SippingFromWithin

John 15: 6: “ if anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ” Reading through this verse reminded me of a depiction that referred to the donkey in “The Triumphant Entry” in the book of Matthew 21: 1 – 11. In this illustration, the donkey walked alongside another on the streets of Jerusalem, when one said to the other, “Just yesterday I was here carrying the Lord Jesus and the people were singing, shouting and throwing their clothes down for me to walk on, and today they don’t even recognize me …” then the other donkey simply replied, “that’s how it is my friend, without Jesus you are nothing …” Though brief, the exchange between the two donkeys resonated within me. On a similar note, if a branch must survives and bear fruit it must stay connected to the vine; in that connection, the substance from the vine sustains the branch. This life’s substance obtained, enable...

At times it takes a change of environment to see things from a different perspective. Last week, I had to make an urgent trip, and at the location I traveled to, a nice family took me in for the night. During my time with them, they discussed certain struggles and challenges they’d gone through in the past three years, and the path they decided to follow after losing most of their belongings in a tragic fire incident. They discussed the process – which is still ongoing - that they used (or are using) to address the challenges they’d gone through, and after hearing them, most of what I could think of that night was: what it took them - mentally, physically, and spiritually - to pull out of what I felt was really overwhelming. But in the face of it all, they held on to God as their sufficiency, and I was fortunate to witness this in the things that were said and done. The uncertainty that shrouds any path taken in the face of life’s trials can really be a nerve rackin...

Recently, a brother told me he had downloaded a song I longed to have in audio format. Excited about the news, I immediately interrupted him to tell how glad I would be to have him send me a copy of the song. However, in the course of me expressing my gratitude he continued his sentence by telling me he had downloaded another, but since I was working and talking, I did not get the detail of the main artist only the featured one. And with the limited information I blurted out saying, “What reason do I have to listen to that artist?” for I did not appreciate the category sang by the artist in question, “I don’t listen to those kinds of songs.” I concluded. “It’s a gospel song by …,” replied the brother in a calm tone. As he replied, I remembered the message from that morning’s devotional which discussed Zaccheaus the Tax Collector, and at the same time I recalled the sermon from the previous Sunday about the parable of the lost son. The thought of these messages humbled me...