Each photo below corresponds to a chapter-a-day post for the book of Galatians published by Tom Vander Well in August 2024. Click on the photo linked to each chapter to read the post.
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Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV)
When I was a young man, my friends and I spent a lot of time wondering about God’s will for our lives. There are so many big decisions that happen in your late teens and twenties. Where do I go to college? What do I major in? What do I pursue as a career? Will I marry, and if so, who?
Looking back at those years, there were some lessons I learned about God’s will and my will.
Life is like a jet ski. God can’t direct me if I’m not moving. Anyone who has been on a jet ski knows that you can sit there with the motor idling and move the handlebars all you want but it won’t respond. It’s only when you are moving forward (or backward) that it can be directed where you want it to go. It took God about seven years to steer me to the career to which I know that I was led, but I got there. I remember hearing a speaker say, “There’s a bunch of doors in front of you. Don’t sit there forever trying to discern the one door God has for you. Pick one! If that’s not the right door, God will close it.” It was sage advice.
I will make poor choices with good intentions. God will use that, too. I thought I had a good handle on what God wanted me to do vocationally, but I was wrong. That’s cool, though. In those seven years of leading me where I was supposed to be, I learned a lifetime of valuable lessons. I honed skills that would be invaluable to me. I met individuals who would become life-long companions on the journey. It’s easy to think of God’s will in binary terms. You’re either in it, or you’re not. I see it differently now. Sometimes the journey from where I am to where God wants me to be is His will, too. When I live daily life asking, seeking, and knocking, I experience ongoing receiving, finding, and having opportunities open for me. It’s easy to think of God’s will as a destination, but it’s also the journey.
Focus on those things that are always God’s will. And that’s what Paul reminds his friends in Thessalonica in today’s chapter:
Rejoice always.
Pray continually.
Give thanks in all circumstances.
Last month, when our basement flooded for the second time in a matter of weeks, Wendy and I prayed. We praised God and thanked Him. How blessed we are despite the momentary problems. We learned that we had a carpet pad that protects against spills, but it also traps water that gets underneath it. It’s impossible to suck it up through the spill-proof liner. We thought our basement was dry after the first flood, but the pad was still wet and eventually, we would have had a huge mold issue. If the second flood hadn’t happened, we never would have known that.
Some lessons in life are hard. I don’t always know where God is leading us. Things happen that don’t make sense to me. I can get overwhelmed, anxious, and angry, or I can simply keep doing what I know to be God’s will: perpetually rejoice, pray, and be grateful. When I do that, I find myself trusting God more and worrying about my circumstances less.
If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.
…make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.
1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 (NIV)
This past winter and spring our kids and grandkids lived with us for over four months here in Pella, Iowa (see featured photo). They were transitioning back to the States after five years of living in Edinburgh, Scotland.
One day our grandson Milo asked his mother, “Is Papa famous?”
Taylor laughed and asked what prompted the question.
“Everybody knows him,” he replied.
Welcome to a small town, young man.
I have been doing a lot of online networking for business in recent weeks, having Zoom calls with people from all over North America. As we introduce one another, I find that the vast majority of them live in cities, with most of them located on either one of the coasts. When I tell them I live in a little town in Iowa, they often react with surprise. Some will even ask me about it, typically stating that they couldn’t do it and it would be too boring for them. This is often followed by a statement about needing a lot of things to do and places to go for activity and entertainment.
Fascinating.
In today’s chapter, Paul shifts the theme of his letter from personal matters (e.g. discussion of Timothy’s visit and his longing to make a personal visit of his own) to instructions in life for the spiritually young Jesus followers in Thessalonica.
Paul’s first instruction was to avoid sexual immorality. Keep in mind that generally loose sexual mores and attitudes were a hallmark of ancient Greece. As one historian described sex in the city of Athens (where Paul is writing this letter):
“Relationships between men of the same age were not at all common: rather, the standard same-sex relationship would involve an adolescent boy and an older man. Men also used female prostitutes regularly: sex could be bought cheaply in a city that was home to countless brothels, streetwalkers and female ‘entertainers’.”
