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Text of the page (random words):
sitting on a blog under hundreds of eyes and i feel i have done you a great disservice there are so many it has never told their value in the eyes of jesus forget what you know of religion it doesn t change your value a god willing to give his life to pay a debt you did not even know about that is not hate but love you can choose to view it as merely condemnation if you wish but i entreat you to reason thus if that were the case why would he even offer such a sacrifice the condemned and dismissed require no further action the reaching out the astonishing divine work put into this offer evidences a desire to save nor does jesus make you aware of the debt and then tell you to pay that s called legalism and it is unfortunately all that many know of him live a good life and you ll get there no through jesus you re already there by believing on him the debt is paid you are home i will set out and go back to my father and say to him father i have sinned against heaven and against you i am no longer worthy to be called your son make me like one of your hired servants so he got up and went to his father but while he was still a long way off his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him he ran to his son threw his arms around him and kissed him the son said to him father i have sinned against heaven and against you i am no longer worthy to be called your son but the father said to his servants quick bring the best robe and put it on him put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet bring the fattened calf and kill it let s have a feast and celebrate for this son of mine was dead and is alive again he was lost and is found luke 15 18 23 no other human echo or facsimile of love can touch this for one thing you ve probably found out human love s inadequacies for yourself by now for another none of them can make as great a sacrifice this gospel as it is called greek for good news was made simple enough for all to understand you do not need a holy life a churchy record or a doctorate in theology to grasp it in fact the dirtier the person who came before jesus seeking mercy and the removal of shame the quicker he was to offer it those are the very people he seeks someone has summed up the gospel you are more sinful than you ever imagined you are more loved than you dared dream whatever else others have told you about your value whether through word or action the universe s creator says differently he is not smaller or weaker than your debt no matter how heavy he does not reveal your debt in order to shame but to save i can vouch this life of which i have been made merely a messenger is more beautiful than you could imagine it hinges not on your past it shackles you to no empty ceremonial labyrinth political figure or system of human intermediaries it is to jesus glory that he alone is the door will you consider getting up and going to the father share this share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on x opens in new window x share on pinterest opens in new window pinterest more email a link to a friend opens in new window email share on reddit opens in new window reddit share on linkedin opens in new window linkedin share on tumblr opens in new window tumblr print opens in new window print like loading posted in uncategorized leave a comment not quite knowing what to do with happiness posted on 08 03 2026 by brandon adams i m working my dream job right now entering my second year of teaching at a homeschool co op how many people can say that i m at a church right now where i m feeling really good i m wanted there given numerous opportunities to minister and god is moving people to him more and more god confirms i m right where i need to be though we could all stand a ten degree drop in this brick oven of an arkansas summer not everyone can say that i m out of debt and have been for a while especially these days who can say that in the last month i ve experienced significant healing of some chronic knee pain that s been bugging me for a couple years i was starting to get seriously worried now after some gym work do a little research on unbalanced leg muscles y all and some lost weight the problem seems well on its way to being solved again sigh i almost feel bad at telling you all these things because i know others suffer nagging issues disheartening obstacles tragedies that just don t seem to find solutions but in reality i have some very good news for you happiness is not found in breakthrough because even with all these blessings i find a certain emptiness gnawing at me lately i know that because i ve been forgetting to be happy for a while and that s happened when i forget thankfulness i drift a bit from the scriptures from morning prayer from the other spiritual disciplines and sure enough it ends up being fullness and joy i m drifting from it doesn t come because of blessings it doesn t just show up in the mail or kick in automatically like the fridge and that can be very freeing for all of us because the scriptures bear a glorious promise you can have joy where you are because every person has so much to be thankful for right now if paul could write from prison that he was joyous in his thankfulness we know this to be true i used to really yoink at that idea no god just fix things you owe me what an ugly and narrow posture and all because i was too lazy and pride wounded to try out god s suggestions good grief why would i be turning down fullness and joy amazing how we sabotage ourselves sure enough i have learned that accepting such a gift from god often involves some pride swallowing but once that s done it really is a better time pride will block you as well what i m supposed to just ignore all god has allowed to happen let him off the hook be thankful on his terms yes sorry to be so blunt but i ve found out that it really does come down to that to whether we re willing to believe what he says about himself why not skip all the maneuvering and try it his way especially if it can help insulate us from the pain of the very things we suffer now taste and see that the lord is good blessed is the one who takes refuge in him psalm 34 8 taste and see don t just look take action try it share this share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on x opens in new window x share on pinterest opens in new window pinterest more email a link to a friend opens in new window email share on reddit opens in new window reddit share on linkedin opens in new window linkedin share on tumblr opens in new window tumblr print opens in new window print like loading posted in uncategorized leave a comment when you re not sure you want what you want anymore posted on 07 08 2025 by brandon adams i long maintained this blog with a goal of amongst other things encouraging and standing with single christians occasionally someone has emailed in to let me know they ve gotten something out of what s posted here for that i am grateful the ironic thing is that my own views on singleness have evolved over the years it was inevitable really as god through his tool of life observed granted me more wisdom or shoved it roughly down my earhole more accurately the longer we live as singles the harder it is to preserve the illusions we once had about what marriage is what god wants it to be what it will do for us and whether that last part is something we should even be thinking about at least one would hope that our illusions fade with