““Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.””

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭11‬:‭28‬-‭30‬ ‭NIV‬‬

As I make yet another trip around the sun for a 65th year, I reflect on the prior 64 enablers and all their yokes and burdens. 

Jesus twice refers to the much sought after rest for which we yearn as we become obedient warriors. 

I’m not sure I’m ready for it. 

There is still so much kingdom work remaining and a harvest yet to be gleaned, it’s unthinkable to stop now. 

In personal purview of maybe another 10-15 remaining lucid years, I may move a little slower and process things with a little more effort, but I finally have become friends with the shape of my heart. 

Whole devotion isn’t a prize won at a circus arcade. It’s a privilege earned through trials and errors and intentional personal growth and discipline. Easier yokes and lighter burdens are the rewards until that final rest comes into clear view. 

I often say I expect to be a short timer due to my mounting health issues but God has obviously given me another year as a gift for persevering in his harvest. 

For that, as for everything in my lifetime of experiences, I am humbly grateful. 

And for every small part you have played in it along the way, I’m equally thankful. 

Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.””
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭5‬:‭2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Stubborn would be an understatement.

Those of us who’ve watched Charlton Heston in ‘The 10 Commandments’ from the passenger seats of our living rooms witnessed 2nd hand what followed in awe.

As the miracle of plagues waged on, Pharaoh laughed in the face of God, soon to discover that God always wins.

Not unlike present day deniers among us in increasing numbers who have misplaced themselves as pharaohs and kings of this world, they all will eventually fall and kneel to the God of the universe.

“Who is the Lord that I should obey him?” asks Pharaoh.

FAFO.

Meanwhile at the burning bush…

Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” But Moses said,

Pardon your servant, Lord.
Please send someone else.
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭4‬:‭10‬-‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

God can answer prayer in every possible way from here to Hawaii and still you don’t want his solution.

Even after hearing his voice audibly and witnessing his miracles firsthand, Moses resisted.

This really hits home for me and probably for you.

My God, literally what will it take for you to proceed in faith when God offers a bona fide, real time, in person answer to your prayer?

Seriously, sometimes we need to pause praying long enough to hear God speaking.

Resistance is futile.

While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭9‬:‭10‬-‭11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Who’s around your 2025 Thanksgiving table?

Donkeys and elephants with opinions and some still with an axe to grind awaiting their cue. 

Few things spoil a nice dinner more than politics. 

Jesus came to Matthew’s for dinner at a table populated by what at the time was considered the scum of society. 

What’s not reported in this account are the conversations he encountered, but suffice to say, they were colorful.

But sharing a meal with someone or everyone in your family or friend group meant you accepted them, valued them, and considered them part of your circle. (Acts 2:46)

Welcoming someone to your table was one of the highest acts of love.

Rabbis often taught during meals so it’s likely the table became a classroom. 

Whatever the discourse, rest assured it was civil.

Be a good host. More importantly, be a good guest. 

Leaving politics outside makes room for more important and genuinely consequential things to happen. 

Revelation describes eternal life as a feast — the ultimate expression of restored relationship with God and one another.

Make yours a happy Thanksgiving. 

When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned.

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭39‬:‭3‬-‭4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Successful and handsome, too. 

Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭39‬:‭6‬-‭7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Some guys have it all. Fortune, fame, sex appeal…the perfect man. 

The envy of every guy, Joseph had mad skills and to top it off, incomparable virtue and morals. 

I’ve encountered a few of these incredible men in my life. And I mean incredible literally in that it’s hard to believe one man can have the whole package the rest of us only in piecemeal aspire to.

Tempering my own envy is a truth and conviction that despite what it may seem, no man has it all. No man is perfect except Jesus.

Being enamored with the traits of another isn’t a bad thing except when you misplace your personal standards in doing so. 

Someone out there right now mistakenly views you as the perfect person. It may be hard to believe but it’s true.

The standards we hold and ascribe to are relative and even more importantly, conversely, they are reflective of our own shortcomings. 

