About the Special Parish Meeting

Posted on Aug 17, 2017 in Blog, Onward and Upward |

 
Dear Servants,
 
We are only days away from our Special Parish Meeting on Sunday, August 20th. We will enjoy a fish fry dinner starting at 5:00pm followed by an information meeting regarding the opportunity before us for a facility purchase and also an update on our current financial position. There will be a presentation from several key leaders and then opportunity for the congregation to ask any questions or bring forward any concerns.
 
I trust every member, and anyone interested in hearing what Servants is planning, has RSVPd by now. The fish fry is being paid for by the vestry members because they feel the need for this meeting so strongly. The meal will be catered by a team from Forest Meadows Funeral Home – their cook team makes these fish fries available to non-profits at cost! Please thank these generous men on Sunday.
 
For those who could not be in church last Sunday, my sermon focused on Matthew 14. Jesus invited Peter to step out of the boat and walk to where He was on the Sea of Galilee. While I didn’t mention the building purchase process and finances specifically, this week God keeps bring this image to my mind. Meeting with the vestry and preparing for our time together Sunday, keep in mind that Jesus is calling us to come to where He is. This requires faith on our part. It also requires us to keep our eyes focused on Jesus rather than the storm. Storms are scary! Yet Jesus comes to us “walking through the storm,” wrote Rev. Dr. Michael Green. “Jesus walks on the storm.” My prayer is that God will continue to strengthen our congregation and unify us around His vision for our parish.
 
Like all of you, I rejoice in the news that the potentially-violent rally with an extremist speaker which was planned at UF on September 12 has been cancelled. Yet even when we still thought this “storm” was coming, our eyes stayed focused on our Lord! I rejoice in the unity among the churches of Gainesville, which crosses racial lines. Today the Alachua County Christian Pastors’ Association (of which I am a member) will meet for our monthly fellowship under the leadership of President Karl Anderson and Vice-President Phil Courson. I am confident that regardless of what plans the evil one brings against our city or county, the body of Christ in this city will stand in unity “to do justice, love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God.”  (Micah 6:8, ESV)
 
Onward and Upward,
 
 

Back and Refreshed

Posted on Aug 3, 2017 in Blog, Onward and Upward |

 
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:28-31
 
 
Dear Servants,
 
Not surprisingly, “how was your sabbatical?” is the most common question asked of me these days. I am humbled and grateful for all of those who prayed for me and graciously released me for that time away. Short answer, sabbatical was what I needed: the balance of alone time, time with my family, hiking, golf, kayaking, reading, prayer, and reflection time.
 
Most of all, I would say it was refreshing. I find myself with more energy not just for the exciting stuff like Camp Araminta and new facilities but even for the places of tension and problems that confront any congregation. Having spent lots of time listening to God over the sabbatical, I am ready to listen to individuals within the parish with new energy and compassion.
 
Big thanks to all the ministry leaders, lay and ordained, who picked up additional responsibilities in my absence. We are blessed to have such an incredible group of leaders at Servants and without them, my sabbatical could not have happened. I could leave for ten weeks, knowing that the parish was in competent hands.
 
Since my return on July 9th, my plan has been to catch up on all the goings on of the congregation and any pastoral issues that need attention. As most of you know, I took sabbatical early to return in time for our mission outreach at Camp Araminta for children and youth, 4th-12th
grades. While officially this is a diocesan summer camp, a disproportionate number of the adult staff comes from Servants of Christ. I am so grateful to John and Kim Harris, Jamey and Beth Kirby, David and Tracy LaCagnina, Leanne Manley, and Scott Stephenson who served sacrificially at camp this summer. In addition to our adults, some of our college and high school students gave sacrificially of their time: Clara Darr, Samantha and Charleigh Farmer, Kieran Kirby, Carter and Mallory Matthews, and Grace Schuppie.
 
The fruit of Araminta can only partially be measured at this time. As I said during the sermon Sunday, the Kingdom work of discipling our children and youth takes years to realize fully. I can tell you that we had 180 campers this year with 14 of them making first-time professions of faith in Jesus! Praise God. Overall, Camp Araminta grew by another 20% for which we give thanks to the Lord. We rejoice in what God has done through the ministry once again this summer.
 
