General Daily Devotionals

In her book, Preaching God’s Grand Drama, Ahmi Lee writes, “It is not enough for the church to merely see the world in light of the gospel… [Instead,] God’s people must live as though the claims of the gospel are true.” I think she is absolutely correct in her assessment.

The basketball coach, John Wooden, said, “Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” Yet how often do we allow ourselves to be so overwhelmed with what we cannot do that we never actually get started with what we can do?

Prayer for the Week:
A Prayer for the Greater Houston Disciples of Christ

Gracious and Loving God,
You who gather us from many places and call us one body
We come before You with hearts full of gratitude and longing.

There is a short but wonderful quote attributed to Mother Teresa. It reads, “Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” I believe this to be true, in part, because I know the opposite is true. A few weeks ago, I had a parking pass for a garage. However, when I arrived at the gate, the QR code failed to scan.

On this day in 1989, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Rev. Allan Boesak led the single largest anti-Apartheid march in South African history. It would be known as the Cape Town Peace March, and it would be considered a turning point in the movement to end the racist and unjust policies of Apartheid.

At times, I have been guilty of trying to communicate what I believe by telling you what I’m against or what I oppose. In recent years, I have worked hard to correct it, but I know I have fallen into the unhelpful and unhealthy practice more than once.

Since I have full control over my Etchings, I can choose whatever comes to mind. While some may not agree, I am going to talk about my wife, who is having a birthday.

I know that the anniversary of September 11, 2001, isn’t until tomorrow, but I was thinking about how different our lives were on September 10, 2001. No one was even pondering such a horrific event, yet when you think about it, there have been so many historic events that dramatically shifted our way of thinking.

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSSeptember 9, 2025This week is suicide prevention week, and if you have not been directly impacted by suicide, you are probably just one person removed from that extraordinarly painful and deeply troubling experience. As so often happens, both language and perception have changed over the years. Simple things like no longer saying that someone ‘committed suicide’ are important. When we use the word ‘committed,’ it implies intention

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSSeptember 8, 2025Prayer for the Week: When the negative voices become negative energy that infuses my mind and begins to seep into my bones, I pray for your Spirit to provide clarity of purpose. Clear some of the gloom that hinders my capacity to both see and celebrate all that is good and joyous. Whether pessimism stems from the everyday curmudgeon or someone whose intentions are much