I was just in the Gulf of Mexico, went to the beach, and saw something crazy. I saw a father placing his 2-year-old son on the edge of the water, and he sat there and let his son walk forward. The son took one step into the ocean, looked back at his dad, smiled, turned back, and took one more step forward, and he kept doing this. This little 2-year-old boy felt safe amid a vast, powerful, dangerous ocean because he knew his father was present. Today, we celebrate the baptism of the Lord. The Father chooses Jesus and claims that Jesus is the son and that he is safe with him. So, this is what I want to do this new year. I want to be like that little boy who takes a step forward, looks back, and knows that I have a father who is keeping me safe and who takes away all of my anxiety. This is great news, and this is Spirit Juice. Peace.
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This Is Our Battle Cry
This Sunday’s gospel is a battle cry that we are called to go into battle. Jesus says, “You are the salt of the earth.” In the ancient world, when a city was conquered, the soldiers would lay out salt everywhere, on the ground, in the streets, to destroy anything growing there. It sounds weird, but we are called as Christians to eliminate…
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Security Blanket
Question: what is your security blanket? For Gollum, it’s the ring. For Tony Stark, it’s the Iron Man suit. For Woody, it’s his status as a favorite toy. In the gospel for the Sunday, Jesus gives us the foundations of discipleship, and one of those things is getting rid of the unhealthy attachments that prevent us from Jesus. We all have them. We all have those security blankets that bring us false security…
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Protect Your King
I am awful at chess. Like, bad. But the other thing is I try to protect all of the chess pieces on the board, which means I don’t honestly try to protect my king. This is the only thing that you need to win the game. And if you don’t have the king, you lose. Jesus Christ is trying to get this across in the gospel today. You have everything if you have Jesus and nothing else in your life. But if you don’t have Jesus, if you don’t have the king…