So, what should you expect for the fall? In just over a week our children and teachers return to school, and shortly after, UF and Santa Fe students and faculty will return to class. The fall is fast upon us. The vestry has two objectives for this academic year. One is to promote and encourage members in their prayer life. You will recall last fall we focused on daily Bible reading. You can look forward to teaching and testimonies that seek to relate the “how to,” as well as the “why” of prayer in our daily life. Secondly, the vestry is moving forward with plans for the purchase of permanent facilities for our life together and worship. You will hear a lot more information about this at our Special Parish Meeting, Sunday, August 20th at 5pm. Dinner and childcare will be provided by some generous individual vestry members for this meeting, so RSVP to the Facebook event or call the church office at (352) 271-1188.
 
I thank the Lord for renewing my strength over the summer and know that God has prepared me to lead our congregation into this new season of growth. Please continue to pray for other leaders in the parish, as well as, myself as we move into the fall. I am praying for you.
 
Onward and Upward,

But Don’t Jaywalk

Posted on Jul 6, 2017 in Blog, Guest Blogger |

 
To my knowledge, I have no enemies. If I did, I would be obligated to carry out a number of inconvenient activities including loving, blessing, praying for, and doing good things for them (Luke 6:27-31). But, like I said, I have a shortage of people who are cursing me, mistreating me, striking me, or taking my stuff. So I feel pretty blessed.
 
I do have some friends who I greatly enjoy spending time with. I love them and they are pretty easy to love. But spiritually speaking, it seems this is neither particularly beneficial nor even creditworthy (Luke 6:32-34).
 
My life is infested with neighbors. I have people all around me as I work, travel, and run errands. I also have a large number of Merriam-Webster definition neighbors. But this seems an overwhelming number of people to love as myself. And who is my neighbor, anyway?
 
I grew up hearing the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37), but to be honest, it never quite made sense to me. Jesus tells the story to answer the “who is my neighbor?” question, but pretty much turns the question back on the questioner: “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” (Luke 10:36). As everyone knows, the answer to the question is “the Samaritan.” But what is the answer for me?
 
I think the answer lies in the relationship between the Jews (i.e., the questioner in the story) and the Samaritans, which (as my commentary informs me) was one of hostility. So it looks like my neighbor specifically includes those people I feel hostility towards, that I really don’t like, those people I see coming down the sidewalk and (if I am honest with myself) just wish I could cross to the other side of the street and avoid having to deal with.
 
Jesus is telling us when we see ______ (fill in blank with people you really don’t like) on the other side of ______ (pick a busy street) during rush hour traffic, we must cross over to them and dish out some serious love. It might involve providing a ride, money, or a place to stay (Luke 6:34-35), but you can expect it to be one thing: inconvenient.
 
Only then will we prove to be a neighbor.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Justin Smith has been a member of Servants since 2012. He’s a lector, a sound guy, and serves on the vestry. He’s a fantastic father and husband, too.

The Lonely Ember

Posted on Jun 23, 2017 in Blog, Guest Blogger |

 
Years ago I heard Dr. John MacArthur tell the story of The Lonely Ember.
 
A member of a certain church, who previously had been attending services regularly, stopped going. After a few weeks, the pastor decided to visit him. It was a chilly evening. The pastor found the man at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire.
 
Guessing the reason for his pastor’s visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a big chair near the fireplace and waited. The pastor made himself comfortable but said nothing. In the grave silence, he contemplated the play of the flames around the burning logs.
 
After some minutes, the pastor took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone. Then he sat back in his chair, still silent. The host watched all this in quiet fascination.
 
As the one lone ember’s flame diminished, there was a momentary glow and then its fire was no more. Soon it was cold and “dead as a doornail.”
 
Not a word had been spoken since the initial greeting.
 
Just before the pastor was ready to leave, he picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle of the fire. Immediately it began to glow once more with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it.
 
As the pastor reached the door to leave, his host said, “Thank you so much for your visit and especially for the fiery sermon. I shall be back in church next Sunday.”
This story reminds me that God longs for friendship with us. God wants to have a relationship with us. God created us for companionship but even God can’t have a friendship alone. When we don’t read the Bible daily we become one lone ember; we become cold and our relationship with God is diminished. If we want to grow the relationship, then reading the Bible every day is absolutely essential.
 
