What brings you joy? For some, it’s a walk on the beach at sunset. For others, it’s a perfectly cooked chocolate chip cookie. And still others, it’s the hum of a finely tuned engine. Those are normal answers to the question: what brings you joy? The book of James offers us a starkly different answer: Consider it put joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds (James 1.2).

Near my residence resides an elegant courtyard that often hosts outdoor weddings. The tree canopy, manicured flower gardens, brick walkways, and adjoining stately buildings provide a regal venue for the sharing of marriage vows. This past Saturday evening, I noted the tell-tale sign of a wedding: a large, celebratory crowd of well-dressed people. And then I tacitly lamented with the wedding party, a chilly rain dripped from the sky. Temperatures hovered in the 40s. Dampness filled the air. A cutting wind rattled the trees. The evening’s conditions are described by me as “Good New England Weather.” (If you cannot enjoy dreary days with cold, blowing rain, then consider moving elsewhere.) I expect when the happy couple scheduled their outdoor wedding for early June, they envisioned a different outcome: clear skies, comfortable temperatures, dry conditions, and a gentle breeze. If the couple has checked with me, I would have reflected on my past observations: “Some weddings have glorious weather, and some weddings, regardless of season, have ‘Good New England Weather.’ You just never know.”

The Secret Service is a federal law enforcement agency. They are best known for protecting the President, but they also are tasked with securing the nation’s physical currency. If you want to meet some of these agents, become a counterfeiter (not suggested), and they will find you. When Secret Service agents learn the art of spotting counterfeit currency, the agents begin with legitimate money. They study the genuine bills and learn its distinctive look, touch, and nuances. The agents become so familiar with authentic currency, that when confronting a counterfeit, they instinctually know the money is fake. The counterfeit, in modern parlance, just gives off the wrong vibe. It feels amiss. Before identifying the tell-tale sign of counterfeit, the agent instinctually knows the truth: the currency is an imposter.

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15.33). These are among the words Jesus spoke from the cross. In a rare instance, the scripture records Jesus exact words, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” Typically, the biblical writers translated Jesus’ spoken words into their written language, but in this instance, the writer chose to record Jesus’ actual words followed by its translation. Thus, we are left with no doubt, as Jesus hung upon the cross, he was forsaken. God saw Jesus in utter agony, and then God looked away. Jesus looked to God for comfort, but he found none. At the worst moment in Jesus’ life, God was absent.

If failure were not a concern, what adventure would you begin? Would you start a business? Write a book? Walk the Appalachian Trail? Quit your job? Buy some property? Become a professional artist? Start a relationship? Run a marathon? Repair your own car? The big If in such ventures is failure. We do not attempt such endeavors because failure seems inevitable. What are my chances of successfully replacing the transmission on my minivan? And if, with the assistance of 156 hours of YouTube repair videos, I did install a new transmission, would I trust my work enough to begin a cross country trip? (No, I would not.) For better or worse, failure, or better the fear of it, keeps us safe in our homes.

On the last Saturday of January, four leaders from our church attended TABCOM’s (The American Baptist Church of Massachusetts) Leadership Day. The attendees were challenged with this question: If your church ceased to exist today, would anyone outside the church notice? That probing question reveals a church’s significance to its community. Sadly, many churches (not ours), could cease operations and its neighbors would never know. Such congregations have lost any relevance beyond their walls. Despite a sincere desire to better their neighborhoods, they exist only to serve themselves. The word to describe these churches is insular, which speaks to their isolation from others.

Imagine standing before your Creator. Your days in this life are exhausted, and before entering eternal glory, you come before God. Holding a huge ledger, the Almighty fiddles with a pen as he checks the good and circles the bad. Flip, flip go the pages. Some checks here. Some circles there. His head toggles back and forth in evaluation, and then after a notable pause, God clears his throat before offering an evaluation: “Hmm. Some positives here and some negatives there. But … what really disturbs me is your generosity. What behooved you to be so generous? …

Upon entering the season of advent, many people unpack their Christmas decorations and begin putting out the seasonal adornments. We locate the tree, some wreaths, and maybe garland. Then, we unstring the lights and wrap them around something: curtain rod, staircase dowel, or outdoor shrubs. Finally, perhaps with a tinge of reverence, we unpack the figurines included in our nativity set. (As an aside, do you know that what ‘nativity’ means? It means “the occasion of person’s birth.” Thus, we longer need to ask a person, “Where were you born?” Now, we can ask the person, “Where was your nativity?” …