Our standard is to be more like Jesus in every way. One perfect man, one perfect life.

Don’t ever lose sight of this. Your value lies in who you are on your journey right now on your road through sanctification to perfection. 

When the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭37‬:‭28‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Jealousy drives people to do crazy stuff to vanquish what they view as competition. 

Ironically, jealousy says a lot more about you than about the object of your jealousy.

To admire, then wish obsessively for something merely underscores your own nature of greed and discontent.

When it’s not reigned in, jealousy starts bitter wars all based on your conviction that you deserve something more or something better. 

Humility is its opposite. 

In fact, as sinners we deserve nothing but to be thankful for the generosity of God and for his salvation. 

But we’re competitive by nature. The very nature we are to have abandoned as followers of Christ. 

This week of Thanksgiving, let us not frustrate ourselves over who we aren’t or what we don’t have. 

Be thankful of WHOSE we are and for what we DO possess as a result.

Jealousy has no place in our lives and undermines thankfulness. 

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 

Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭11‬-‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Nothing says faith in Jesus quite like being hated for it. 

It’s one thing to say you believe in Jesus. 

It’s another to follow him. 

And yet still another to willingly endure wrath on account of him. 

His apostles suffered unspeakable torture and death from which they could have easily escaped. 

But their experience with Jesus had been so real and transformative, to deny something which had become so innate placed that option completely off their radar. 

💯 percent sold out for Jesus is a tall order to fill, but so is being brutally and willingly crucified for humanity.

Th th th that’s all, folks!

Be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.

‭‭James‬ ‭5‬:‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The end times. The last days. The final countdown. History’s end game. No matter how you slice it, nobody has the knife nor the knowledge to predict it. 

When evils prevail faster and more frequent, the talk is always about the end of the world. 

Truth is, it’s ALWAYS been the end times and that’s how we should always be living. 

No predictions or prognostications have ever been correct, yet people still try. It’s a total waste of time and a total miss of the actual point. 

Get right or get left. 

There’s no time like the present. Be found on the right side of history while there’s still some history left. 

I believe in all seriousness that the Lord laughs at our preoccupations with the unknowable and conversely, our utter disregard for what’s been clearly revealed.

This phenomenon, once again, is man’s desire to be like God: Omniscient. We are a shamefully misdirected species, self-righteous, and woefully futile. 

Be patient and stand firm is the instruction we don’t heed. 

Patience is knowing He will return at His appointed time. Standing firm is to be unwavering in our call. 

The time of the Lord’s coming is no game to be won. It will happen with or without you.

Meanwhile, our marching orders are clear:

Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.”

‭‭James‬ ‭5‬:‭20‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” — Matthew 3:8 (NIV)

Repentance is far more than a guilty feeling or a whispered apology to God. 

It’s a turning point, an inner shift so real on the inside that it shows up on the outside. 

John the Baptist preached a repentance that would bear fruit that proved it.

Repentance always grows something. 

It reshapes choices, softens harsh words, and redirects our steps. 

It clears out the undergrowth of selfishness and plants new habits of obedience, humility, and love. 

You can see it the way you can see a healthy tree in the fruit it naturally produces.

God doesn’t demand perfection, but He does invite transformation. 

When our hearts turn toward Him, our lives begin to look like it. 

And that visible change is the visible evidence that grace has taken root.

Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭29‬:‭20‬ ‭NIV‬‬

To be so deeply loved is a yearning within all of us. 

Enduring and devoted, such love makes us thrive and grow. 

It’s as basic a need as is steady rainfall to an orchard. 

And yet it escapes notice of so many who fail to believe it exists for them. 

Thriving is difficult and painful that some spend life suspicious without ever receiving what is so freely given. 

Jesus is love central. 

His love is a hundred fold stronger and deeper than any experience with another here on earth. 

Imagine your life being so treasured, so wanted, so cherished, so coveted by the very source of love that you feel completed, secured, and treasured. 

In such a hateful world, such love is the contrast we desperately seek and need and can freely choose in a relationship with Jesus, love central.