Did you know that we know a lot about the seating arrangements around the table at the Last Supper – and the teaching lessons Jesus was employed by the arrangement of who sat where?  Tune in to find out!

Can you be still? Can you be still while moving through a busy schedule of responsibilities? Can you be still in a storm? This week we watch as Jesus “is still” as he moves from Jericho - with a full schedule - to Jerusalem for Palm Sunday and the impending storm of his crucifixion.

I wanted to live like the monks, so I locked my cell phone in my car and was not tempted to look at it once. I did not miss TV, Instagram, or my sports feed, but during those days at the Abbey in silence and solitude, the lack of any stimulus left me both bored and distracted. I was distracted because there were no distractions!!

I spent the past week at Mepkin Abbey. It is truly a paradise. I was overwhelmed by the natural beauty. Huge ancient, moss-covered oak trees everywhere. 

I did not sign up for this Monday afternoon to Friday morning retreat because I needed to retreat from the world – and certainly not to retreat from my life. No, I signed up for this more as a test: to experience an extended time of silence and solitude. And … to see if I could do it.  Here is what I learned.

Jesus tells us not to worry, and we ignore him. We just don’t believe he is in touch with our reality. We see all the problems in life as Goliaths, and so we quiver with fear. Jesus would tell us to see him, and his ever-presence, and therefore there is no reason to fear. Can we trust him? Tune in to find out!

Jesus told us not to worry, but instead to trust that our Heavenly Father would take care of us. Most of us will not take Jesus at his word in this, and instead we seek first our needs and wants. But what if we took Jesus at his word and refused to worry? Is that even possible? Tune in to find out!

In Matthew 6 Jesus gives us three binary choices:

1.    Treasures on earth or in Heaven
2.    Generous eyes or stingy/suspicious eyes
3.    God or mammon as our Master

But we argue, “No, it is not that simple. I can manage a balance between the two!”Can you? And how are all three of these related? Tune in to find out!

Jesus unequivocally states, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Is he right?  Of course he is. So how to identify our hidden treasures?  In the same statement, he also says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth … 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven ….” Are your treasures earthbound or heavenbound? Tune in to find out!

What do you want to see when you “see you” in five years? This is the question we are asking as we start 2024. Today we let Galatians 5:22’s “Fruit of the Spirit” guide us as to how and in what areas we want to grow … starting not five years from now, but today, tomorrow morning, this week.  Tune in to learn more

I was renovating houses when I turned forty-five. I asked myself, “Do I want to be doing this when I am sixty-five?” The answer was a definitive, “Not no, but absolutely no!” But let me drill down a little more on that question, with an eternal perspective in mind: “Do I want to see myself in five years as the same “spiritual Sam” I am now?”