All of us are now finding out what it feels like to suffer a plague.

I don’t want to get into why. That wouldn’t do you any good here.

But I think you will agree with me on the what: COVID-19 is a plague on the human race.

The other day, a Bible verse came to mind: Gospel of Luke 22:31. Jesus said to his best friend, Simon Peter: “Simon, Simon! Satan has asked to sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

Are we not being sifted like wheat?

A plague has a way of showing the truth about us. It shows the stuff in our souls. A plague will show a coward to be a coward, a fool to be a fool, a selfish person to be a selfish person. It shows that someone who claims to be somebody is actually nobody at all.

A plague also shows us the nobodies who are actually somebodies.

In the Bible...

It’s Day 11 in our COVID-19 hermitage.

Long, long ago in a land far, far away…what we would call “hardcore” Christians moved away from the cities and towns. They moved far out in the middle of nowhere. They moved far away from people. They moved far away from the life that “normal people” live.

These “hermits” made their “hermitages” (homes) in caves and shacks.

Why did they go out there?

In the year 2020, you and I might say they went out there to “cleanse.”

They went out there to cleanse themselves of the things that weigh people down in the “real world.”

It’s not because hermits were “holier than thou.”

No, no. A hermit knew that he was un-holy and weak. He knew that he was only human. Yes, maybe the “real world” has a lot of good things going for it, but it also has a lot of bad. A hermit knew that to enjoy the good things of the world made it likely that he would also...

Have you ever dreamed of taking a sabbatical?

For most of us, dreaming of such a thing is like dreaming of a surprise inheritance or winning the lottery.

“But,” we think to ourselves. “That will never happen for me! A sabbatical is just a daydream.”

Don’t look now, but unless you’re a first responder, a front line service worker, or a medical professional, you’re on sabbatical.

And, yes, it is a sabbatical…if you choose to think of it that way.

I know, I know. A sabbatical often involves travel. And that is out of the question at this time.

But even though your body cannot travel, you are the only one to say that your mind cannot travel. A sabbatical–chosen or forced upon you–is what you choose to make of it.

So, what will you choose to make of this sabbatical?

Where will you let your mind wander? What ideas will you let your mind explore? What perspective on life will you...

Today (March 9, 2020) is Travis Irwin’s 70th birthday.

Travis Irwin is my dad.

Will you give me a few minutes to tell you about him?

It is a miracle that Dad made it to his 70th birthday. It was just a couple of years ago that he got a rare cancer that we thought would kill him.

By the grace of God and the doctors at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, he is alive and cancer free today.

Nothing will make you feel so thankful for someone as almost losing them.

And since today is another day we get with Dad–and a milestone day at that–I’d like to tell you why he is worthy of celebration.

If you had, or have, a good father, you know how hard it would be to write down everything you want to say about him. You would have to write a book, right?

Since this is a blog post and not a book, I’m going to share just one thing about Dad. But I think it may be the most...

Jesus didn’t get in trouble because he picked the wrong side; he got into trouble because he refused to pick a side.

Think about it.

The religious people of his day didn’t get along with each other. Some of them were Pharisees. Some of them were Sadducees. Some of them said “to hell with it” and moved to the desert (Essenes). All of them thought they were right and the others were wrong.

But they could agree on one thing: Jesus of Nazareth was bad.

Not because he picked one of them, but because he picked none of them. Jesus had no angle but to be faithful and obedient to God.

Not only was that hard for the religious cynics of his day to believe (“nobody is that pure!”), but it was something they simply could not stand. Just being next to Jesus showed them for what they really were. They weren’t in it for love; they were in it for the fight.

The political people of Jesus’s day...

Where is the glory in eating a burger and fries from the drive-thru?

Or binge watching TV?

Or scrolling through social media?

Or sleeping in on Sunday morning?

We know enough to know that glory–the deep soul satisfaction, the “shine on life” that comes from accomplishment, from overcoming–is not found in the cheap stuff, the easy stuff.

A glorious life must be, by definition, a hard life.

A life of challenge, disappointment, drudgery, failure, resistance, setbacks.

It is true that the harder the life, the more fuel for glory’s glow.

Also true: Life is hard.

Just plain old everyday life.

If you have a body, you will have hardship.

If you have family, you will have hardship.

If you go out and about in the world and do something out there, you will have hardship.

So life, everyday life, your everyday life…is glorious.

No, no. I didn’t say it could be glorious; I said it...

If you want to know God, go outside.

That is what Jesus Christ said to do, as the Gospel of Matthew has it in Chapter 6, verses 25 to 34.

Want a sermon that will change your life? A sermon you’ll never forget?

Do you want some good news for a change?

Go outside right now. Take ten minutes. Be quiet. Listen. Look.

Concentrate on the nature you feel and hear and see.

Listen to the birds sing. Watch them do what they do.

Study a blade of grass or a flower or a leaf.

If you let it happen, these things will preach to you a sermon without words.

Their message will bypass your mind and go straight to your soul.

What will that message be?

I can’t tell you. It’s a message just for you.

What are you waiting for?

Go outside and let the Gospel find you there.

Grace and peace.

I’m old enough now to know that it doesn’t get any better.

“It” being what we call “life” or the “way things are” or just “the world.”

What I mean is: You will always have problems. In fact, the problems you face in life become bigger, harder, and more grave as you age.

You will always live or work with people with whom you have a hard time getting along.

Almost nothing ever works out the way you plan it.

As the years add up, so do chances for heartbreak, loss, and worry.

No, it doesn’t get better if by “better” you mean fewer problems and less struggle.

And the truth is (though advertisers would like for you to think otherwise): You cannot buy your way out of what makes life hard (aging, current events, people, etc.). No job change, no pay raise, no retirement savings, no splurging will do much more than just take your mind off things for a moment or two. Your life is hard...

I wish someone told me when I was young that glory is drudgery. Now in my forties, I’m finally learning to love that lesson.

Note: I didn’t say that you get to glory through drudgery.

I said “glory is drudgery.”

If you can’t find the gleam, lean into the task, and thank God for every moment of your life, you will miss out on the glorious life you already have.

And it is a glorious life, is it not?

When was the last time you took a moment to think about what a miracle it is to even be alive? Then add all the experiences of your long life and the opportunities that your life gives you today. Even if you are old, sick, or weak, think of all that your body and mind and senses can still do today. Do for yourself, or, more important, do for others.

Life has its moments when the bright lights out there will shine on you.

Those moments are rare. Those lights are always looking for...

The Good News–what Christians like me call “The Gospel”–is not that Jesus died.

No, that is the bad news.

Who would say it is good news to see their Hero die for crimes he didn’t commit?

Who would say it is good news to see their Hope hang hopeless on a stake in the ground?

No, the death of Jesus is not good news. It is bad news.

No, not even that.

It’s not news at all.

It’s what we expect.

We’re not blind. We read the headlines. We scan social media.

We’re old enough to know: This is the world in which we live.

This is what the world does to our heroes and our hopes.

And, more sadly, this seems to be what our heroes and our hopes always to do us in the end.

The world we know all too well killed the Hero, killed the Hope.

It would be bad news if it was news at all.

But then comes the morning of the third day after the world did what the world always does.

The news...