Paul urges the Thessalonian believers to produce the fruit of self-control in sexual matters for their own spiritual, and physical, well-being.
He then goes on to repeat his encouragement that I wrote about in yesterday’s post, which is to increase in love “more and more.” But he then adds a general instruction for daily life, encouraging them to make it their “ambition” to lead a “quiet life.”
…make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.
It was about thirty years ago that these verses first leaped off the page and into my soul. This passage has become somewhat of a guide and a mission. I didn’t think about it when I moved to a small town from the city where I’d spent most of my life, but in retrospect, I find that it was definitely synergistic.
Yes, my life is quieter. I can get anywhere I need in ten minutes or less. I like seeing people I know everywhere. I love that people know my name when I walk into the store, a restaurant, or the pub. I love that the guys at George’s Pizza begin making our pizza as soon as they see our car pull up on Sunday. I love not dealing with the traffic, crime, and cost of a city. And, despite not having all the available activity and entertainment options of a city, Wendy and I never lack things to do nor do we ever feel that our entertainment tank is on empty.
Paul’s words to the Thessalonians have been instrumental in my life journey. I have made it my ambition to lead a quieter life, and it has greatly increased the quality of my life. Please don’t hear what I’m not saying. I don’t think one has to live in a small town to have a quieter life. I’m just saying that I have found it to personally be part of my own journey in being ambitious for more quiet.
And, in the quiet this morning, I find myself thinking of the ambitions I observe in our adventure-seeking, adrenaline-addicted, YOLO culture. I observe individuals who are so ambitious for non-stop activity and entertainment that they never have time to figure out why their relationships aren’t working, their soul feels so empty, or their minds are so constantly afraid and anxious. The answers to those things require contemplation, introspection, and conversation (and I would add prayer), and those things require quiet.
If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.
May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.
1 Thessalonians 3:12 (NIV)
I have a confession to make. For years now I’ve had a secret, largely unspoken obsession with Tiny Houses. I first learned of the Tiny House movement back around the turn of the century. I read an article about a man and his Tiny House and something connected and attached itself to my soul. I have a million Tiny Houses pinned on a Pinterest board. Some of my favorites are the ones that double as houseboats. Wendy will tell you that I avoid Home Improvement and DIY shows like the bubonic plague. Then the other week I stumbled across a show (on Disney+ of all places) about people building and transitioning their lives into Tiny Houses. Wendy came home and immediately asked, “What are you watching?”
In today’s chapter, we learn about Paul’s movements after hastily leaving Thesslonica as his presence sparked riots in the city. It’s interesting to read this chapter along with Acts 17, as this letter fits hand-and-glove into the events of that chapter. Paul sent Timothy back to Thessalonica to check on the fledgling disciples there. Timothy had just returned with a good report that the believers were standing firm in their faith despite the persecution. That report is what has prompted this letter, and Paul describes his longing to return and visit his Thessalonian friends.
As the chapter ends, Paul writes a prayer that the Thessalonian’s love would increase to overflowing for one another, and to others. As I meditated on this in the quiet this morning, I asked myself this question, “Based on my words and behavior, what do I want to increase in my life?”
Money in my 401K?
“Likes” and influence on social media?
Crypto?
Pens in my collection?
Vehicles?
Clothes in my closet?
Time to relax?
Sleep?
Travel?
Single malts on the bar downstairs?
Square feet in my house?
Acres of land?
Assets in my portfolio?
I think in our world and culture, our hearts and minds are wired to hear “increase” and immediately think of the stuff of this world. It’s hard not to do so given the way we have been shaped by our world and the experience of living in this world. However, Jesus calls His disciples to, as Bob Dylan aptly put it, “Change My Way of Thinkin’.”
Paul is exemplifying this for his Thessalonian brothers and sisters, simply by writing this letter. And, he is urging them to follow his example. Increase your love. Increase love to the point of overflowing to every person you interact with in life every day. That’s Level Four Kingdom of God thinking. It’s Kingdom of God priorities, and it differentiates a disciple of Jesus from a person who is living only for this Level Three world.
