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Send Me Ten Truths“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.
The theme of the second week of Advent, which begins Sunday, is peace.
Just like when we speak of hope, when we talk about peace it’s important to define our terms. People talk a lot about wanting peace when I think they really might mean is that they want ease, comfort, and smooth sailing. At least that is what I do sometimes — I confuse ease with peace.
That can be a problem.
Advent 2025 officially begins on Sunday. Over the following four weeks, Christians often spend time in reflection on the various themes of this church season.
For many denominations, the traditional four themes of the four weeks of Advent are hope, peace, joy and love, in that order. That would make the first week’s theme hope.
Hope is a word whose force and meaning has been a bit diluted over time.
I voice-text notes and reminders to myself, especially when I am writing. For some reason, I get a lot of ideas when I am driving, so voice-texting notes is how I capture those thoughts.
I discovered a funny thing about auto correct while writing my Bible study, Return and Rest. Every time I said the word intimacy, auto correct spelled it into-the-sea.