Ronnie McBrayer

Consider the sun: It protects us, orders out time and the seasons. It provides what is needed for plants to grow, thus giving us air to breathe. It warms the oceans and keep the water currents moving. It is the basis of all agriculture. It disinfects our water. It provides renewable, abundant energy for life. It creates the gravity that keeps us grounded.

When Jesus says, “I am the light of the world,” he is inviting us into an ecosystem in which we can thrive. Come in from the cold. Come out of the darkness. Enter into a way of living that has meaning, purpose, and a future. It is an invitation to grow, to become, to rise and shine.

In this second part of the Ronnie's series on the gospel of John and Jesus' "I Am" statements, he turns to John 6 where Jesus says, "I Am the bread of life." Jesus offered his listeners, and his readers today, a fulfillment beyond their shallow or misguided desires.

This is an introduction to the Gospel of John, Part 1 of 8: Of all the books in the New Testament, the Gospel of John sits unto itself. There is nothing else quite like it in the Christian Scriptures. Its most unique feature is its focus. From John 6:29: “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.” AndvJohn 20:31: This book was written “so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.” More than any other author in all the canon, John writes to induce belief in the reader; he invites the reader to put his or her faith in Jesus - in the One.

This is my motivational talk for 2026. “You cannot possibly make a difference,” will be whispered into your year, shouted at your face, and felt within the deepest part of your heart this coming year. But you can make a difference for "one little starfish." For one little classroom of school children; in one little corner of the community; with your one and only family.

Lasting differences are hardly ever made by some hero or heroine who shows up on a white stallion or wearing a mask and a cape. Lasting change comes through those who keep showing up, doing what they do. Nobody changes the world by setting out to change the world. Just do what you do - as good, as faithful, and as certain as you can do it. The world-changing results will take care of themselves.

In A World Where You Can Be Anything...Be Kind. This is Ronnie's take on the Bethlehem Innkeeper, with assistance from Frederick Buechner.

In this conclusion to Ronnie's 9-Part series on The Serenity Prayer, the last word is happiness. "So that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with him forever and ever in the next:" Is the last line of the prayer. And this prayer shows us this way, if we are willing to surrender our wills to that Power greater than ourselves.

"I really thought I had come up with something a few years ago. But it wasn’t me. It wasn’t John Lennon either, no matter what you read on the Internet. It was Brazilian writer and journalist Fernando Sabino: 'Everything will be okay in the end; and if it’s not okay, then it’s not the end.'

"This is my faith. This is my hope. This is what keeps me going, keeps me believing, keeps me looking toward the future. This is why I continue to follow Jesus - best I can and fail as I do. Because: 'God, who gives all grace, will make everything right.' In the words of the Serenity Prayer: 'He will make all things right if I surrender to his will…'"

Here is the world as it is: There are those tortured by evil and injustice; there are those desperate for help and answers; there are those without the will or ability to be a part of any solution; and there are those who callously point their fingers, write the suffering and desperate masses off, and go on their way. It may not be the world I would have created, but we have no other choice but to "take as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it.”

Part 6: "...Accepting hardship as the pathway to peace..." 

If I could take you back to the moment you first drew air into your lungs; if I could take you back to the swaddled little baby that you were and reveal to you all that was going to happen to you over the decades to come, you would have cried - cried that you had been born - and cried to return to the warmth and safety of the womb. 

But those who live well: Those are the people who learned long ago that hard times are bound to come, and nothing is gained by resisting those hard times, trying to reverse them, avoid them, fix them, or undo them. All that can be done is accept such hardships. All you can do is to become a good steward of your particular suffering. Take responsibility for your own attitude and actions in your given circumstances. Don’t resist the lessons that life will teach you.

The Serenity Prayer, Part 5: "'God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.' But the prayer continues. The next line: 'Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time.' There is acceptance - you can’t change some things. There is courage - you must change the things you can. There is wisdom - to walk the middle path between the impossible and possible. And the next ingredient added to the recipe for serenity: Live one day at a time. Live in the moment. This tiniest fraction of an inch: It’s all any of us really have."