Joel

Psalm 69:13 "But as for me, my prayer is to You, O LORD, at an acceptable time; O God, in the greatness of Your lovingkindness, Answer me with Your saving truth." My life points to the testimony of God's saving truth. Not because I'm perfect, and not because I have it all figured out, rather simply because I'm here (and not in a passive kind of way). I'm here fighting the fight as best as I can. I'm trying and fighting to make the right decisions. I have enemies at all sides. But I live. The LORD protects me, because for some reason He likes me. His lovingkindness is great.

Some people feel like their prayers don't get through the ceiling. The prayers just sort of float up there and gather on the horizontal drywall. Lately, I've been praying that angels would take sledge hammers to roofs. If your home starts leaking...Please don't blame me. I learned something valuable in my well-worn 27 years. My prayer life is a desperate one. Prayer is becoming a reflex for me. It's funny, you'd think that the older you get the more experienced at life you'd be. But no. The older you get, the bigger the responsibilities, requirements, trials, and enemies. Lately the weight of all these things have been closing in on me. So my posture has been [...]

Philo of Alexandria once said, "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle." It's true. As sure as we carry our worlds with us in our guts, we carry the battle that is unique and synonymous to each one of us. A lesser known person (who I don't know) once said, "Stuff happens," which is a more shallow, ignorant, and unphilosophical way of saying the same thing, but digging deeper, this "stuff" is more than just "stuff." It's the down and the dirty, the grime of life, the finishing lasts, and the falling shorts. It's the fears and the unknowns, knocking mercilessly at your door. It's a battle field where I've fallen numerous [...]

Lately, my Christmases have been odd. Not "Christmas Carol"-being-visited-by-ghosts-"odd," but oddly twisted in such a way that it's just not like when I was a kid. Last Christmas I was driving home after visiting my parents, when a little less than half way home my transmission went out. So last December 25th I spent Christmas night sleeping in the cab of my truck at a gas station in Globe, Arizona. Then, this year I flew out to my girlfriend's graduation (of her Masters Degree) and then flew back on the 23rd. Well, when I got my bag from baggage claim it had been opened. When I looked in it I found out that TSA went through [...]