Being a Christian is about being friends with Jesus. It is a real relationship just like the one you have with your best friend. Now in all relationships we talk and we listen to each other. And this is what reading the Bible and praying is all about. When we read the Bible, we are listening to what God has to say to us. In the Bible, God has made sure He has told us everything we need to know in order to be the best of friends with Him. So when we pray and read, we are really having a conversation with God and that is definitely something worth doing every day.
 
2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us: All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
 
If we want to live more in line with who God wants us to be, we need to be regularly in His word and as we do that, God can use us to change other’s lives too.
 
 
 
 
 
Fred Cantrell

The Comfortable Words

Posted on Jun 16, 2017 in Blog, Guest Blogger |

 
I was delighted when the Comfortable Words were added to the liturgy of SOC. I am a “cradle” Episcopalian/Anglican so when the 1928 Prayer Book was used, these verses of Scripture were always part of the liturgy. As time went on, the inclusion of these Scriptures after the Confession was optional and seemed to happen less often. My dad was an Episcopal priest so he was my priest when I was still in the womb. I have to admit that there were a lot of Sunday services that I usually zoned out during, especially the sermons. The one part that I always heard and found comfort in was hearing the Comfortable Words. I can still see and hear my dad saying those Scriptures at the front of the church in front of the altar, as I prepared for the Eucharist.
 
What is it about these Scriptures that give such comfort? I think that, for me, it is that the words speak to real life. There is nothing sugarcoated. I want to share some of my thoughts about each verse. Some of this is how I felt when I was sitting in church listening to my dad; some thoughts are what I think and feel now.
 
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  -Matthew 11:28
These words acknowledge that some of us are going to be in church on Sunday morning with heavy hearts and hard burdens. God is not expecting us to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed all the time. We are reassured that there is rest to be found. When we are followers of Jesus our burdens are bearable because He is with us.
 
God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  -John 3:16
This verse, for as long as I can remember, has always assured me of God the Father’s love for me.
 
The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.  -1 Timothy 1:15
I am reminded that I am a sinner, but because of my faith in Jesus Christ, I am saved. As a child and teenager in the church I didn’t really understand this Scripture. I knew it, I could recite it, but I didn’t really see myself as a sinner in need of a Savior. Not a lot of talk about sin was going on in the ECUSA in the 1970s. The realization of my sin nature and need for a Savior occurred while in college and that’s when my adult walk with Jesus really started. PRAISE GOD!
 
If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.  -1 John 2:1-2
This verse gives instruction on what we are to do when we do sin. Jesus is our advocate (a person who presents a case on someone else’s behalf) and the substitute for the propitiation (atonement) of our sins. It also reminds me that I need to get the word out – share the Gospel so that people around the world can benefit from Jesus’s willingness to take the punishment for the sins of the whole world. This part of my spiritual growth and development is an area that has been slow-going for me. I pray for boldness and awareness of situations to share the Gospel. I struggle with worry about “offending people” or “turning people off” which I think really translates into fear of rejection. Slowly but surely God is pushing me forward and I keep praying for the courage and discernment to speak boldly.
 
These Scriptures, these Comfortable Words, have always been a part of my spiritual identity. My faith in Jesus Christ was cultivated in its infancy by these words and they continue to nurture and grow me today.
 
 
 
 
 
Libby King is a part of the Servants’ worship team and vestry. About a year ago, she became a grandmother and she couldn’t love her grandson more!

A Blog for Pentecost

Posted on Jun 9, 2017 in Blog, Guest Blogger |

 
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters […] and God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good.” Genesis 1:1, 31a
 
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” John 14:15-17
 
 
The Spirit hovering over the face of the deep; a picture that is both eerily mysterious and ethereal and yet precedes the most physical, tangible era of recorded history: the creation of the physical world. It is this same Spirit that lives in us in the context of our very material, physical, seemingly unsacred, daily lives.
 
