Category: Truth

“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.

Accepting the invitation extended in the gospel of Christ allows a person to receive a new identity: that of God’s beloved child (John 1:12). After accepting God’s invitation to salvation, however, we must respond to His continual invitation to intimacy, to return, and to rest. 

This invitation to experience more of Him is true for a new Christian or one who has walked with Him for decades. 

“And since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings…” Hebrews 10:21-22a (NIV)

I’m old enough to remember singing hymns in church every Sunday. One I have strong memories of is Fanny Crosby’s Blessed Assurance. We sang it at many Wednesday-night suppers at the Baptist church of my childhood. 

Regardless of how you feel about Halloween, for many people it marks a chance to put on a costume and engage the world in ways they might not ordinarily. People enjoy the opportunity to express their personality in costumes. Masks and disguises play a key role in this annual celebration.

I recently returned from the Sonoran Desert, the only place in the world where you can find the iconic saguaro cactus (pronounced suh-waa-row). If you are picturing the kind of tall cactus with arms you see in a Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote cartoon, you are on the right track.

The landscape of this desert is breathtaking, and these cacti are a large part of that beauty.