Jon C. Swanson's Blog, page 8

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...

The next half.

Today is the start of the next half of 2025.

I started the day a little early, with a phone call to go to the hospital to help a family in the first minutes after the death of their person. Ten minutes later, I got a call that the family wasn’t going to the hospital. Our overnight chaplain would talk with them by phone.

I won’t know their story until I get to work, until I talk with him. But it’s not my story to help tell. This chapter ending, their next steps.

I know you well enou...

A prayer for the thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

God.

We need you.

Even when we don’t think we do, we need you.

Not so much to fix things, which is what we think we want: fix my relationships, fix my body, fix my car.

We don’t so much need to you to do things: move mountains, make miracles, save me.

We need you to love us and to welcome us and to care about us.

Because, God, we could live with a broken car if we knew for sure that you knew, and that you cared, and that you were powerful.

(Are powerful, I mean. I don’t w...

About, caring.

Some friends of mine were caring for another friend who died recently. (People care for other people all the time.)

When I was talking with one of those friends, I said, “You all cared about him, not just cared for him.” 

It was one of those times that I made a note of what I said. I want to remember it. 

You can care for people you don’t care about. It happens all the time. And I’ve done it. You and I are not being mean, we’re being professional, we’re appropriately doing our work. ...

Starting new, again.

Some of you remember that I used to post pictures of coffee mugs on Instagram. And I’d write something.

For that season, the mug photo was a message to my friend Brian that I had gone for a run that day. It was an act of accountability, I suppose. But it was mostly and acknowledgement that I knew he cared and was cheering.

For most people, it was a photo of a mug. And that was its own accountability.

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I haven’t been running since October, for a handful of reasons. But I’m w...

A prayer for the twelfth Sunday in ordinary time

God-

Elijah lived a long time ago. But he isn’t so different.
He wanted to be safe.
He wondered why you let him down.
He was exhausted.
He wondered why bad people had the power.
He was afraid.
He wanted to tell you his complaint more than he wanted to hear your explanation.

We confess that we are like Elijah, sometimes.
We do good things. We expect good results.
We see your power for others. We predict how it should work for us.
We confess that we are unwilling to trust in you.

But we confess...