not a triumphant dove. A sparrow. Small. Exposed. Alone. And yet in the very next breath,…
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Seeking, Being Sought, and Training in Godliness
Psalm 105 Isaiah 65 1 Timothy Mark 12 There is a holy tension woven through today’s readings. Psalm 105 urges us: “Search for the Lord and his strength; continually seek his face.” Isaiah 65 answers with something astonishing: “I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready…
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Psalm 101, Isaiah 63:15-64:9, I Timothy 3:1-16, and Mark 11:27-12:12
Today’s Daily office readings: Psalm 101, Isaiah 63:15-64:9, 1 Timothy 3:1-16, and Mark 11:27-12:12 seem like a hodgepodge of different events or thoughts that don’t seem to fit together. The Psalmist seems to be telling God what the Psalmist will accept and reject. Isaiah declares we are the clay, you are the potter, and we…
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Walking as He Walked — Light Without Labels
4 Scripture Readings: This morning’s reading from I John is both simple and piercing: “Whoever says, ‘I abide in him,’ ought to walk just as he walked.”“Whoever says, ‘I am in the light,’ while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness.” John does not give us a complicated theology. He gives us…
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Rekindling the Flame When Truth Feels Dim
Daily Office Reflection Psalm 78 • Isaiah 59:1-15a • 2 Timothy 1:1-14 • Mark 9:42-50 There are seasons when faith feels strong in our words but fragile in our daily living. Today’s Daily Office readings speak into that tender place where belief, truth, responsibility, and renewal meet. Together, they remind us that God is not…
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From Fear to Faithfulness
Sin, Assurance, and Covenant Relationship (Hebrews 10 and 1 John) Growing up in the Free Will Baptist Church, I often heard Hebrews 10:26–29 preached with urgency and fear. The message was clear: if you sinned after being saved, you might lose your salvation. The weight of that teaching followed many of us into adulthood—not as…
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When Religion Wounds and Grace Heals
Part Eight: Holiness, Discipline, and the Thirsting Soul A Memory Beneath the Oak Tree Growing up on our Mississippi farm in the 1950s and 60s, mornings came early and quietly. The sun would slowly rise over cotton rows stretching farther than my young eyes could see. There was a massive oak tree near one of…
The Curious Pilgrim 