One word commanded Mary’s attention. Four letters placed one after the other and voiced by Jesus brought instant recognition.

The heavens had portended what was to unfold with lightening more spectacular than the commemorative fireworks and thunder that drowned out the explosions. It was a gamble, but all of Tupelo and the surrounding area wagered that the weather would hold.

The judges of biblical times were not anything akin to the magistrates before whom we plead our traffic tickets. They were more like regional enforcers or old west gunslingers. 

As I stood and looked over the southwest side of Fort Worth, I asked Him what He considered to be the key to experiencing His promise that we might have life and have it more abundantly.

I figured He would be half tuned to me and half tuned to the great need around Him.  But He had all the time in the world. I didn’t understand, but neither did I think about it for long. 

That was silly of me. Concerned? Yes. But burdened? He wasn’t burdened at all by the weight He carried. Quite the contrary. It was as though the burdens cast upon Him were without significant weight. He conveyed the confidence that only God could have. 

Jesus’ one command was, “You shall love the Lord your God. This is the great and foremost commandment.”

Jesus issued several imperatives. But when the religious leaders asked him to pinpoint a command, he isolated the most important truth in the Bible: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart.

It’s hardly a news flash to say that you can’t figure out what God is going to do most of the time. After all, He’s God and you aren’t. But this isn’t to say there aren’t aspects of God that are predictable. 

There’s the promise: the relentless, determined, predictable character of God. “I am with you.” You are mine. I’m going to take care of you. I am with you. 

But the fact of the matter is, God will not, cannot, depart from or compromise in the slightest His longsuffering mercy and faithfulness. 

There are aspects of God that are predictable. There are some ways in which you know generally what He is going to do, and there are many ways in which God can’t be categorized. 

I get it now: The old don’t-eat-from-this-tree-or-you’ll-die myth. It is a prevarication, sister. An equivocation, a fabrication, a misrepresentation. My soul girl, don’t look so dumbfounded. It’s a fib, a whopper. A white lie, if you will.

Since He wanted to go out fishing, they would. And the rest is history. It took two boats to haul all the fish to shore, and they were lucky to get there without sinking. 

Of all the places for Him to go, and all the things for Him to do, He chooses to keep tabs on me—to pour His heart into mine as if that was all He had to do. 

Although he was wealthy and had the best of everything money could buy, he had no friends, no peace, and no satisfaction. He had gotten ahead by stepping on people, defrauding them, and taking advantage of them.

There is a “tired” from working all night and accomplishing your goal. And, there is a “tired” from simply working all night.

My left thumb is marked by a slight irregularity next to the nail where I nearly cut it off. 

Being too busy to stop and envision means your world shrinks and your reason for existing gets small, repetitive, and uninteresting—and this is how burnout occurs.