Welcome
I’ve never started a blog before.
I know that may sound hilarious in June of the year 2026, but honestly, I have never felt as though what I have to share would resonate with enough people to justify the work required. Or maybe I have too much respect for the blogs I follow and have never felt qualified enough to throw my own hat into the proverbial ring. But a lot has changed in my soul this year.
Change upon change. Pain upon pain. Grace upon grace. And do you want to know what has shifted which results in the words you’re reading right now? I realized that God has glory to get out of my sharing. I realized (finally?) that its never been about my own thoughts, my own ability, my own perspective. Who cares what the value of my words are. Yes I do carry my unique allotment of pain and joy, but I don’t carry it alone. I am just another one of his saved ones. He’s gracious. The road may be narrow, but he’s called a lot of us to walk it. I’m just one that you might meet at the crosswalk in your travels as you walk in your own direction, carry your own hurts, and watch your own story unfold. But maybe, just maybe, my experience might be a sign-post you find yourself often appreciating. If so, welcome.
The first thing to know about me is that I am obsessed with the Bible. The rabbit hole is infinitely deep, and I spend most of my days down within it, trying to grow friendly with the labyrinth. In the twenty-third psalm the writer uses the vivid-analogy of a shepherd and his sheep and he or she (probably David) extends it quite a few times. In this poem Yahweh-God is the shepherd, and the writer is the sheep. His shepherd’s staff drags and prods me back to course when I’m bending off. He knows where the new leafy greens are growing today, so he brings me through the desert-dirt toward that place of sustenance. He also makes me wait there, because my sheep-self would run to the next place out of natural-fear that I might miss out, but he knows when and where my next meal is. He’s not anxious.
One of my favorite extensions is this, in verse 2:
“he leads me to refreshing water”
“עַל־מֵ֖י מְנֻח֣וֹת יְנַהֲלֵֽנִי” (Al-mai) (m’nukhot) (y’na’haleni)
“To waters of rest you lead me”
My God knows I need rest. He knows I need to stop, and drink, and be okay. Feel okay. And the psalmist says it with confidence. “You lead me to waters of rest.” He knows where those waters are. I don’t. His spirit hovered over the waters in the beginning (the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the water… Gen. 1:2b) not mine. He brought order and beauty out of chaos. Light in the darkness. He is the only truly lasting constant. He’s the creator. I’m the sheep. I am trying to trust that he knows where those waters are. Trying. Fits and starts. My engine puttering along, going somewhere—yes, but at the pace of a child’s soapbox racer. I often think of how C.S. Lewis used the analogy of the spirit as a car’s engine which needs to run on the right kind of fuel to work correctly. I give mine mixture daily. But I’m learning. And as I learn, I think there’s a chance my Good Shepherd’s lessons may help some fellow sheep find water.
So I’m starting somewhere. I’m starting here. I’m planning to treat this space as an open billboard for the processing of my experiences, my current musings, my potential publishing topics, and my hopes for the way Jesus is going to make it all right one day. I truly do believe that eventually there’s coming a moment where I look back at the course of my life and see in spectacular fashion the thread that was once invisible to me. The author’s handiwork drawing my story from one page to the next. The ink of my experience that writes down the weight of his Glory for the next generation. Let that be my prayer. May you find rest as you join me here.
May that be true.
(I took this photo of some waters of rest in the Catskills in New York State, Fall 2023)
Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible(Biblical Studies Press, 2005), Ps 23:2.
Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible (Biblical Studies Press, 2005), Ge 1:2.