19 Mar 2026
The safest place is God’s presence. Whether I am certain or unsure, it is the best place to be. While rejoicing or mourning, it is a safe refuge. I may not have all the answers I need, but I’d rather be close to Him who knows all things. Psalm 73:23-28.
A Soul Called Leslie
Would you have gone looking for Leslie? Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it! (Hebrews 13:2 NLT) This week I was talking to my friend Evette. She doesn’t read my blog, but friends from church know her, and I am sure she won’t mind me retelling her story. She inspired me. First of all, let me tell you about a soul called Leslie. The first time I saw Leslie, 7-8 years ago, he was standing in the back of my church wearing a tight teal blue dress, 3″ red heels, make up, bright red lipstick, his hair was – and still is – long, and he was carrying a gold purse. He just stood there just as plain as day looking for a seat. My family sits on the back row and my twins were infants at the time, so I can’t say that my whole attention was on this visitor, but he certainly caught my attention. Several people went up to Leslie and visited with him. I am assuming someone asked him to sit with them. He came back to church while he was in Abilene several times, maybe off and on for several months, but one day he decided it was time to move on. There were several people who tried to reach out a helping hand to Leslie – food, money and even some men’s clothing, although he was not interested in the latter. Leslie found his way to Austin. That is where he lives now. And that is where my story for today really starts. My friend, Evette, told me she was in Austin for a teacher’s conference. She knew that Leslie hung out on 6th street, so she went looking for him. She had been one of the people who had befriended Leslie in Abilene. Evette asked several people if they knew where Leslie could be found. One woman said to her, “Why would you want to find him?” Evette said as plain as day, and very convicted, “He is my friend.” She eventually found Leslie and visited with him on the street. She asked him if he remembered her, and he said, “Yes, you are Evette, from Abilene.” Leslie works the streets. He is addicted and looks gaunt and thin. His hair is thinning. The clothes he was wearing were women’s under garments and he was on the street. People that walked by knew the person he was – his character, his life – but my friend, Evette, talked with him as though he was a long lost friend and she was proud to know him. I told Evette, “God bless you. I am not sure that I would have sought out Leslie.” Later on, upon further reflection, I realized I would never have sought out Leslie. If I would have seen Leslie in his street attire, I probably would have avoided him – put my eyes down and never looked up. This is a sad and sorry confession, but I would have let my fear of the unknown keep me from loving and engaging the soul called Leslie. God forgive me! Help me see your children with your eyes. Help me love with your compassion. Help my heart break for those whom you love that are lost, even when it gets messy. God bless Evette. May she continue to love with your love and inspire me – and others – to get out of our comfort zones and love those we don’t understand. God loves Leslie, and so must we. There will be Leslie’s in all of our lives – people that make us uncomfortable, people that don’t fit our mold, people that are obnoxious and arrogant, people that hurt our feelings – but those are our Leslie’s. God loves us in our worst moments, how can we withhold that love from others? For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. … But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. … For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. (Romans 5:6-10 NRS emphasis added) About the author: Tammy Marcelain is part of The Coffee Group. For many years Tammy walked away from the Lord and through His love and grace she has come home to His loving hands. Tammy’s son jack was diagnosed with a brain tumor in April of 2005. Her life shows how to hold onto the Lord and live through His grace in hard times.
