Deep-End Discipleship

Jesus and his followers came into Jericho. As Jesus was leaving Jericho, together with his disciples and a sizable crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, Timaeus’ son, was sitting beside the road. When he heard that Jesus of Nazareth was there, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, show me mercy!” Many scolded him, telling him to be quiet, but he shouted even louder, “Son of David, show me mercy!”  Jesus stopped and said, “Call him forward.”  They called the blind man, “Be encouraged! Get up! He’s calling you.”  Throwing his coat to the side, he jumped up and came to Jesus.  Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?”  The blind man said, “Teacher, I want to see.”  Jesus said, “Go, your faith has healed you.” At once he was able to see, and he began to follow Jesus on the way. Mark 10:46-52 CEB The Gospel of Mark is full of healing stories, to the point where the gospel glosses over some of them because there are so m...

Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Psalm 42:5 I find that this time of year causes a significant amount of stress. The semester is wrapping up, assignments are due, tests abound and the holidays are fast approaching. It’s easy to feel bogged down in the struggle and anxiety, to despair that none if it will get done and that this hard time will never end. But this psalm tells us that we have hope in God. Even in the midst of stressful times, we hope that there will be an end to the struggle. May we be reminded to praise God, because God is the one who brings hope into our lives. It may seem like the “downcast” time is forever, that we will never have peace again. God says otherwise. Have hope in the Lord, and know that joy comes in the morning. Isaiah 43

  “Help, God —the bottom has fallen out of my life! Master, hear my cry for help! Listen hard! Open your ears!   Listen to my cries for mercy.   If you, God , kept records on wrongdoings, who would stand a chance? As it turns out, forgiveness is your habit,   and that’s why you’re worshiped. I pray to God —my life a prayer— and wait for what he’ll say and do. My life’s on the line before God, my Lord waiting and watching till morning, waiting and watching till morning.   O Israel, wait and watch for God —   with God ’s arrival comes love,   with God ’s arrival comes generous redemption. No doubt about it—he’ll redeem Israel,   buy back Israel from captivity to sin." - Psalm 130 MSG - Is it ever hard to have hope when you are in a hard situation? How does that feel? What about when you are waiting for a big decision in your life? How are the two different? This passage is very insightful into how God is listening when we are call...

All who are oppressed may come to you as a shelter in the time of trouble, a perfect hiding place. May everyone who knows your mercy keep putting their trust in you, for they can count on you for help no matter what. O Lord, you will never, no never, neglect those who come to you. He will not ignore forever all the needs of the poor, for those in need shall not always be crushed. Their hopes shall be fulfilled, for God sees it all! Psalm 9:9-10, 18 TPT  Sometimes, I really hate having access to the Internet right at my fingertips. I can literally swipe right on my phone and immediately see five different headlines of terrible things happening across the world. It seems that every week, there’s a new atrocity being committed by humans against other humans. I scroll through my news feed and see post after post about the awful things people are doing to one another. It’s really easy to feel overwhelmed and helpless in light of the constant stream of news that...