April 2013 – Page 3 – 300 words a day

earnest, desperate waiting.

(first published October 19, 2011) You are waiting. You aren’t sure what’s happening. You can’t see to the end of today. And you are waiting. It reminds you of that summer before your senior year of high school, the summer that you worked third shift. All alone in the building, all alone working on the […]

by Jon Swanson

David found strength in the Lord his God.

“But David found strength in the Lord his God.” It’s a simple sentence near the end of 1 Samuel. It’s easy to skip over because of what comes before it. “David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters.” This was one of the worst […]

by Jon Swanson

on conversation with God.

Our sense of how conversation should happen is that we say something and immediately the other person says something. When we are face-to-face it happens in seconds. Though often, we don’t hear words in seconds. We walk a long distance without words with a friend, knowing that silence is part of the conversation as well. […]

by Jon Swanson

Devoted freedom.

Sometimes I’ll write notes as I study a passage from the Bible, trying to capture my thoughts as they are fresh. No one sees these notes. They wouldn’t be able to read them. And often I don’t know what I meant, either. Earlier this week, I was working through part of a letter Paul wrote […]

by Jon Swanson

thinking about prayer while waiting for a post.

I never know how long to pray about things. I’m often not sure exactly how to pray. The other day, Hope and Nancy and I were talking about this question, about what to pray for in a particular health situation. Hope and some of her friends had been discussing it at great length. I laughed. […]