Jon C. Swanson's Blog, page 10

An awareness of will.

I was asking Paul one day how to pray for other people: “What do I ask God for on behalf of other people?”

He didn’t answer. Not exactly.

But he did write a letter to a group of people that he was praying for. And he told them what he was asking; “I’m asking God to give you an awareness of his will.”

I’m pretty sure he didn’t mean, “I’m asking God to tell you what job to take.”

Or where to move or what major to take. Or what treatment to choose.

It’s asking God to help the peop...

A prayer for the 15th Sunday in ordinary time.

God.

We need rest.

Not sleep, not distraction, not medication, not relief.

We need rest.

We hear you say, Jesus, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.”

We long for rest, but we confess, we’re not sure we can come with our burdens.

We confess.

We confess that we are afraid that you will scold us rather than giving us rest.
We confess that we are likely to scold others for not giving us rest.
We confess that we are afraid that you will remin...

The significance of the ordinary.

So what?

What does it look like to live in this second or third or sixteen chance at life?

I think it looks pretty unspectacular, actually.

I think it looks like loving one another.

I have a friend who really really likes coffee. He has learned to make lattes.

He doesn’t like lattes, those drinks where you start with coffee in a cup and then pour milk slowly and carefully to get remarkable patterns. He learned to make them because his wife likes them. So now, when she has her m...

One Day – An Entire Year

Rich Dixon has an update.

FREEDOM TOUR CLASSIC was a huge success.

It’s curious to plan an event for nearly an entire year, then it’s over in the blink of an eye. Perhaps it’s my job to keep reminding folks that the kids we support aren’t a one-day event. Their needs continue year-round.

This year, we had a reminder of the urgency of those needs. Jonathan Barrett, CEO of Project Rescue Foundation, was on his way to the airport to join us for the ride when he got a phone call. An eme...

More on a second chance.

Yesterday I said “Sometimes miracles will happen through mundane steps.”

Notice I didn’t say because of mundane steps. In the story of Naaman, there is no formula. No one else ever, as far as we read, is healed from skin disease by dipping themselves in the Jordan. Instead, the healing happened when Naaman did what Elisha said to do.

That happens around here, of course. The treatment plan is to exercise. To adjust our eating just a little. In the emergency room, I often hear physicians...

Sometimes we don’t get to decide the path to better.

I had a conversation with a woman not long before she died. She knew she was sick. I think she even knew how sick she was. She wanted me to pray for her.

I asked her what to pray for. She said, “for a second chance.” Other people get a second chance, she said. She wanted me to ask for one for her, too. I said, “What would you do with a second chance?”

We had a good conversation. And it’s a question that I want to remember. Because all of us at one time or another want a second chance at...

A prayer for the fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

God

We are in a hospital. We want to be healed.

We would almost be willing to dip ourselves in a dirty river if you would guarantee that we would be healed.

We confess.
We confess that we’d rather have one big miracle and be done than have tiny steps of obedience.
We confess that we prefer to reap what someone else has sowed than to spend all that time ourselves.
We confess that we are tempted to judge more than we are committed to love.
We find it harder to forgive than to condemn.
We fi...

Greater

A friend sent “Greater” to me this morning. That was the title of today’s text message. He regularly sends texts that point me to Jesus.

“He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.”

John said that in John 3:30. He was quite an influencer! He finished a very successful part of his life when crowds followed him and became his disciples. But he didn’t keep the glory for himself – he wanted Jesus to get the spotlight.

What an inspiring example. I’d love for eve...

A slow journey to a smile.

I want to offer you some encouragement this morning. I want to give you a moment to smile.

I don’t want to offer you ten steps to live a better life, or eight ways to pray better, or six easy steps to get over your grief and live your best life.

That last phrase may have given you a moment to smile. Because the lists aren’t very helpful.

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Last week I wrote about caring about. Friends had provided support to a friend all the way until he died. Yesterday, a bunch of those friend...

Eternal Consequences

Rich Dixon is thinking about the riding that happened last week.

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Dick Foth honored us by speaking during lunch at last week’s FREEDOM TOUR CLASSIC.

Dick offered profound wisdom, as he always does, but one thing stood out. He said everything that happened – riding a bike, walking, handing out water, providing directions, setting up tents – every single action, big and small, would be used by Jesus in ways we would never understand.

He said everything we did had eternal conseque...