I think as humans in the post-Christian, post-Modern West we walk a fine line of not knowing where the spiritual begins and ends and where the physical starts or stops. A lot of false doctrines and cultural ideas have drawn a solid line between things physical and things spiritual. I even think that in many cases we have subconsciously adopted the idea that physical things tend to be a necessary evil, and necessarily second tier to things spiritual. But this idea is not affirmed in Scripture. Our bodies are affirmed, our work is affirmed, food and drink are affirmed, and the created world as a whole is certainly affirmed. When we behold the faces of our children, when we speak a sharp word to a colleague or spouse, when we eat and drink, especially at the Lord’s Table; we encounter the overlay of things spiritual and things mortal or material. When we consider the
, they sound intangible (love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, self-control), but their bearing out in our day-to-day lives is almost always displayed in tangible and observable ways. It affects the lives of those around us, but yet is accompanied by an internal, intangible testimony from the Spirit of God.
 
This week as we consider the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, remember that God has truly put His Spirit in you, once and for all. Pray that God would stir Him up, secretly and deeply affirming His love for you, that you might move through your day with the heart of flesh He has given you. Ask Him to show you the tangible results of His Spirit in you.
 
The Spirit that is in you hovered over the deep darkness and inspired the creation of a very good, created world. On a good day, when we behold the faces of those around us, we do so with the eyes and heart of God’s Spirit. It is no small thing that we walk among our co-workers, families, and neighbors with the Spirit of God dwelling within us.
 
 
 
 
About our guest blogger: Ethan Stonerook is husband to Valerie and father to their 4 children, Carver, Roan, Haddie, and Nora. He works as a physician assistant in Bone Marrow Transplant at UF and is a member of our vestry and our current senior warden. His favorite things to do include being with people, eating and drinking good food and drink, running, and starting multiple projects at the same time and never fully completing them.

Hezekiah: A History

Posted on Jun 2, 2017 in Blog, Guest Blogger |

 
My choice for this week’s blog is to recount the story of a courageous man of the Bible and of his time, the King of Judah, Hezekiah ben Ahaz.
 
Hezekiah came to the throne of Judah in 715 B.C.E., a turbulent time when the Southern Kingdom was subservient to Assyria. To make matters worse, his father King Ahaz had taken gold from the temple and palaces to pay tribute to the Assyrians and had brought the worship of Cannanite gods to his nation.
 
Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him in all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the Lord and did not cease to follow Him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses; he was successful in whatever he undertook. (2 Kings 18:5-7). During this time, he began ridding the Temple of Cannanite gods which, politically, was no small feat. He improved fortifications and built a tunnel – some 1,750 feet long, cut through solid rock – to carry spring water to a pool inside Jerusalem’s walls so that the city could withstand a siege. (Note: this tunnel was considered an engineering marvel of its day and still exists.)
 
During the fourth year of Hezekiah’s reign, the Northern Kingdom was swallowed up by Assyria and “the King of Assyria deported Israel to Assyria and settled them in Halah […] in Gozan […] in towns of the Medes.” (2 Kings 18:11). They were lost to history.
 
Then in the seventeenth year of Hezekiah’s reign a new king of Assyria, Sennacherib, attacked all of the fortified cities of Judah including Jerusalem. Hezekiah, in a very human move, pays a tribute of 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold in hopes of placating Assyria, but it doesn’t work. Instead the Assyrian juggernaut is reinforced around Jerusalem to 185,000 soldiers and awaits Hezekiah’s surrender. All the kings and principalities except Judah have been defeated and destroyed by the ruthless Assyrians, and Hezekiah and Judah are left facing terrible odds.
 
The chief officer of the Assyrian army showed up and in a loud voice in the language of Judah (Hebrew) shouted to those on the city walls: “Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of my hand” (2 Kings 18:26-29). The chief officer cajoled the people to make a separate peace with him and be conveyed to a land of plenty where they would live and not die. But they (Judah) remained silent as Hezekiah ordered.
 
After receiving the Assyrian message, Hezekiah tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and retired to the Temple to pray. Isaiah assured Hezekiah that God had heard his prayers and that the Assyrians “shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege  mound against it. (2 Kings 19:14-34).
 
“And that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at Nineveh.” 2 Kings 19:35-26
 
King Sennacherib was to receive a deadly comeuppance: “while he was worshipping […] his god Nisroch, his sons […] cut him down with the sword and they escaped to the land of Ararat.” (2 Kings 19:37) This had the effect of bringing internal chaos to Assyria thereby cancelling out its threat.
 
