AnotherJohn.Com

After an embarrassing amount of Coke Zero and Snickers, I've finished two full semesters! Saint Paul School of Theology doesn't have a mascot. I'm thinking either The Open-Table Otters, The Fighting Footnotes, or The Already/Not Yetis.  I had never participated in online classes before attending Saint Paul. I graduated before college before that was a thing, and my work at Perkins was on campus. Initially, I had more questions than I thought I would about how things would work. There were details that I worried I had wrong or misread. I did a lot of double and triple-checking to get started. Overall, it's been a good experience. Some professors take the online approach more loosely than others. But I've had a good mix so far.  After the last couple of weeks, I'm tired of looking at a computer screen. Stay blessed...john

  2 Kings 2:1-5 Listen to today’s devotional The prophets knew something we didn’t. As 2 Kings 2 opens, the idea that Elijah will be taken up by a whirlwind seems assumed. As a reader, that idea falls out of the sky. But a transition is about to happen, and everyone knows it. The Lord had already told Elijah to appoint Elisha as his successor. Now, the time for that transfer of prophetic power had come. For whatever reasons we might imagine, the younger Elisha does not seem ready. He follows Elijah as far as he can. He tells him three times, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” Along the way, other prophets keep reminding Elisha of what is coming. “Do you know that today the Lord will take your master away from you?” Each time, Elisha answers the same way: “Yes, I know; keep silent.” It's not like Elisha is in denial or unaware or unwilling to face reality. If anything, he feels the weight of it more deeply than anyone else. He doesn't need commen...

  Ephesians 1:15-23 Listen to today’s devotional I love the book of Ephesians. It is an entire invitation to a new way of life. In the first chapter, Paul prays that the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened so that we might know "the hope to which he has called" us. Paul doesn't want us just to understand this hope or admire it. He wants us to know it, live it, and become it! When I first learned about John Wesley's understanding of Christian perfection, I wondered why I had never heard much about it before. I think, too often, the phrase scares people before they ever hear what it means. Wesley was not describing a flawless or sinless life performance. He certainly would not expect anyone to carry a spiritual arrogance. He was talking about a heart so filled with the love of God that love becomes the ruling desire of our lives. A life being made whole in grace. Do we not hear more about Christian perfection because we don't believe God can truly transform a hu...

  Genesis 33:1-10 Listen to today’s devotional After deceiving his father and stealing Esau’s blessing, Jacob lived twenty years with the assumption that his brother’s anger would eventually catch up to him. So when he hears Esau is approaching with four hundred men, Jacob immediately prepares for disaster. He divides his family into groups for protection. He sends gifts ahead to soften Esau’s heart. Before the brothers ever see one another face-to-face, Jacob has already imagined Esau as an enemy. Of course, the brothers had a history. But fear still has a way of doing that to us. It shapes how we see people and narrows our imagination, convincing us that resentment, division, and hostility are inevitable. The longer distance grows between people, the easier it becomes to believe distorted stories about one another. But the night before Jacob meets Esau, he wrestles with God in the darkness. He leaves the encounter wounded, humbled, and maybe changed. Then the moment finally comes...

  1 Peter 3:8-12 Listen to today’s devotional Many of us recognize that much of life today is shaped by suspicion and hostility. Of course, division is not new, but social media and constant online connection have made it impossible to ignore. Political disagreements, once seen as a normal part of life together, now often turn into contempt. Families avoid hard conversations just to keep the peace. Churches divide over politics and culture. News and social media fill our days with outrage, fear, and conflict. We are constantly pushed to see other people not as neighbors but as enemies to be defeated, mocked, or feared. Over time, this changes the way we see one another, as division becomes a habit of the heart rather than just disagreement. We stop listening. We stop showing compassion. We forget the humanity of the people around us. And much of our world encourages this way of living. Outrage keeps people watching. Fear keeps people angry. Social media algorithms feed us more of w...

  Genesis 9:8-17 Listen to today’s devotional Recently, someone shared a video series with me about two sisters who defected from North Korea. The video I watched chronicles their visit to a small town in Texas, a town where I used to live. As they drove around, they noticed a lot that any of us would. At one point, though, one of the sisters said something I would not have thought much about. They could not help but notice how different all the houses looked. Back home, they were used to uniformity. Narrating their new experience, one of the sisters quietly explained the difference by saying, "Difference was just scenery." The rainbow in Genesis 9 is more than a beautiful image in the sky. The Genesis story says it serves as a reminder of God's covenant. I'll take that, and I'll also take it as a sign that God delights in a world full of color, variety, and life. After the flood, God did not build creation as a gray and identical place. God makes the covenant wit...