past words catch up...

Once I preached underneath the cross
pictured above.

Oh sure,
there were good days and bad...
better sermons and worse.
And yes, some thought
they were all bad...
some thought
they were all good...
I've preached long enough
to know better.

Sermons are a journey...
especially for the ones who prepare them.

Along the journey
the preacher
is the first
to encounter The Word.

The preacher
is the first
to wrestle with the meaning
The Word
has
for life
right now,
today.

The preacher's life
story...
predicament...
grief...
angst....
is the first to be
sprawled out
in the
light of
The Word.

"You preached that sermon
specifically to me."
No...
that is typically not the case.

The beginning journey of the sermon
typically
involves...
convicts...
bestows grace upon...
the preacher...
the one called to speak.

Sermons underneath the cross
pictured above
were always recorded.
I listened to one
the other day.

I don't like hearing my own voice....
though I stuck with it....
endured it.

Months have past
since that time
I wrote and
spoke
these words
now recorded.

This time the meaning
and the emphasis
were more powerful.

I only thought I knew
what being emptied meant.

I only thought I knew
what being filled with grace meant.

All these months later...
God
demanded
my attention...
with the very words I
gathered and spoke.

"Listen to what you preach!"
I have.
I did.

As difficult as it was...
in the end
the
grace of God
prevailed.