prayer – Page 14 – 300 words a day

really good seats

If you want the good seats, you have to get in line early. You have to spend the night. You have to pay extra to get really close. Unless, of course, you are going to a messy show. If it’s a messy show, where the person up front sprays water or smashes watermelons, you want […]

by Jon Swanson

desperate confidence

The woman’s daughter was sick. Demon-sick. That’s sick. She, like any mother in that situation, was willing to consider anything and anyone. Even if it meant a foreigner. Jesus was heading out of town, taking some time to get away from the constant Pharisaical scrutiny. He headed to the Mediterranean coast, north of Israel. And […]

by Jon Swanson

after it goes great

Jesus has a great day. He talks to 20,000 people about his dad. He talks to his dad about feeding 20,000 people. He talks to his followers about picking up the leftovers after the meal that he and his dad had prepared for the 20,000 people. It was, by any measure, a wonderful day. So […]

by Jon Swanson

learning to say no

“Every day, asking God for guidance, say no to something.” There is a place for saying no. There are things that are good but not best. There are things that are not good at all. Learning to follow Jesus means learning to say no to both kinds of things. It is hard to say no. […]

by Jon Swanson

Jesus knows what it is like

“Every day, say to yourself, ‘Jesus knows what it’s like to be a mom.’” That is the second of five doable actions that came out of a sermon on Titus 2:11-14. One of the things that often stops us in prayer and belief is that we think that God can’t understand us. And I understand […]