Hezekiah fell ill after the Assyrian departure and was told by Isaiah that he would die. Hezekiah prayed to be spared: “How I have walked before thee in truthfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in thy sight.” (Isaiah 38) Speaking through Isaiah, God grants the faithful Hezekiah 15 more years of life and promises to defend Jerusalem against the Assyrians. Showing a sign of favor, the Lord causes the setting sun’s shadow to retreat up the steps on which it had fallen. The Kingdom of Judah remained intact under the reign of Hezekiah.
 
 
 
 
About our guest blogger: Ken Handley is happily retired and spends his time volunteering in hands-on capacities with a number of associations. He loves archeology and the Florida Gators, and he’s currently a member of Servants’ vestry. He’s thankful to the Lord for his many blessings.

Present Your Requests to God

Posted on May 25, 2017 in Blog, Guest Blogger |

 

 
In many times and places, for people and situations I have witnessed the power of prayer. The vestry wants to bring a spotlight to prayer in the upcoming year, so these are some of my experiences.
 
My first prayer time as a child was at bedtime where I would recite the Lord’s Prayer and go on to name everyone in the family for God to watch over. This certainly instilled in my head that God is first and then family. Even cousins whom I didn’t see often were on the nightly docket in birth order, so when I saw them, it was never a problem to remember their name and the names of their siblings, mother and father.
 
In my young adult years, prayer was primarily a cry for help in times of trouble. God answered and brought me through some horrible situations that were, for the most part, self-inflicted. Realizing my destructiveness, I brought that before God to work on my propensity for things that didn’t bring life. Asking God to take away my desire to do these things was the first step. It seemed to take forever to drop some of the obvious sins, and I continue to be vigilant. I can bear witness to many stories of God’s goodness despite my rebellion from this time of my life.
 
As a mother, oh boy, the prayers focused on my children and continue to this day. I was fortunate enough to have a praying neighbor where I brought my preschool-age boys and we fervently prayed between mothering demands. This was the most critical action above anything else I did as a mother. Funny, it seemed at the time to be non-productive. I believe this opened the door for my children to be able to approach God in prayer. They saw me pray; I prayed with them. One day I picked up my youngest from school as an early teen, and he told me about an answer to prayer. He saw the power and results of God’s answer to our petition. Isn’t it cool to see God “show up”? I love those stories. What some people might call a coincidence, we claim as a God-incidence.
 
My favorite way to pray is to incorporate Scripture and pray it over a situation or person. I also find myself singing when a particular verse is one that I know a tune to. This makes for a joyful praying experience. My favorite time to pray is in the morning, while I walk, or travel to my office in Tallahassee. I ask Jesus to walk or ride with me and have a conversation, bringing everything to Him in prayer. We have a lovely time, and I am refreshed and ready when I arrive at the beginning of the work day.
 
As a member of the prayer team at Servants, I know there is so much to carry to God in prayer. Sometimes it can seem overwhelming. But I pray we plant the above Scripture in our hearts and minds.
 
 
 

About our guest blogger: Emily Wilson has spent the last 33 years working full time in public health. She’s married to Bill McCrea and together they have three married sons. Emily has been with Servants since the beginning and currently serves on the vestry and, as she mentioned, the prayer team.


The Abundance of our God

Posted on May 18, 2017 in Blog, Guest Blogger |

 
I was struck recently with the truth that our God is a God of abundance. He desires to fill us with His good gifts. He stretches out His hand to bless us. He wants us to prosper (Deut. 28:11). And we are a prosperous people. Just look around you, go into a grocery store, a home improvement box store, drive through the farmland that surrounds us – look at the Starbucks menu! We are surrounded with abundant material blessings.
 
The Bible often describes God’s blessings as falling rain. “The clouds pour down their moisture and abundant showers fall on mankind.” (Job 36:28) I was told recently that we are presently in the worst drought since the 1960s. And yet we drive around town and see flowers and trees blooming. I can turn on the outside spigot and out comes water! Let’s pray for the “abundant showers” that we so desperately need, and also let’s thank God for the water we still have for drinking, and bathing, and even swimming.
 
