Saturday August 29th: Be careful what you ask for!
August 29, 2026
Monday August 31st: Who is you?
August 31, 2026
“Get behind me satan! You are an obstacle in my path”…
Matthew 16:21-27
As I draw near to my Jerusalem, the cross ahead looms larger than life. My first impulse is to turn tail and run. Is this what I agreed to? I did not sign up for this. The Peter in me cries, “Lord, spare me. This must not happen to me.” Then a voice cuts through with unmistakable clarity: “You are not thinking as God thinks, but as man thinks.”
I stand suspended, as if on a tightrope, while opposing voices struggle within me. “If you want to follow me, take up your cross.” Can I bear this pain and anguish? “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it.” Is self-denial worth the cost? “What does it profit anyone to gain the whole world and lose his soul?” O Lord, what can I give in exchange for my life? I pause…
Hanging there in the balance, I reach for the hand of the One who crossed before me; and by His grace, I move toward my Jerusalem—not to escape the cross, but to pass through it into life…. eternal.
