The Lone Ranger

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. – James 5:16

Today’s Reading: Ezekiel 20-21; James 5

For the longest time I was determined that the best way to find God was to find Him by myself.

Open Doors

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. -James 4:1-2

Today’s Reading: Ezekiel 18-19; James 4

Isn’t this so true?

When I first read it the first couple of sentences grabbed my attention the most. But when I read it again that last sentence really brought it home for me.

Much of the struggle that we have in this life is because we try to go through it without God. We try to do it alone, our own way.

Stop Saying that You're Broke

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. James 3:9-12

Today’s Reading: Ezekiel 16-17; James 3

Words are powerful. They have the power to create and destroy.

This is something that I need to be more mindful of.

Faithful Deeds Change Lives

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them... As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. - From James 2:14-26

Today’s Reading: Ezekiel 14-15; James 2

I’m in this time of my life where I am really learning the importance of faithful action in a practical way. Sure, I grew up with the knowledge that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen. My parents taught me to keep asking seeking and knocking, that if I asked for something and believed I would receive it, then I would receive it. They also taught me to work hard and do all that I can do to get what I want.

All that is fine and dandy in theory… It sounds beautiful and nice, like a ray of sunshine. But what happens when you get to the real world?

It Takes Time To Bloom

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. – James 1:22-25







Today’s Reading: Ezekiel 11-13; James 1


On my way home from work the other day I encountered a woman who needed some help. She wanted to sit in the seat that was obstructed by a handicapped bench that was folded up against the wall; but, she couldn’t figure out how to unfold the seats after yanking at it for a few moments.



Seeing her frustration, I got up and did it for her.

Magical Motivation

The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it."

Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked.

"How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Acts 8:29-31

Today’s Reading: Job 8-10; Acts 8:26-10

As I told you before in The Great Challenge I have felt inspired to go after some things in my life that seem super daunting.

Well I started feeling a bit discouraged.

There’s this time between believing that you will receive something and actually receiving it. It is the battleground of faith. We start to think about these things that we are striving for and start to see impossibility where we once saw the possible. We start to doubt that we ever even had the original push, the original motivation to pursue the dream that is quickly fading away.

But when we are in that valley of doubt between the mountains of purpose and promise we are not alone. There is always something there to guide us.

For the Ethiopian above it was Phillip. For me it was some of you all.

On my post “The Lord Taketh Away?” Jared Jones suggested that I read the book of James. I asked for a specific reference then after a day or so I forgot about it. It was random enough right? “I’ll just get to James when I get to it” is what I thought to myself.

Then a couple of days ago I was talking to my girlfriend about feeling a bit discouraged and she quoted James 2:17 to me…

Hmmm… strange but probably a coincidence… even so, the conversation and the verse totally motivated me and I felt myself getting back on track.

But it didn’t stop there…

The next day I called my friend Kofi about one of these big projects I am working on and I told him about the two times I got hit with the book of James. Not only was he talking about me when I called but he also had his Bible in front of him open to chapter 5 of the book of James.

Ummmm… at this point it was clear that I needed to read the book of James.

So I started reading it last night and got through the first three chapters. I couldn't continue on because I was overwhelmed by how on point it was for where I am in my life and the tools I need to get where I need to go.

So much food for thought….         

I’m saying all of this to say that sometimes we get frustrated because we feel like we don’t have all of the right answers. And that is actually correct. We do not have them by ourselves.

But if we pay attention to those around us, pay attention to our deepest desires, and that little voice inside that continuously urges us to pursue our dreams; it will be easier and easier to see the miracles of life. It will be easier to see the next steps we need to take. It will be easier to have the courage to take them.

We are not alone in our triumphs or our troubles. There is always a helping hand to lead us to where we need to be. 

Lace Them Up!

Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. "Teacher," they said, "we want you to do for us whatever we ask."

"What do you want me to do for you?" he asked.

They replied, "Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory."

"You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said. "Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?" Matthew 10: 35-38

Have you ever looked at what someone else is doing and thought to yourself... “Man… it would be cool to do that. How can I get close to that person so that I can be on their team?

Or even worse have you looked at someone’s life and thought, “Wow it must be nice. They have all that money and all those things that I want. If only I could do what they are doing then I’d be happy.”

Well at first glance it seems that James and John weren’t saying this. Weren’t they just saying that they wanted to stay as close to Jesus as they could for all of eternity. That should be flattering right?

Nope. Wrong.

They were asking to be favored in the eyes of Jesus. They were asking for a privileged place but didn’t know the cost that it took to get there.

I think we do this when we look at celebrities or those around us who are “successful”. We look at them and their fancy homes and cars and think if only I had that life everything would be better.

But… that may not be the case.

We don’t know what it is like to be that person until we walk a mile in their shoes.

And generally when we try on someone else’s shoes they don’t fit right; even if they seem to be the right size.

This is because we each have our own walk. Sometimes it may seem like someone has walked the path before us, and maybe they have to some degree. But, no one has ever walked that path with our stride.

So instead of longing for a life that you perceive someone else to have, carve out your own path. Strap on your own shoes and march on until you wear them out.

Perhaps when you finish walking you will end up where you thought this other person had arrived. But most likely you will end up in a better place, a place that you couldn’t have imagined in your wildest dreams.

But one thing is certain. You can’t get to that wonderful place wearing someone else’s shoes.

Today’s Reading: Deuteronomy 3-4; Mark 10: 32-52