How do we respond to the abundance of God? “Give and it will be given to you, pressed down, shaken together and running over will be poured into your lap.” (Luke 6:38) Our response is to give, give back, give more, give up. I am working on becoming a more generous person, not just with money or possessions, but with my thoughts about others, with my time, with prayers, with words of encouragement and support. I desire to see in myself a generosity of spirit welling up to be a blessing to others, a generosity that makes me a part of the out-flowing of God’s abundance to all those He sends my way. A small example of this was last Sunday at the youth car wash. Ten dollars seemed like a fair donation, even a good one. But I made the small decision to move from good to generous, so I gave more. I’m sure it didn’t make much difference for the bottom line, but it made a difference in my heart. I moved one small step closer to that generosity of spirit that I am seeking to live in and grow in to the praise of our Lord.
 
Let us rejoice in God’s abundant love for us and His desire to pour His blessings into our lives in abundance. Let us look around every day for signs of God’s abundance in our lives and respond with generosity and praise.
 
And…pray for rain!
 
 
 
 
About our guest blogger: Ann Shower has been a member at Servants of Christ twice. She lived here when Servants was a part of St. Michael’s and she was on the vestry when the discernment process began which led Servants to leave the Episcopal Church. Most recently she has been at Servants for the past two years. In between, an AMiA church and a very interesting time at Seacoast Church in Asheville, NC before coming back home. And she is glad to be back! Fun fact: Ann’s husband (and Beth Kirby’s dad) Ed was an Episcopal priest. Together they served parishes in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and the Diocese of Florida before retiring to North Carolina. Ed was very active in Happening and Vocare – their family’s involvement in Dynamos and Camp Araminta has historical roots!

My Daily Light

Posted on May 12, 2017 in Blog, Guest Blogger, Parish Bible Challenge 2017 |

 

 
I have struggled with reading the Bible daily most of my life. I prayed regularly, shared verses with my children as they grew up, but had never really dug in deep. When Jake was finishing middle school I went to Alex for guidance. He recommended a devotional titled Daily Light. It is small, I know it sounds crazy but I don’t like big bulky books. Each page was dated and had a morning and evening reading. And it had titles on every page. I love titles. I read the title and think about it even before I start my daily Scripture reading; it focuses my mind.
 
Before this devotional I would begin to read and then to be honest, get distracted and never get back. Daily Light has given me order. I read it over my coffee in the morning and it’s amazing! I pray on the way to work. Reading Scripture aids in my prayer life. I pray over my husband, my children and those they date or are married to. I then give the Holy Spirit permission to order my day. I beg the Lord to help me not to be too busy that I miss what He has for me that day!
 
I find throughout the day the verses I have read, the prayers I have prayed, become alive and equip me. There are times when I’m running late to work, I think, “I just don’t have time to read, I’m going to be late!” I stop and know I can’t afford not to read. And I’ve never been late. See that’s the great thing about Daily Light it’s not a long reading but so rich! The readings combine many different verses from different chapters. If you want to unpack more, they’re all listed in order at the bottom. There are times when I come home for lunch and it’s been a really bad day. I open it again and read the evening one early.
 
I have read through this yearly devotional for so many years and it never gets old because God’s Word never gets old. I’m always in a different place when I read it each day, each month, each year. A couple months ago my granddog ate my devotional. Yep, that happened. I went months without it. I ordered a nice Bible. Never opened it. The email that Ethan is sending out weekly has helped. I will Google and read them during my day but unfortunately have fallen behind.
 
I had lunch with Joyce Hearn a couple weeks ago and she gave me a present. She bought me a new copy! I had totally forgotten that I shared this devotional with her years ago. I have never been so happy! I am back in my groove but I have to be honest, it took me a while to get back there. See with time I forget what habits are good. When I didn’t read it every single day I didn’t crave it as much. I also was not at peace and did not even realize it. It made me stop and think. When we’re not in God’s Word or seeking His face, what a scary place that is, and we don’t even know it, we don’t even know we’re there.
 
I am enjoying my readings daily again and at the end of my readings I always say, “The word of the Lord… Thanks be to God.”
 
 
 
About our guest blogger: Jody Farmer is our Rector’s wife, a development manager, and the mother of three adult children.

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