Real Spring Cleaning
How do you really clean house this spring? What I caught began with an innocuous call, or so it seemed, mid-morning on Monday. An insurance agent needs a digital photograph of our geothermal heat pump by Friday, a formality for our file and his job. Which compels Dutch Farmer on Monday evening to remove every boxed up memory, Christmas wreath and invoice from the last 7 years out of the storage room to begin reorganizing afresh so that aforementioned agent will not injure himself getting his photo of said heat pump. I join the late night lustrating. Come Tuesday morning, I slip into the storage room to file a gift bag, and am met with open floor, empty shelves – space. Throughout the course of the morning, I find several excuses to crack open the door, just to steal a peek at the wonder of it all, and, now, in hindsight, I think that in fact the wonder of it all was contagious, for by noon on Tuesday I begin stripping down bookshelves, sorting Thorton Burgess, G.A. Henty, Wilder, Montgomery, Dr. Seuss, Flaubert, Teale, Porter, and Richard Scarry, discarding, purging, releasing, and reshelving. Which leads to the rearranging of three desks, two children’s tables, a puzzle box, a piano, and 5 bookshelves. And so the dominoes continue to fall, with the dividing up of toys, labeling of tins, arranging of baskets. I wake Wednesday morning, still feverish and deep in the throes of it, and before breakfast, empty out our bedroom closet of corduroy shirts, maternity swim suits, packages of ping pong balls. I fling overalls I once wore to the zoo, bag skirts I wore with cowboy boots, and toss cowboy boots I don’t wear. I gather for the thrift store an old suitcase I hauled around Quebec for three months when I was fourteen and can’t now zipper shut; but I write my name on the dust it wears and smile and think of the memories. Gone too are pants that never did fit in spite of all my wishing, a pair of shoes that pinched my little toes red, a sweater that itched and irritated whenever I foolishly wore it. And soon, through a tangle of clothes hangers and a knot of old ties, it emerges: open floor, empty shelves – space! Calling shoes out from the shade of dresses, I align them on a shelf, and they blink, adjusting to light of day. So I stand back. Stretch. Breathe. Revel. Dutch Farmer, in from the barn, searches me out and I seek his face, reading for multiplied delight. And trip on this, “You put your shoes on my shelf?” Your shelf? My mind scrambles: I sent the ping pong balls, rolls of scotch tape, race car trophies, and batteries that merely squatted there, and moved them all into rightful residences! I reclaimed neglected territory! I enlarged our boundaries with the removal of unnecessary tonnage! But my tongue lies, thankfully, barely, still. I mumble something unintelligible, collect an armful of clothes for the thrift store, and retreat. But changing over the laundry, indignant retorts roar through my frontal cortex, hardening heart arteries. I let them. Iron heart sharpens razor tongue. I set out breakfast dishes, and this heart tail snaps and whips subtly, quietly … stingingly. “Are you planning to go with us into town this afternoon?” he asks, buttering bagels. Feeling less than buttery, I crack out a sharp “No!” They eat, and I return to the closet. Another shuffle gives my shoes a bruised home elsewhere. Mainly because I haul, rather unceremoniously, my wedding dress, crinoline, veil, out of the closet and down to capacious storage room. I flick out the light, close the door. At the close of breakfast, and before we step out into the day, we pray the day’s Scripture. It’s my turn, and I read: “Therefore as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience“ (Colossians 3:12 NIV, emphasis added). Is it normal to feel so conspicuously, startlingly, the unclogging of one’s arteries? In my spring cleaning furor, how had I purged out the only attire necessary? Compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience. And how was that I would pray this verse, this day, with this ugly, naked heart? But He knew. So come Wednesday at noon, a wedding dress once again anchors the corner of the closet, he and I wear happy, sheepish, forgiveness, and our shoes mingle intimately in the shadows of a top shelf. And maybe this house, heart, is cleaned a bit deeper. For grace is contagious and love a spacious, wide open place. Lord, wash this heart clean. About the author: Ann helps us see “the holy” in laundry, listening, and liturgy. Her blog, “Holy Experience,” is a fresh breath of air for the soul.
