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?”

Did you know there is another Christmas story in the Gospels – apart from the familiar ones found in Matthew and Luke?  It begins with, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” But what does “the Word” mean, and how does this relate to the Christmas story? Tune in to find out!

So you think you know the Christmas stories? Was the inn full? No, there was no inn at all. Did the shepherds find baby Jesus in a barn? No, in a house. Who were the Magi and when did they arrive on the scene?  Tune in for these and even more “Context and Culture” details that will shed a new light on the overly-familiar Christmas stories. 

As we complete our look at the Lord’s Prayer, one could see this wonderful prayer as a tad meek … perhaps sweet, as in the prayer of a child. But are we allowed to complain to God – to voice our dissatisfaction with God Almighty? Can we fuss at El Shaddai? Tune in to find out!