In the quiet this morning, I keep returning to the “Fruit of the {God’s} Spirit” that increases as I grow and mature in my spirit and in my relationship with Jesus:
Love
Joy
Peace
Patience
Kindness
Gentleness
Goodness
Faithfulness
Self-Control
These are what I want to increase to the point of overflowing in my life. As for all the rest of the stuff in my life, I find myself wanting it to diminish. I don’t think I’ll ever live in a Tiny House (at least, not as long as Wendy is alive), but whatever soul connection I feel to the idea of diminishing the things of this world that I have to store, maintain, keep up, clean, and fix is something I want to lean into. At the same time, what I want to increase in the rest of my earthly journey is love.
Now, God, I pray “Please help my behavior match my heart.”
If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.
Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.
1 Thessalonians 2:7b-8 (NIV)
I mentioned in yesterday’s post that Wendy had her friends over this past Saturday night. This group of ladies became friends when they were all single in their twenties. They have shared life together ever since. They have been part of one another’s weddings and have celebrated and supported one another through babies, toddlers, children, and teens. They regularly communicate, make a point of seeing one another, and have enjoyed girls’ weekends together. They are “the Golden Girls.”
As a husband, it has been a quiet joy for me to watch these ladies do life together so well. And, I really mean that they do life with one another. I’ve watched them share with one another in their pain, struggles, and tragedies. They go deep, dig in, and encourage one another in every part of life. Wendy is blessed to have them. I’m blessed that she has them.
In today’s chapter, I thought it fascinating that Paul describes his and his compatriots (Timothy and Silas) brief time among the new Thessalonian believers by metaphorically naming all the key members of a nuclear family within a few verses of one another:
…”we were like young children among you.” (vs. 7a)
“Like a nursing mother cares for her children.” (vs. 7b)
“Surely you remember, brothers and sisters…” (vs. 9)
“…we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children.” (vs.11)
As I meditated on this in the quiet this morning, I was reminded of the time when Jesus was speaking to a house that was absolutely packed with people listening. When His mother and siblings showed up to see him, they couldn’t get in and sent a message to Him.
Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”
“Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.
Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
Mark 3:31-34 (NIV)
Along my life journey, I have experienced and observed exactly what Jesus was getting at. Individuals who spiritually share life together for a period of time become a type of family. What Paul was telling his spiritual Thessalonian “children” was that he purposefully embraced all facets of family in his relationship with them. He was innocent and honest as a child. He nurtured and spiritually fed them the “milk” of God’s word. He was, at the same time, like a father as he spiritually instructed, encouraged, and equipped them. He considered them his brothers and sisters in God’s family.
I am blessed with a great nuclear family. The further I get on life’s road and hear the stories of others, the more grateful I’ve become for this. At the same time, both Wendy and I recognize that we are doubly blessed to have an extended family of individuals and couples we do life with. Along the way, I have found that Spirit goes deeper than blood in binding lives together. Jesus alluded to this multiple times.
In the quiet this morning, I find my heart whispering prayers of gratitude for my family members, both blood and Spirit. I’m thankful for a big, big family of individuals on this life journey who have nurtured me like mothers, encouraged and equipped me like fathers, and walked alongside me as siblings. I pray that I have and continue to do the same nurturing, loving, encouraging, and equipping in others’ lives.
I love that genetic science has proven that we all descended from the same woman. I have come to believe that God’s Kingdom is about embracing the reality that all of us are one big family and loving one another accordingly.
If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.
We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 1:3 (NIV)
I saw an interesting blurb from an article in The Atlantic that explored the reasons that so many people failed to return to church after COVID-19. It spoke of people who perhaps were slow to return and then found themselves more sporadic in attendance. This created a fear of facing questions like “Where have you been?” that they simply didn’t want to face, so they chose not to. It concluded that they discovered going to church was another task in our ever-busier lives that they learned to live without.