Facing Adversity Over and Over
What do you do when you can’t face the same thing again? Did you hear about the teacher who was helping one of her kindergarten students put his boots on? He asked for help and she could see why. With her pulling and him pushing, the boots still didn’t want to go on. When the second boot was on, she had worked up a sweat. She almost whimpered when the little boy said, “Teacher, they’re on the wrong feet.” She looked and, sure enough, they were on the wrong feet. It wasn’t any easier pulling the boots off than it was putting them on. She managed to keep her cool as together they worked to get the boots back on-this time on the right feet. He then announced, “These aren’t my boots.” She bit her tongue rather than get right in his face and scream, “Why didn’t you say so?” like she wanted to. Once again, she struggled to help him pull the ill-fitting boots off. He then said, “They’re my brother’s boots. My Mom made me wear them.” She didn’t know if she should laugh or cry. She mustered up the grace to wrestle the boots on his feet again. She said, “Now, where are your mittens?” He said, “I stuffed them in the toes of my boots …” As I read that, I thought about how many of our frustrations come about as the result of having to do something over and over. Let me give you an example. A number of years ago, I was having some back trouble and the doctor told me I needed surgery. I counted down the days until I could find some relief. The surgery went well (in fact, I went home less than 12 hours after surgery), but the recuperation didn’t go as planned. Instead of getting relief, I found myself back under the doctor’s knife six weeks later. I remember that the greatest source of frustration wasn’t the surgery itself. It was the fact that I thought I was getting better, but then I had to go back and start all over again. Just when I thought I was making progress, I encountered a setback. I was able to easily muster the emotional strength to face the first surgery, but it was much tougher the second time. I’ve seen the same thing happen in a number of different areas. I suspect you have, too. Maybe you were hoping to get bills cleared up, only to be hit with an unexpected dentist bill or car repair. Maybe it’s harsh criticism you’re dealing with, a situation at work that’s making it difficult to maintain your Christian standards, or perhaps the struggles of dealing with a rebellious child. You think, “I can handle the difficulty I’m going through as long as I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.” Only just when you’re about at the end of the tunnel and you’ve taken about all you can take, you then realize that there’s more adversity ahead and the light is barely visible. I understand; I’ve been there. The Christian life is long and sometimes difficult. There are times when we feel we just can’t take it anymore and we want to give up, especially when we’ve had to face the same adversity over and over and over again. May this passage serve as a source of comfort and strength to you: He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:29-31) I pray that your strength will be renewed this day as you wait upon the Lord. Hang in there … it’s Friday, but Sunday’s coming! About the author: Alan Smith ministers with the Church of Christ in White House, Tennessee and publishes the email devotional “Thought for the Day.”
Today’s Verse – Romans 15:13
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. —Romans 15:13 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… Hope, joy, and peace sound terrific. The problem for us as mere mortals is that we live on a flawed planet with flawed people and with tendencies to go to war with each other. How are we going to find hope, joy, and peace? We for sure won’t find them in the sloganeering, the sappy marketing version of hope, joy, and peace we hear from people with simplistic solutions that don’t work in the real world. We need answers from someone who has lived with the grit of the real world, experienced the highs and lows that mortality brings, and yet still managed to live with hope, joy, and peace. That someone is Jesus, who loved deeply, gathered people to himself openly, blessed powerfully, and could calm raging seas or endure the worst kind of torture with grace and forgiveness! Two moves are vital for us to find this kind of hope, joy, and peace: First, we must trust our Father in heaven to meet us in our mortal struggles and get us where we need to be when we need to be there – like Jesus, who lived on his Father’s time (Galatians 4:4-6; James 4:13-17; John 2:4, 7:6-8, 12:20-26). Second, we must expect the power of the Holy Spirit to bless, guide, and empower us to be like Jesus, who lived with hope, joy, and peace (2 Corinthians 3:18; Galatians 5:22-23). As we draw near to Jesus, the Holy Spirit will lead, guide, and fill us to overflowing with the hope, joy, and peace of God! My Prayer… Great and Mighty God, please bless me with hope, joy, and peace from the Holy Spirit as I follow Jesus as my Savior and LORD. As I follow Jesus, please bless me with greater trust that you are nearby and with me, helping me overcome life’s trials and embrace life’s blessings. Dear Father, bless and empower me to be the person you want me to be. Fill me with your Spirit so I may live my life more like Jesus. In the name of the Savior, I pray. Amen. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
18 Mar 2026
What causes us to be afraid? What makes us have no peace and lose sleep? What makes us so scared that we fall sick? Bring it to the Lord in prayer. Believe that He can deal with it. Trust that He can enable you to have peace even when your existence is threatened. Isaiah 41:10-20.
