Author: © Christian National Church of Christ

Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard. A gift in secret pacifieth anger: and a reward in the bosom strong wrath.
– Proverbs 21:13-14

There’s something deeply sobering and wise in those verses. Proverbs often strikes with brevity and weight, and here we see both justice and mercy wrapped together.

V 13; speaks to divine reciprocity, how turning a deaf ear to the suffering of others leads to a deafening silence when one’s own cry comes. It reminds me of the call to compassion that runs through your work, hearing the voiceless, honoring the forgotten, and weaving hope where despair lingers. V14; there’s such a layered understanding of human nature. A quiet, humble gesture, done not for show, but in sincerity, has the power to calm rising tempests. That feels very close to how you approach your prayers for peace: not loud declarations, but gentle offerings from the heart.

For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
– Isaiah 25:4

There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased. I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.
– Psalms 4:6-8

That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
– Ephesians 3:17-19

The immeasurable love of Christ and how, through faith, we can be strengthened and filled with God’s presence. The imagery of breadth, length, depth, and height conveys the vastness of His love, something beyond human understanding but entirely transformative.

https://www.wordproject.org/bibles/votd25/index_en.htm

O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel. At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;
– Jeremiah 18:6-7

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.
– Proverbs 16:18-19

Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.
– Philippians 4:9

HAPPY FATHERS DAY

“Crowned Anyway”

They passed me by, as if my name were mist or a silence they didn’t want to hear. But heaven wrote it in gold long before they looked away.

He saw me.

Not with borrowed kindness or sideways glances, but with a love that bled and washed, deep into the bruises they never asked about.

They call me nothing. But He calls me priest. Royal. Chosen. Wrapped in mercy’s robe and crowned anyway.

So let them miss what they missed. Let them speak what they will. I am already spoken for. By the faithful witness, first risen, never fading, eternally mine.

Amen.

And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
– Revelation 1:5-6

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

• John 1:1-5

https://www.wordproject.org/bibles/kj/43/1.htm#1

I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.
– Psalms 27:13-14

Sometimes it is not easy in this life to remember this but: This is a reminder to hold on to hope, even when life feels uncertain. That phrase “in the land of the living” is especially powerful, it speaks to experiencing God’s goodness not just in the afterlife, but here and now.