I thought to myself as I meditated on this: “Good. If in your heart and mind going to church is simply a task to be checked off of your list, perhaps your choice not to return is a win-win for you and your church.”
Today our chapter-a-day journey returns to Paul’s letters to the fledgling group of Jesus’ disciples in the Greek city of Thessaloniki. Paul made a brief stop there and his sharing of Jesus’ Message led a few Jews and a large number of non-Jewish Greeks to become believers. Paul’s M.O. was typically to stay in a new town for a while to help a new group of believers get established in their faith. That didn’t work in Thessaloniki (see Acts 17) because enemies rose up and started a riot, leading to Paul’s abrupt departure and a number of the believers being arrested and thrown in jail.
Paul writes the group of believers this letter to encourage and commend them. In today’s introductory statement, Paul commends their:
work produced by faith
labor prompted by love
endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
What struck me first about Paul’s commendation was the words “work” and “labor” which in English are typically synonymous. So, I dug into the original Greek words Paul used:
“Work” is translated from the Greek “ergon” which is more easily thought of as good deeds. I think of Jesus’ command to turn the other cheek, walk an extra mile, and bless your enemies. All of which, the Thessalonians were given opportunities to exemplify by their local enemies and persecutors.
“Labor” is translated from the Greek “kopos” which can be thought of as being “troubled” or “bothered.” A week or so ago, when Wendy and I were busy moving everything in our basement, ripping up carpet, and recovering from a flooded basement, it was “kopos.” Slogging through the consequences of trouble. This was also the reality in the wake of the Thessalonian believer’s local persecution.
The next thing that struck me about Paul’s three-fold commendation was that the “work, labor, and endurance” were linked to a specific motivation. The “work” of blessing their enemies was motivated by their sincere faith in Jesus and desire to follow His teaching. The “labor” of slogging through the consequences of local persecution was motivated by love for Jesus, and love for others. Their endurance was motivated by hope in Jesus’ presence, provision, protection, and eternal reward.
In the quiet this morning, I couldn’t help but think back to those in The Atlantic for whom going to church once a week was a task. It was work that they felt burdened in doing. It took more out of them than what it provided them. So what was the motivation for going in the first place? Family tradition? Social or cultural expectations? Personal obligation? Having experienced many churches of many kinds along my life journey, I would observe that a congregation largely made of people who attend out of those motives is not a spiritually healthy system.
The Message makes it clear that believers’ regular gathering together is about encouraging one another, building one another up spiritually, corporately worshipping together (a unique experience compared to individual worship), and experiencing a spiritual refreshment needed to help us be examples of Jesus and produce the Fruit of the Spirit each day as we interact in the world. I don’t meet with my local gathering of believers because it’s a task. I meet because I both want and need the regular infusion to remain spiritually healthy in an unhealthy world.
Yesterday, Wendy and I missed our regular local gathering because Wendy had a sleepover with her inner circle of lady friends and I wanted to be present to help host and serve. It was a different kind of fellowship and a healthy change of pace. That said, I texted back and forth with multiple people in the gathering. I missed being there. I was thinking of them, being encouraged by them, and encouraging them in return. I was motivated by Jesus’ love for me, and my love for them. It wasn’t a task. It was the natural fruit of loving relationships. And, that’s what “church” was and is supposed to be.
Note: Thanks to those of you who noticed my absence much of last week and checked to ask if I was okay. Between a couple days of business travel and a number of things on the plate, I found myself taking a few days off.
If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.
I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae. I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of his people and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been the benefactor of many people, including me.
Romans 16:1-1 (NIV)
One of the things that has changed most dramatically in my spiritual worldview in my 40-plus years as a disciple of Jesus is my thoughts on women and their role within the Body of Christ. My early spiritual journey as a believer was among conservative, even fundamentalist, groups. They believed that the role of women was to be limited, and I didn’t think much about it at the time. I simply absorbed it as all young people tend to do when they are young.