igbok
So what are you going to hang on to during the Nope. You won’t find it in your dictionary. It’s less a word than an acronym. On the order of NATO or IRA or FAQ, the letters pronounced as a word are actually the initial letters of more familiar words. You pronounce this one to rhyme with pig-lock or big-block. Now you’ve got it: ig’-bok. And it means … Okay. We’ll get to the meaning directly. It’s not my word. David Arms and Lloyd Shadrach came up with it as shorthand for something in short supply these days. With so much bad news coming from so many quarters, they were thinking in terms of something that could counteract pessimism, something as an alternative to despair. What they came up with was igbok. And igbok means … But I’m getting ahead of myself. Do you know much about the biblical idea of hope? Unlike our modern-day use of the term, hope isn’t “wishing with little prospect of fulfillment” or “desire in the face of unlikelihood; wishful thinking.” In the Bible, hope is a secure and confident expectation. It is trusting God to keep his word. There are many things in life that God has not promised. Contrary to the false opinion of some, he has never promised smooth sailing for believers. He has never promised immunity to illness, freedom from stress, or exemption from financial reversals. Remember Job? Paul’s “thorn in the flesh”? All the martyrs? Faith doesn’t guarantee an easy life. Sometimes, in fact, it is one’s faith that brings persecution. Why just think of it: If being a Christian meant bad things could never happen to you, it would be the cheapest insurance you could get! So what does the Christian faith offer? It guarantees that no physical harm can diminish your spiritual value or security. It promises a secured future in the face of today’s harsh realities. It tells every pilgrim on her way to the Promised Land that none of the obstacles along the way can deny her an ultimate reward. In the meanwhile, how do we see ourselves and our situations? If we have plenty, we will be grateful and share it; if we have nothing, we will not envy what others have and know how good it will be to be home at last. If I recover from heart disease or cancer, I am grateful to God; if I succumb to illness, I am with God sooner. If my business thrives, I bless kingdom work with the profit; if it goes broke, I never tied either my identity or God’s love to a balance sheet. In effect, the promise of God to his people is that – come what may – he will be with them. He will not let the things they value most be lost to them. He will rescue them from evil – even if that rescue can come only, as it did with his Beloved Son, through his power to raise the dead! In the meanwhile, know that it’s gonna be o.k. Or, for shorthand, igbok. And to see how Lloyd and David have developed the igbok theme, go to igbok.com. Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see (Hebrews 11:1 NLT). For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5-6 NLT). About the author: Rubel Shelly preached for decades and served as a professor of medical ethics, Bible, and philosophy at multiple universities. He was a former president of Rochester College and Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Lipscomb University. He was the author of more than 30 books and hundreds of inspirational articles. His commitment to a non-sectarian presentation of the gospel touched countless lives.
Kooks
Who really wants these folks in church? Jesus, of course! While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the “sinners” and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:5-17 NIV) As Susan and I made our way toward seats in the vast auditorium of the mega-church hosting the conference we recently attended, I took in the scene around me. Contemporary Christian music boomed from a state of the art sound system as classy, creative videos flashed on huge screens. Most of the five thousand seats were already filled with leaders from churches across the country. Settling into our comfortable balcony seats (think stadium seating), I marveled at the technology, architecture and significant slice of evangelical leadership on display in this vast room. The lights dimmed to signal the beginning of the next keynote session, introduced by a seamless transition to a pounding set of praise songs led by a bevy of talented musicians. This was not my grandmother’s church. Stepping onto the stage as the praise set concluded, the keynote speaker … the senior pastor of a mammoth mega-church … moved into two circles of bright light created by follow spotlights, his image projected on screens flanking the stage. Flashing a smile backed by a set of brilliant white teeth (they almost appeared to be glowing on the huge screens), the speaker opened with a few humorous comments about his family. I joined the crowd in chuckling about the antics of the speaker’s wife and children, while noticing that the man seated in front of us was busily typing every word being uttered into his lap top. Segueing masterfully to his message, the keynoter indicated that he intended to share wisdom drawn from many years of successful ministry. I sensed the mass of assembled church-going humanity leaning forward in anticipation of the words about to be spoken. The fellow with the lap top typed frenetically. And this is what was spoken: “If we could just find a way to get rid of the kooks in the church, things would be a lot better.” This was the promised wisdom drawn from years of ministry experience. I couldn’t believe my ears! He had to be joking, but this was no joke … he was serious! Turning to Susan, I mouthed, “Did we just hear what I think we heard?” She nodded … lap top guy just kept typing. Improve your church by getting rid of the kooks! I could tell by the way Susan looked at me that she knew I’d be one of the first to go. Suddenly, I felt very out of place at this conference. The keynote speaker continued to share wisdom drawn from his years of experience … but reverberating in my ears was, “Get rid of the kooks!” Who decides who the kooks are? Have some of us who call ourselves Christ-followers become so desirous of sanitized, polished, efficient church that we want to boot out the people that Jesus loves the most?! My brain was pounding … we’re all kooks. The church family that I’m part of and love deeply is full of kooks. Jesus called as his first disciples a ragged assemblage of kooks. Jesus hung out with kooks. He sought out kooks. Jesus died for kooks. The keynoter was still going strong (and lap top guy was still typing) as Susan and I slipped out of the auditorium. We walked without speaking to our car. As I slid behind the wheel, I turned to Susan and said, “I should have stood up in there and said, ‘We’ll take all of your kooks at my church!’” Gripping the steering wheel, I felt anger and frustration wash over me … and then God gave me something to laugh about: that senior pastor who wanted to get rid of the kooks was a kook! He just didn’t see it. As Susan and I drove out of the parking lot of that mega-church, I thanked our good and gracious God for the mercy He shows to all of us kooks. And I prayed, “Lord, bring us more kooks.” About the author: Vann served for years as a youth minister with a special focus on mentoring new ministers. He is now the Connecting Minister for Southern Hills Church in Abilene. He loves to reach out to people that many folks neglect or forget and is a whiz at organizing and equipping others for ministry.
