The Blue Church

Recently I read Psalm 119. It left an impression on me. I remember closing my Bible and saying to myself, “That is what it means to be a man after God’s own heart”. The author’s desire to be close to God drips from every verse.

Recently I talked with an incarcerated man who didn’t know English when he was first locked up. He was determined to learn the language, so he grabbed the only reading material he had available to him, a Bible.

They say I have a fighting chance
I don’t know if they are right
All I know is, I have been fighting all my life.

You have likely heard the expression, “My head was in the clouds”. People often say it when they want others to know that they weren’t concentrating or thinking clearly about something at the time.

“And large crowds followed him (Jesus), and he healed them there. And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said,

This is a question I routinely ask God before I head out onto my unit to do rounds.

What I am really asking God is to help me with the following on my rounds:

When was the last time God’s Word left you breathless?

When was the last time you considered a few verses and felt like a thousand days would not be enough to take in the majesty of God?

I start to get ready for work at one-thirty in the morning.

I make more preparations for work at two-thirty five in the morning.

Some of my last efforts to head to work are completed at three-fifteen in the morning.

Then, my alarm goes off and I wake up …

One of the most challenging verses in the Bible is:

“3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others..” – Philippians 2: 3-4

This week I have been thinking about the terrible circumstances that people face. In particular, I have been thinking about the traumatic past experienced by many of the offenders I have worked with.