Author name: Joe Monahan

Devotional

Fri May 2-Change is the Enemy?

Change is the enemy. At least that’s how most of us live day-to-day. Which is certainly ironic, given that a human lifespan is something like 80 years, just a blink of an eye in the grand sweep of God’s time.

Devotional

Mon Apr 7-What Do You Believe About Yourself? About God?

One of the most powerful and moving moments of my life took place on the floor of the General Conference a year ago, after the vote was taken to remove the anti-LGBTQ language from the Book of Discipline. After the vote, delegates and visitors gathered and spontaneously began singing this song, written by Mark Miller, a musical legend of the UMC who, through the years, has also been my friend, seminary teacher and choir director.

Devotional

Fri Mar 20-Where Are You Trying to Grow?

I’ve always believed that anything worth doing is worth doing… better. It doesn’t take much effort to become decent at something. But to truly excel—to reach a place where skill becomes second nature—takes time, discipline, and experience.

Devotional

Tue Feb 25-Caught by Contentment

Anxiety thrives on uncertainty—our need to control outcomes, to secure our future, to make sure everything turns out “just right.” Yet Jesus calls us to a different way of living. His way is marked by trust rather than fear. He calls us to rest in contentment now rather than continually chasing the thing that we perceive will lead to contentment tomorrow.

Devotional

Tue Jan 28-Take Your Ways to Heart

Most of us, even preachers, spend very little time with the prophet Haggai. So you wouldn’t be blamed if you need a little orientation to what’s happening in this passage. Haggai was a prophet who ministered in Jerusalem in the 6th century BC. At that time, the leaders and nobility of Judah returned to Israel’s capital after enduring several decades of exile in Babylon. They were able to come back after Babylon fell to the ascendant Persian Empire under Cyrus.

Devotional

Wed Jan 15-Internalized Learning

When I think about all the things I’ve learned in my lifetime – countless hours spent in books, classrooms, seminars, and on-line courses – it’s obvious to me that I’ve forgotten most of it. I think that’s the nature of most of our learning. It unfortunately goes in one ear and out the other.

Devotional

Tue Jan 7-Thy Word Is a Lamp

Most people, when they get to Psalm 119, experience their eyes beginning to glaze over. If you did, I wouldn’t blame you. There are several whole books of the Bible shorter than this one psalm.

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