Everyone Loves a Lover
Why are some people just more loved than others? Dentists get such a bad rap! And the jokes about them are terrible. Patient: How much to have this tooth pulled, Doc?Dentist: $120.Patient: That much for just a few minutes’ work?Dentist: I can extract it very slowly, if you’d like. Dr. Mac has heard them all. He would let his patients make him the butt of them – especially if it helped them relax a bit. Patient: How much to extract wisdom teeth?Dentist: $500.Patient: That’s ridiculous! Isn’t there something cheaper?Dentist: I can cut the price in half, if we don’t use anesthetic.Patient: Nope. That’s still way too much.Dentist: OK. If I just rip them out with pliers, the price is $50.Patient: That’s more like it. Book my husband for next Monday. Dr. Mac had this big, infectious smile that didn’t depend on corny jokes. If his cosmetic work to put pretty smiles on others’ faces got rave reviews, the authentic warmth that can light up a room comes from a deeper place. Dr. Mac had such a place – deep in his heart, but always accessible. One of those dentist jokes is believable about him. Dr. Mac: Would you give me a few of your loudest, most blood-curdling screams?Patient: But this hasn’t been all that bad!Dr. Mac: I know. But there are still folks in the waiting room, and I want to go by this afternoon’s Titans (or Predators) practice. The avid sports fan in Dr. Mac found immense satisfaction in being team dentist for both of Nashville’s professional sports franchises. And this ecumenical graduate of the University of Tennessee School of Dentistry was so devoted to Vanderbilt athletics that he received the National Commodore Club Award several years back. But there are lots of athletes who will tell you that Dr. Mac wasn’t so much their dentist as their friend. Ah, that was his real specialty: friendship. He loved life. He cared about people. I think it was Joseph Addison who said something like: “Friendship enlarges happiness and reduces misery – by doubling every joy and dividing every grief.” The wife he loved, the children in whom he took so much pride, the many of us who called him our friend – we have been blessed by him. His peers chose Dr. James W. McPherson to be listed among the Best Dentists in America 2004-2005. Many more would put him in the book of Best Friends in My Life – Ever. It just goes to show that everyone loves a lover. And it reminds the rest of us to pay more attention to what matters most – people. The sweet smell of incense can make you feel good, but true friendship is better still. (Proverbs 27:10 CEV) About the author: Rubel Shelly preached for decades and served as a professor of medical ethics, Bible, and philosophy at multiple universities. He was a former president of Rochester College and Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Lipscomb University. He was the author of more than 30 books and hundreds of inspirational articles. His commitment to a non-sectarian presentation of the gospel touched countless lives.
Today’s Verse – Psalm 23:1-3
The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. —Psalm 23:1-3 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… “He restores my soul.” My, that sounds so good, doesn’t it? But David’s shepherd psalm (Psalm 23:1-6) and Jesus’ promises as our Good Shepherd (John 10:14-15) are far more than sweet religious talk. When we’ve reached that point where we don’t think we can continue, our Shepherd blesses us with the strength so that we can keep on walking. When we’re in a struggle and things are tough, his power upholds us, so we run and not grow weary. When we’re winning victories in his name, we can soar on wings like eagles because he supports and sustains (Isaiah 40:28-31). God the Son is our good Shepherd who loves us, sustains us, nourishes us, stills us, and restores us. The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. My Prayer… O Gentle yet mighty Shepherd, please bless me with rest tonight, strength today and for tomorrow, perseverance for my times of trial, and confidence that you are nearby with grace and power to sustain me. In the name of Jesus, my Good Shepherd, I pray. Amen. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.