There are a couple of holidays this time of year. I am sure you had Valentine’s Day on your radar, but perhaps you did not yet have Ash Wednesday in your sights. So, I wanted to give you a reminder that the Christian season of Lent begins Wednesday, February 18.

Here’s some calendar trivia for you: In 2024, Ash Wednesday fell on Valentine’s Day. Ash Wednesday is what is known as a “moveable feast,” which means it’s observance moves around the calendar from year to year, since the Christian Church calendar is tied to the lunar calendar.

We live in a world that drives us to think of our value in terms of our behavior, our productivity, our merits. The grace of the gospel overturns such ideas. Knowing how God sees His children is critical to our mental, emotional, and spiritual health.

Today I'm sharing a excerpt from my latest book, which focuses on the astounding identity available to us in Christ. One of those identities is that we are blameless before Him.

“This I declare about the LORD: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; He is my God, and I trust Him.” Psalm 91:2 (NLT)

This morning, I decided this needs to become my daily declaration. I have recently been in a season of such challenge and demand that I have forgotten the truth declared here. Specifically, I have forgotten the phrase immediately following the colon.

He alone is my refuge…

Oh how 2026 didn’t open the way I thought it would.

The call came through about 8:30 p.m. on New Year’s Eve. I excused myself from the group of friends I was with to take the call from my Dad. An unfamiliar voice greeted me. An EMT was calling on his phone to let me know they were taking my 85-year-old dad to the ER with concerning O2 sats and extremely elevated heart rate.

On Sunday, we enter the final week of the Advent season. It is technically a short week, as Advent ends on Christmas Eve, which is Wednesday. So we have only a brief few days to consider the theme for the final week, which is LOVE.

Of course, the entire Bible is a love story, filled with much to say about the nature and reality of God’s love for us. If you can, try to move past your familiarity with the the story of Christ’s birth for a moment. 

“And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.’” Luke 2:10 ESV

Entering the third week of Advent, which begins Sunday the 14th, we find the theme to be that of JOY.