We often hear of politicians’ approval rating, but did you know that American holiday also have an approval rating – at least according to a Statista poll in 2021. Can you guess the holiday with the highest affirmation? Did you guess Christmas? It comes in second with 77% popularity. First place goes to Thanksgiving with 81%. (As an aside, the most surprising feature of this statistic is that almost in 1 in 5 Americans does not view Thanksgiving favorably. Say what?) The appreciation for Thanksgiving connects to our human nature. God created human beings to give thanks. …

In the movie The Shawshank Redemption, the two main characters, Andy and Red are prisoners. The men face a lifetime behind bars. Andy queries Red about the latter’s “lost interest” in playing the harmonica.
“It does not make much sense in here,” Red explains.
Andy replies, “Here is where make the most sense.”
After further explication, Red asks, “What are talking about?”
“Hope,” Andy responds.
“Hope,” Red explains, “is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane. It’s got no use for a man on the inside. Better get used to that idea” …

Do you believe in a God of miracles?
The Bible, perhaps surprising to hear, tells of few miracles. Certainly, supernatural events are replete in the Gospel accounts of Jesus, but in other sections of scripture, the true miracles are few and far between. Often, unexplainable events are attributed to natural phenomena. An earth-cleansing flood engulfed Noah’s compatriots, but this event derived from excessive rainfall (Genesis 7.12). During the Exodus, a powerful wind blew through the Red Sea, splitting the waters and providing a dry path for the fleeing Israelites (Exodus 14.21). When Joshua led the people against the heavily fortified Jericho, they packed only their walking shoes and some trumpets. After their repetitive marching, a few horns blasts, and some gleeful shouting, the walls of the impenetrable city crumbled (Joshua 6.20). …

In the Bible, during the waning days of King’s David’s reign, David gives directions to his son Solomon. During this discourse, the waning king tells the future king about preparations for the temple. David, who wanted to build a temple but learns from God that this project will be completed by his son, makes the necessary preparations for the construction. He gathers the many needed supplies and preps a temple-making-kit for Solomon, and after encouraging Solomon to follow God’s law, David offers this directive: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged” (1 Chronicles 2.13b).

In the Bible, during the waning days of King’s David’s reign, David gives directions to his son Solomon. During this discourse, the waning king tells the future king about preparations for the temple. David, who wanted to build a temple but learns from God that this project will be completed by his son, makes the necessary preparations for the construction. He gathers the many needed supplies and preps a temple-making-kit for Solomon, and after encouraging Solomon to follow God’s law, David offers this directive: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged” (1 Chronicles 2.13b).

We see the evil in our world and ask, “What can I do?” In asking this question, we face this continual challenge: we believe others are the problem. We blame bad people, bad laws, and bad culture. We do not, however, blame ourselves. The problem always resides with someone else. But … if we are not the problem, then we cannot be answer. As for me, I want to be part of the solution, and as such, I must accept that I am a contributor of evil to this world. As for you, if you want to part of the solution, then you also must accept that you are contributor of evil to this world. So, what can we do?

What advice would your deathbed self give to your current self? This seems an odd question, but its answers are quite illuminating. Consider this: would your dying self proclaim, “I wish I worried more. Having lived a full life, I recognize the immense value in constantly fretting over things big and small. In fact, worrying was some of my life’s greatest moments.”? That seems unlikely.

Have you ever been sailing? I have used a small single-person Sunfish on a few occasions. There was satisfaction when the wind blew in the direction I wanted to go. The boat glided efficiently atop the water. And when the wind blew against my destination, I relied on my limited ability to inefficiently tack the little vessel. Utilizing a jagged trajectory, I eventually navigated the boat toward the shore.  At times, however, the wind stopped blowing. I just sat in the boat waiting for a breeze to push me somewhere, anywhere.

While in college, I worked at a Christian camp for three summers. The camp director was a man of prayer. During the first summer, I remember him saying, “We need another nice ski boat so more kids will come to camp and then we will tell them about Jesus. We just need to get that boat.” (If you have ever priced a nice ski boat, then you know, they ain’t cheap.) The director, undeterred by the expense, started praying, “God, give us the money so we but a nice new boat and tell more kids about Jesus.”

As a person with an outdoorsy bent, I gravitate toward news articles about hiking mishaps. A common theme emerges: Unprepared hikers become lost in the woods. When park rangers finally located the disoriented hikers, they discover the day trippers often lack the essentials: map, compass, outerwear, and water. The rangers then relate these misadventures to the media hoping that future adventurers might not repeat these foolish mistakes. I think to myself, I would never make the same mistake. Upon reading about such an incident in an arid climate, however, I found myself thinking I never knew that could happen