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  Ephesians 2:1-10 Listen to today’s devotional It doesn't take long to see where people really walk. I've seen plenty of new or redone public paths that you can tell people put a lot of work into. Still, the concrete and foliage don't keep pedestrians from creating their own worn paths that go where they really want to be. Yes, developers should look at those paths first to establish more useful walkways. But doesn't that show us something about who we are? We want to go where we want to go. The thing about those worn paths, though, is that not everyone who walks them created them. Sometimes, you just step into what's already there. Someone else cut through the grass first. Enough people followed, and now it feels like the obvious way to go. The apostle Paul says something similar about our lives. We were "dead in our transgressions," following the ways of the world just like everyone else. Not always because we were choosing disobedience, but because we ...

  Acts 20:7-12 Listen to today’s devotional How many times have you fallen asleep in church? Younger me would've taken that personally or wondered why someone wasn't more committed to Jesus. Now, I've learned there are many reasons people nod off. Maybe it's been a long week. Maybe their medication is kicking in. Maybe the sermon and music aren't helping either. But what if it was just a late night? In the early days of the church, most people weren't wealthy. There was no middle class, just regular people working long hours to get by. It's not hard to imagine that by the time they gathered to hear Paul in Acts 20, they were already exhausted. Add a long message, a crowded room, and all those candles, and suddenly you wonder how it was that only one person dozed off. This short story is fun to tell. But it also highlights something deeper about the life of the church. There was time for long, meaningful conversations about faith. Not just surface-level stuff...

  Revelation 11:15-18 Listen to today’s devotional How many of us grew up not being allowed to leave the table until we finished our vegetables? We scrapped the rule altogether at our house because I appreciated that someone suggested it was an unnecessary power play. The whole interaction was less about better nutrition and more about control. And that tracks. Parents raise their voices and lose their cool. Kids dig in their heels. The table becomes more of a standoff than a sit-down. And everyone leaves frustrated because there's nothing like dinner-time rage. Now, that got me thinking about something deeper. Rage has a way of showing up when our control starts slipping away. Of course, not just at the dinner table. For a few weeks, I've been reflecting on the question in Psalm 2: Why do the nations rage? It's an ancient question that feels way too current. History is full of it, and history is rhyming again. When we see it, we can diagnose the surface problems as greed, ...

  Ezekiel 1:1-3 Listen to today’s devotional I once read a scholarly article that asked a strange question. Was the prophet Ezekiel on drugs? If you've read his letter, you understand. I'll let you chase that rabbit trail on your own. In the meantime, recall that Ezekiel's name means something like "strengthened by God." And when you step into his story, you can see that is his testimony. Right now, our church is walking through the book of Lamentations. These are five poems written by the prophet Jeremiah, a contemporary of Ezekiel. Our worship series is titled "Hope in the Ashes." Usually, when we talk about hope, we talk about what comes after the ashes. After the grief. After the loss. After the valley. Of course, there is something to celebrate about that. But if we're not careful, that kind of hope always lives just out of reach. It's like something that's only on the other side of what we're going through. Lamentations doesn't ...

  Psalm 146 Listen to today’s devotional "Kings and kingdoms will all pass away..." I love that line from that old familiar hymn. It's a beautiful way to sing that all the kingdoms of history have an expiration date. Even the ones we know and live in today. I heard once that if you believe the empire can't fail, then the empire has a firm grip on you. The psalmist of Psalm 146 also sees that all the plans of every kingdom perish when they're gone. Everything they worked for, fought for, and bragged about is gone. There were accomplishments and embarrassments, strengths and moral failings behind all those plans. Still, they are all gone. The writer compares the bound efforts of all the kingdoms of the world to God's reign, which is forever. So, as people of God, we get to choose. Which kingdom will we honor and trust? Now, let's be honest, it's easy to trust what feels powerful. For example, we live in the most dominant, militarily equipped country the ...

  Colossians 1:9-14 Listen to today’s devotional They were the smarter ones, but they wanted to know where Jesus was. As a new pastor in the beginning stages of discerning my call, I wrote a paper on my theology. I don't recall what all I wrote. But I do remember having to answer for it in front of a group of colleagues. Of course, that group was more experienced and theologically trained than I was. And they asked some tough questions that showed it. I could tell this was important. Then someone said, "John, where's Jesus?" I wasn't quite sure what that meant. Like, where is he now? It didn't sound like a deep question. The person said they appreciated what I had written, but in all my words, I only used the name Jesus once. I responded with something about Jesus being the foundation of everything I believe about faith in God, and that I thought that was something I could always assume. I got through that and many more interviews along the way. That comment, ...