Not surprisingly, it was in college that I first encountered pushed back on some of the things I’d been taught to believe about the role of women. Even more personally, I realized that some of my own personal thoughts and feelings about women were offensive, even hurtful, to women who I cared about and deeply respected.
Over subsequent years, I was led to serve in different flavors of denominations. They had different views on the role of women than the ones with which I was raised. I actually experienced having women serving right alongside me as elders, teachers, and pastors. What I experienced was good. Women brought wisdom and understanding that expanded conversations in healthy ways. I learned from their perspectives, which were different than male perspectives.
Then, of course, God saw fit to make me a Girl Dad of two amazing daughters, and God led me to a loving, female, spiritual force of nature named Wendy. The women in my life have taught me so much about female strengths and capabilities that teach me things the men in my life never could. I have witnessed them being treated unequally and experiencing discrimination. I have heard their stories and have walked with them in their pain. I became their champion, and it changed the way I think of all women.
Finally, there’s God’s Message. Along the 18 years I’ve been doing this chapter-a-day blog and podcast, I’ve often shared my experience of continually returning to the same books, chapters, and passages I’ve read countless times over 40 years. The text doesn’t change, but I have changed. I’m on a different waypoint on the road of life. I have grown and experienced new things since the last time I read and meditated on today’s chapter. It meets me in a different place and it has new things to teach me.
Healthy things grow. Growing things change.
Today’s final chapter of Romans is a standard list of personal greetings that Paul added to his letters that were meant to be read to all of the believers and circulated around. He begins by introducing them to the person who personally carried the letter to Rome and delivered it. A woman named Phoebe. He introduces her as a “deacon” within the church at Cenchreae as a “benefactor” of many, including himself. The reality is that we don’t know for certain where the Jesus Movement was in the process of establishing official roles of organization at this point in time. Nevertheless, Paul is certainly introducing her as a respected person of means and status to whom he has appointed a personally important task.
This stood out to me as I read it in the quiet this morning. Phoebe is one of a long list of women who played a critical role in Jesus’ ministry and in the early Jesus Movement. As I meditated on this woman, Phoebe, I wondered how many times over 40 years I’ve read this chapter and completely ignored the reality that was staring me right in the face? Here is a woman of status and means, potentially an official within the Jesus’ movement, to whom Paul had given the important task of delivering his letter to the believers in Rome. Paul speaks highly of her and tells the Romans to take good care of her. She is a respected and trusted spiritual colleague. I want to be surrounded by women like that in all areas of my life. Thank God, I am.
In the quiet this morning, I once again find myself meditating on how grateful I am for the women in my life. I couldn’t do the things I do without them. They support, enhance, and empower me. They challenge me and force me to consider new perspectives. They make me a better man, and a better human being.
“Hey Paul? Who do you trust to get this letter to the believers in Rome?”
“Send Phoebe.”
If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.
But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing for many years to visit you, I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to see you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while.
Romans 15:23-24 (NIV)
Wendy and I have had one heck of a week. In another “Chain Reaction of Praise” moment, our basement flooded for the second time in a matter of a few weeks. It was even worse this time. We have had to juggle our schedule to move furniture, haul rugs out into the sun to dry, pull up carpeting, and cut out the carpet pad that is trapping water and will otherwise become a major mold problem. Oh, and we had guests staying with us from out of state. They happened to be staying in the downstairs guest room. Fortunately, we have another guest room upstairs.
Life happens. Oh, the joy.
In today’s chapter, Paul is wrapping up his letter to the believers in Rome. He tells them of his intention of going to Spain to share Jesus’ message there and tells them that he will stop in Rome for a while on his way. He plans to do this right after he takes a gracious and generous financial gift from the believers in Greece back to the poor Jewish believers in Jerusalem.
