Isaiah 40:10-12,21-23,29-31 KJV
[10] Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. [11] He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. [12] Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? [21] Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? [22] It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: [23] That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. [29] He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. [30] Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: [31] But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Jesus is coming back soon

Get ready

The dog wakes you up

The one you overlooked at bedtime because she is old

Once awake, you must play the game

Pray, and press your head into the pillows

As though this could be a time-traveling space ship and you could

Navigate the unthinkable

Process each broken bone, bond, or boundary

Circling darkness

Harm has come to the voiceless

Howl, old dog

give voice to all the babies

None of us rescued.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/aug/02/cleveland-teesside-police-failure-murder-sexual-assault-two-year-old-girl-isabelle-walsh

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Preston_Davey

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/the-uncomfortable-subject-jesus-addressed-more-than-anyone-else/

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/06/nigeria-un-experts-warn-rights-violations-against-women-and-girls-christian

Our favorite local swimming spot is celebrating “Shark Week,” so we figured we would watch the beloved yearly event.

Our viewing party lasted 5 seconds as the opening scene of the episode showed a large shark thrashing a small seal to death in a swirl of blood. The footage was graphic, even haunting.

I ask myself when did humans decide that we would record and profit from violence? Or just profit from it?

The world is burning, and in the conflagration there are stories of human atrocities that far outstrip the “instinctual” feeding frenzy of a shark.

We all need to wake up and decide what we will record, what we do with that record, and where this is all going.

Jesus himself gives us the most haunting descriptions of hell. If we won’t listen to our own consciences, maybe we need to listen to him, after all, he went there for us.

Recently two little girls were raped and murdered in India. They were 11. The horror of the last few hours of their lives haunts me.

11 is childhood.

Something terrible is broken in the minds of men who kidnap, rape, and murder children.

Revelation 8:1-13 KJV
[1] And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. [2] And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. [3] And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. [4] And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand. [5] And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. [6] And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. [7] The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. [8] And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; [9] And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed. [10] And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; [11] And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter. [12] And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise. [13] And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!

Sometimes the powerlessness of small ones in both life and death feels irrevocable and overwhelming.

But our God minds every sparrow

The story is not over

Until we hear his voice…

I wish there were a salve that I could pour out over the avenue pietà

Blown glass overflown with

Remedy made of light

An unspooling of the reckless myopia that led to the senseless tragedy

The beloved returned home

Wish.

V. Prayer—

The fragile vessel, the mind, the heart, the words spilled out to the God of Time and Propitiation

I don’t care if I don’t understand the words and can’t see the light

He will come back

Scoop up the Beloved

Call us Home