And yet if I should waste away in that wet place I might never again be graced by you.
The thought of you is enough.
It pulls me up.
It shuts the water off.
It fumbles blindly through tears and finds my towel.
It dries me gently and grants me presence of mind enough to recall that I don’t want to die.
Not here.
Not alone.
Your presence rejuvenates and sustains me. It balms my pain and elevates me. So I might see the world from heights enough to know wonder and love. So I might face the day above those dark depressing waves.
I wondered today how long it might take for by body to break down in the shower. The water beating continuously on the skin of my chest as I lay there, staring at nothing. Were I to sit long enough, perhaps I would starve to death. Though in that environment, I can only imagine succumbing to rot would be more likely.
As the water beats down and takes me apart piece by piece. The perfect slow end for a beast too obsessed with its own experience to go easily.
Continual wet seeping into skin until it caves to make way for even more wet. Flesh turning to slime and sloughing off bone, only to clog the drain and fill the tub to flooded.
Eventually the meat has soaked long enough and lets go, turning all to oozing down the drain and out to sea until all that’s left is sickly stained bones. Their color mottled and varied by drugs taken durning my life and mold grown in after its end.
And still the water drums on.
These bones are naught but living rocks and so they too erode. Little by little until cracks and rivulets start to form. Once they are small enough the water might move them, expediting their dissolution. Making them break down one another.
The house is grown over now. The water should have stopped running years ago. But now where once I sat contemplating eternity there is only a shallow pool of water in a tub filled with algae and muck.
JANUARY 7, 2025 TUESDAY ENTRY: 8:15AM MAXICARE PCC FAIRVIEW QC
VERSE OF THE DAY:
Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.
Acts 8:35
FOLLOWER OF ONE
Be ready to be used by Jesus. Think about opportunities to share Christ to others, open your mouth and share the good news about Jesus. You have a story and it matters. Practice to share the Bible to others, connect your story to the situations of life so you are ready to speak up when someone asks about your faith.
THE ROAD TO SCRIPTURE
Every time we open God's Word, we hold a treasure in out hands. Many generations of God's people are in the Scripture, lives, times, cultures, all influenced and transformed by God's Word throughout history. God's Word is a treasure we have at our fingertips. It's rich and sometimes challenging to comprehend. We relate to the Ethiopian eunuch. Philip helped him and pointed out that the Scripture is about Jesus and he was saved because God opened his eyes and heart to the Gospel. Ask yourself whether you understand what you are reading and what the passages mean to you and your life now. Jesus is alive and faithful to reveal Himself t an open heart. You aren't alone in the journey, God places people around us to teach us and help us and most importantly He Himself, the Holy Spirit teaches us. Intentionally dive in the Scripture and ask God how we can apply it in our life. The Ethiopian sent on his way rejoicing. How can we not? when we realize how great God's love is upon us?
God, I am thankful that You are always by my side. I ask that You open my understanding of Your Word. Bring me brothers and sisters in Christ that I can learn from. Lead me to love the Bible and embrace the Truth it offers. Build my trust in You as I fill my life with Your Word. In Jesus' name, Amen.
DAILY BIBLE READING:
GENESIS 18-19
MATTHEW 6:1-8
ISAAC'S BIRTH PROMISED (cont.)
ABRAHAM INTERCEDES FOR SODOM
GOD RESCUES LOT
The 2 angels came to Sodom in the evening and Lot was sitting in the gate. He rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth. Lot offered his house to spend the night and wash their feet but they refused. "No; we will spend the night in the town square" he pressed them slowly and they entered the house, he served them a feast and baked unleavened bread and they ate. The men of the city, young and old, surrounded the house, called to Lot and demanded to have sex with the visitors. Lot offered and begged them to take his daughters instead but they insisted. They were struck with blindness by the visitors and wore themselves out. The men gathered and instructed Lot to bring all his household out of the place as a warning before they destroy it. Lot obeyed but the sons-in-law were jesting.
The morning dawned, and the visitors urged lot again, but they lingered. So they seized Lot, his wife and 2 daughters because of the LORD's mercy. "Escape for your life, Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away" Lot begged to escape to the little city instead. The Lord granted it and promised not to overthrow thw city. "I can do nothing until you arrive there" The city was named Zoar.
GOD DESTROYS SODOM
The next day, Lot arrived in Zoar. The LORD rained sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. He overthrew those cities, valley, inhabitants, and all that grew on the ground. Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. Abraham looked and behold smoke from the land. God destroyed it and remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow.
LOT AND HIS DAUGHTERS
Lot lived in the hills with his 2 daughters for he was afraid to live in Zoar, so they lived in a cave. They made their father drink wine and they lay with him unknowingly. the younger did the same. The son of the firstborn was Moab (father of Moabites). The younger bore a son, Ben-Ammi (father of Ammonites).
GIVING TO THE NEEDY
Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Give to the needy and sound no trumpet, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your giving may be in secret and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
THE LORD'S PRAYER
Do not pray like the hypocrites to be seen, go into your room and shut the door, pray in secret. Do not heap up empty phrases, your Father knows what you need.
JOB 42:1-6
Job's friends insisted that his suffering was caused by sin. He relentlessly defended his innocence and sought his vindication from God. God asked Job a series of questions pertaining to His creation. God revealed his character. Job didn't need to fully understand God's ways, no man can. He only needed to humble himself, seek to know God deeply and trust Him wholeheartedly. His suffering taught him to run to God as the only sure place of refuge, safest place for comfort, sustenance, strength. He discovered that when life comes out short, God is enough.
Psalms 23:1,4
The Lord is my shepherd, i lack nothing. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
SEEING GOD IN CREATION
JOB 42:5
My ears has heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.
Kenny, after years of backsliding, stood before the congregation saying he had been restored. God touched his heart through the witness of God's general revelation seen in natural world, and he now embraced the wisdom found in the special revelation of Scripture.
He was baptized with his father in tears of joy. Job also was shaken after losing so much.
"I cry to you, O God, but you don't answer. I stand before you, but you don't even look." (Job 30:20) God spoke to Job out of the storm (38:1) Job's vision needed to be expanded as he considered God's amazing intricate creation. God's amazing love and power is trustworthy. When doubts threaten your faith in Christ, consider the magnificence of God's creation. He reveals Himself in it if we only have eyes to see.
by Tom Felten
REFLECT AND PRAY
How has God revealed Himself in creation?
How are awe of God and faith in Him linked?
Creator God, thank You for helping me see You in creation. In Jesus' name, Amen.
LIGHT OF THE WORLD:
A sign of God's power (burning bush, bright clouds, pillar of fire etc)
Psalm 27:1- God is our light and salvation. Light stood for the glory of God which is found in the person of Jesus Christ. He shed the light of life and truth through His work and His words. Those who trust in Him have their eyes opened by Him and walk in the light. Light is beautiful, mysterious and practical. it shows us where to go and helps us see the truth of all around us. See the fullness of God in human form, for all to see His glory.
JOHN 8:12
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
ISAIAH 49:6-7
he says: "it is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers; "Kings shall see and arise; princes and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the Lord, who is faithful. the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."
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First Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:17-25
17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will thwart.”
20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.
22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,
23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,
24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
CNA – Daily Readings