time if they haven t we ve probably been resisting the process do i still want to be married and have a family of my own yes i do very much but i don t want it the same way i used to i don t want it in the same way i want the return of christ or a 10 000 bonus check from my employer for no reason or an endless shrimp buffet an unconditional good i now look forward to marriage in the same way i looked forward to my air force ship out date i enlisted in a delayed entry fashion with a departure four months out so that i could finish my black belt a mere two weeks after i signed on the dotted line 9 11 took place all of a sudden after a decade of relative world peace the geopolitical situation was very much uncertain i was joining the military in a time of great change did i still want to enlist yes but not in the same way as i wanted the shrimp buffet i wanted it for the higher purpose something within me drove me on left unquestionable the idea that this was the right thing even though a part of me flinched and braced and second guessed i would not have walked away from the idea even if someone gave me the choice they didn t i now respond internally to the idea of marriage much more in line with this it s going to be hard no really hard we singles shake off that word far too easily in our loneliness there will be times when it s thankless dull weighty stressful and intimidating and powerless to solve the very things i m feeling today and that s if i get my pick right it s all inevitable from being someone flawed and selfish marrying someone flawed and selfish yet i bear the responsibility to continue to do it god s way every day heedless of the defcon level that particular moment it s not something i can do on my own and if that s not how you see it you might be resisting the process you haven t shipped out yet perhaps you re like me still wanting marriage someday but the warnings and coachings of your elders are starting to sink in at last and it s made a part of you hesitant now you re feeling like two people one eagerly desiring the other intimidated by the whole idea do you really want what you ve always wanted is this god taking your desire away a single friend told me after another session by a patient older and married counselor spent explaining how hard marriage was that she blurted out then why does anyone bother the counselor simply smiled now that you ve asked that question you re probably more ready than you ever have been embrace the tension use it to prepare get into the word improve yourself ask every day am i someone i d want to marry and make changes accordingly marriage is going to be more blood and sweat and tears than you know and it s my job to make sure that i m not causing my spouse to be the one shedding it s worth it the counselors say that too every one of them but it is both love and war you re signing up for let us train accordingly share this share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on x opens in new window x share on pinterest opens in new window pinterest more email a link to a friend opens in new window email share on reddit opens in new window reddit share on linkedin opens in new window linkedin share on tumblr opens in new window tumblr print opens in new window print like loading posted in uncategorized tagged god sanctification singleness training 9 comments you can find something to be thankful for posted on 11 29 2024 by brandon adams i ve always struggled with seeing thankfulness as a greeting card sentiment today i read the way jesus modeled thanksgiving in his life and i recall that nothing jesus did can really be considered flimsy or powerless last week i wrote about the frustration that comes with hearing an old answer when you ve been in a particular trench for a long time but the next person has nothing but the same old advice i got it again wednesday i ve been grasping at the humility of accepting such words even if i want to hear something else even if i don t know what that something else is and my own words come round to me there were many times jesus spoke words of acceptance healing and love easy to hear life to the soul better than we could have imagined but there were also times he simply blew right past the perspectives of his hearers and offered his father s perspective and he didn t just do it to the pharisees everyone including his own disciples and those who followed him got his perspective often bluntly whether they wanted it or not he didn t coddle he didn t equivocate he didn t massage scripture matt 22 29 john 5 39 he told them what they needed to hear take it or leave it if they were on board even if only partially he let them know of his gladness mark 10 21 12 34 jesus is not who we want him to be he is who he is we can trust that this is good so today i will be thankful even though my heart and mind are struggling to be i can walk without excruciating back or knee pain i have a roof over my head i have the best mother in the world i have a paid off vehicle i have eternal life in jesus christ and in him a friend who brings his power into my life another hammer of the nail into the palm of my immaturity and disobedience share this share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on x opens in new window x share on pinterest opens in new window pinterest more email a link to a friend opens in new window email share on reddit opens in new window reddit share on linkedin opens in new window linkedin share on tumblr opens in new window tumblr print opens in new window print like loading posted in uncategorized tagged jesus thankfulness truth 1 comment sometimes the old answers still work posted on 11 01 2024 by brandon adams i was having a work related struggle recently and i found it was stirring up something deeper something eternity related i went to a friend for advice then another friend then another friend and all three basically said gracious but differently worded versions of the same thing it was frustrating it wasn t what i wanted to hear it was what i suspected i might hear but didn t want to it wasn t until the third person shared his thoughts that i realized i was hearing exactly what god wanted me to hear it took me quite a bit of reflection to figure out why i didn t appreciate hearing it i like new stuff though we may not always realize it we often go to friends hoping to get a perspective we haven t heard before some new angle some story some strategy maybe even a scripture we had forgotten what have you the novel is tempting this is a benefit of good counsel we can be supplied with an outside perspective but when the wisdom we are offered is true but hard it reveals our hearts was there something we were hoping to hear there are gardens in our lives that we do not want watered with water we know we think of it as old water and surely new water is fresh and better right it frustrates us to go back to the things we already know we ve been there done that our hard spiritual work doesn t seem to be paying off we re still in the same places we were ten years ago old hat but then i remember scripture has no expiration date god opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble james 4 6 and it gives me the space to ask myself an honest question since when does god owe me something better than the old answers who am i to decide that should they be necessary the old answers aren t enough perhaps i simply need to keep on doing the hard task perhaps i simply need to turn the other cheek perhaps i simply need to own my wro...