February 2009 – Page 4 – 300 words a day

if you are the president and talk about lust

in an interview in Playboy, and you are a Southern Baptist, you get in trouble. People laugh at you. People think you are odd. People don’t want to understand you. You almost lose the campaign. That’s what happens when you take this ‘following the words of Jesus’ process too seriously. Or maybe it’s not taking […]

by Jon Swanson

I’m sorry you are mad at me.

[Matthew 5:23-24] If you are bringing your sacrifice to the temple, Jesus says, and you remember that someone is angry at you, go to them and make it right. Then come back and offer your sacrifice, give your gift, fulfill your obligation. But Jesus, what if they made up the problem? silence Okay, that doesn’t […]

by Jon Swanson

you have heard it said

How many of us spend how much of our lives based on “you have heard it said?” This is what we’ve been taught. This is how it should happen. This is what we’ve passed on from generation to generation. I know that it is easy to pick on “this is how we’ve always done it.” […]

by Jon Swanson

not good enough

[Matthew 5:20] Pick the most spiritual person you know. The one that knows all the rules. The one that keeps them all. The one that has spent his whole life studying. The one who has cleaned every bad habit out of her closet. The one that prays every day. The one that has a quiet […]

by Jon Swanson

Friday morning

Father God, It’s the end of the week. But I haven’t gotten everything done that I would have liked to get done. I have gotten done things that I probably shouldn’t have. I think that Jesus never felt like this on Friday. I think that when he got to the end of a week, as […]