What I found fascinating in reading about Paul’s intentions is that I know he will never make it to Spain. He will return to Rome but as a prisoner of the Empire. The whole story is in Acts 20-28. Paul is warned multiple times not to return to Jerusalem where he remained a wanted man by the same Jewish religious leaders who had Jesus crucified. Paul bull-headedly proceeds with the trip. Once in Jerusalem, he is recognized, sparks a riot, and is arrested. When he is tried by the local Roman Governor, Paul leverages his Roman citizenship to appeal his case to Caesar in Rome (which was the right of any Roman citizen). So, he will not realize his intention to go to Spain. He will spend a lot of time in Rome and eventually be executed there.
Life happens.
Earlier this week I wrote about how we can respond, not react when encountering a heated topic in current events. Ironically, the post stirred some strong reactions. Along life’s road, I’ve also learned that I also have the same opportunity to respond, not react, when “life happens.” I can have all sorts of well-laid plans and intentions that, in a moment, are dashed by the unexpected. I can allow it to overwhelm me, or I can respond in faith and hope that we’ll get through it and probably learn some things along the way. I like what Paul wrote in today’s chapter:
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
In the quiet this morning, I spent a few moments thinking back to other times when “Life Happened” along the journey. This is certainly not the first time I’ve dealt with water problems in the basement. It happened in the house I grew up in, and it happened in our previous home here in Pella. We’ve had homes broken into and robbed. I’ve had my hotel room robbed. There have been tragic deaths of family members, trees falling, and my parents once had a car drive through the wall of their house!
You know what? I’ve learned that in the midst of all of it, I can experience both peace and joy. I can respond with trust in God who gives me hope that I’ve learned I can faithfully count on. We’ll do the work. We’ll fix the problem. Eventually, we’ll look back on this week in the same way I’m looking back at all the other times that Life happened.
If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.
Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters.
Romans 14:1 (NIV)
For three years I served as pastor in a Quaker (a.k.a. The Society of Friends) congregation. It was a unique situation in that the small, rural congregation itself was comprised of members from all sorts of diverse denominational backgrounds from Pentecostal and Roman Catholic to Reformed. Those who actually were raised as Quakers were a minority, but that was the heritage of the church and everyone respected it. The church was looking for a pastor who would respect the Quaker traditions but would also embrace and speak to members from all denominational backgrounds. I was happy to do so.
It was a fascinating three years in which I learned a tremendous amount from my “Friends.” They taught me the power of silence and spending time in quiet. My denominational background didn’t teach me about getting spiritually centered as preparation and part of worship. I also know no other Christian denomination that wholeheartedly believes and practices the reality that God can work through and speak through anyone regardless of gender, age, or education.
That doesn’t mean I agreed with everything in Quaker doctrine. The Friends don’t practice either of the traditional sacraments of Baptism or Communion. The original Quakers rebelled against the notion that a baby was “saved” simply by being baptized by his or her parents. Likewise, they rejected the idea that taking a weekly Eucharist somehow made you right with God. So, they did away with the sacraments and found different ways to define them. While I respected the ideas, I never fully bought into them. I think my Friends threw the baby out with the bathwater in this regard. Nevertheless, I respected their ideas and simply agreed to disagree. My guiding principle for those three years was from St. Augustine: “In the essentials unity. In the non-essentials liberty. In all things charity.”
In today’s chapter, Paul addresses the fact that believers have diverse beliefs about many “non-essentials.” He mentions beliefs around dietary restrictions and holding certain days as more sacred than others as examples. Paul urges the believers in Rome to be respectful and honor those who have strong beliefs that we don’t particularly share. It would be like me ending my sermon in the Quaker church by inviting anyone who wanted to be baptized to follow me down to the river after the service. That would be dishonoring and inappropriate. “If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you [are doing],” Paul writes, “you are no longer acting in love.”
In the quiet this morning, I find myself grateful for the experiences I’ve had with many different flavors of Christian traditions and belief systems. I have discovered that there is a lot for me to discover and learn from other traditions that make my own faith journey deeper and richer. I may disagree at certain points. In fact, I almost always do. The Law of Love, however, calls me to be respectful, not hostile. It demands that I honor, not insult.
If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.
