It’s our annual reminder (perhaps we should do it more often!) that we’re not in this battle alone. The “Force” was the power behind Jedi knights (and their evil counterparts like Darth Vader) in the Star Wars movies.

We have the real Force:

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. (Acts 1.8, ESV, emphasis mine)

And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness… And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. (Acts 4.31, 33, ESV, emphasis mine)

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. (1 John 4.4, ESV, emphasis mine)

Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel… No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you…Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1.2, 5, 9, ESV, emphasis mine)

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28.18 – 20, ESV, emphasis mine)

Did you see the Kentucky Derby yesterday? I missed it live, but as I was watching the full race replay, I was thinking to myself, “I thought I read that the horse that won came from last place. They can’t be talking about that horse where the jockey is wearing a black shirt and a red helmet. He’s trailing the field by several lengths!”

Even with only 1/2 mile to go, that horse is still trailing the field:

With a 1/4 mile to go, he’s moving up…from 18th place to 13th place. Remember, red helmet, black shirt:

His name is Golden Tempo. You don’t see his name on the leader board. Down the stretch, he appears to be in 8th or 9th place:

And, sure enough, Golden Tempo goes from dead last to first:

You can’t make this stuff up. He also made history because his trainer, Cherie Devaux, is the first female trainer to win the Kentucky Derby.

So many lessons. First, of course, is it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. But beyond that, I was thinking about Bible people who went from last to first. David the shepherd boy, who became King David. The eighth and maybe an illegitimate son of Jesse, David wasn’t even invited to the party with Samuel.

And what about Saul of Tarsus? The dude was a terrorist. But he not only became a believer, he was chosen by God to carry the gospel to the Gentiles:

Later, you can see progressions of his humility:

• “I am the least of the apostles:” (1 Corinthians 15.9)
• ”I am the very least of all the saints:” (Ephesians 3.8)
• ”I am the chief of sinners:” (1 Timothy 1.15)

Can we bring it closer to home? Consider Donald Trump, considered “last” by many people in character, as well as actions. (I wrote about his character on April 23, 2026.) Can such a man go from “last” to first as Saul of Tarsus did? Do we believe in transformation? Do we believe that last to first occurs only in horse races? Or can people also go from last to first? Let’s pray to that end, not just for the President, but for ourselves and others we know.

With Jeremiah as our guide, we’ve been considering Whom Do We Worship? and In Whom Do We Trust? In the second half of Jeremiah 17, we’re reminded that one way we trust God is not working seven days a week to meet our needs. It’s called the Sabbath, and although the Pharisees of Jesus’ day weaponized it, resting one day a week is not a bad idea. It’s the one command of the Big 10 that gets the most press:

Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. (Exodus 20.9, 10, ESV (from verses 8 – 11)) See also Exodus 16.26, 23.12, 31.15, 34.21, 35.2, Leviticus 23.3, Deuteronomy 5.13 – that’s a lot of verses saying the same thing!)

I’m especially challenged by this verse’s emphasis:

“Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest. (Exodus 34.21, NIV)

“Even during the plowing season and harvest, you must rest.” That requires trust, does it not? And, predictably, in Jeremiah’s day, ignoring the Sabbath command was a problem:

Thus said the LORD to me: “Go and stand in the People’s Gate, by which the kings of Judah enter and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem, and say: ‘Hear the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter by these gates. Thus says the LORD: Take care for the sake of your lives, and do not bear a burden on the Sabbath day or bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem…Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck, that they might not hear and receive instruction.(Jeremiah 17.19 – 21, 23, ESV)

So for that violation and many others, the Jews were cast out of their land and taken off to Babylon. After the captivity, when Nehemiah rebuilt the wall and was governing in Jerusalem, the problem was still there, and Nehemiah remembered:

In those days I saw in Judah people treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys, and also wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them on the day when they sold food. Tyrians also, who lived in the city, brought in fish and all kinds of goods and sold them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah, in Jerusalem itself! Then I confronted the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers act in this way, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Now you are bringing more wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath… (Nehemiah 13.15 – 18, ESV, emphasis mine)

Isaiah turns the command into a promise:

“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” For the mouth of the LORD has spoken. (Isaiah 58.13, 14, NIV)

PS I have written before that I don’t believe that adhering to a Sabbath principle precludes our working on Sunday. After all, Sunday is your pastor’s busiest day of the week. But the command to rest is clear. Sometimes, we just have to do it on another day.

I closed yesterday with the teaser that we have a choice, spelled out in Jeremiah 17:

Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.

Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit. (Jeremiah 17.5 – 8, ESV)

Trust in man and turn away from the Lord => won’t see the good.

Trust in the LORD => won’t fear the bad and will continue to bear fruit.

No middle ground. Cursed or blessed is the choice.

And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” (1 Kings 18.21, ESV)

And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24.15, ESV)

IN GOD WE TRUST – official motto of the United States of America

Back to Jeremiah, we’re reading chapters 15 – 19 this week: a lot of judgment! Also, threats against Jeremiah, for example:

Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth, a man with whom the whole land strives and contends! I have neither lent nor borrowed, yet everyone curses me…LORD, you understand; remember me and care for me. Avenge me on my persecutors. You are long-suffering—do not take me away; think of how I suffer reproach for your sake. (Jeremiah 15.10, 15, ESV)

In the middle of that, Jeremiah still clings to the Word…

Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts. (Jeremiah 15.16, ESV)

…and still proclaims judgment (see Jeremiah 16.1 – 9) summarizing:

And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, “Why has the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?” then you shall say to them:

• “Because your fathers have forsaken me, declares the LORD, and
• have gone after other gods and
• have served and worshiped them, and
• have forsaken me and
• have not kept my law, and
• because you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, every one of you follows his stubborn, evil will, refusing to listen to me.” (Jeremiah 16.10 – 12, ESV, bulleted for clarity)

“Served and worshiped” other gods. I heard a teenager say once, “I worship James Bond!” There’s a role model for you.

Chapter 17 reminds us that we have a choice. Stay tuned. In the meantime:

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. (Deuteronomy 6.4 – 7, ESV)

While we wrestle with the seeming inevitability of war, let’s break away for more uplifting news from the four astronauts on the Artemis II lunar mission.

We already looked at what Christian pilot Vic Glover said on Easter Sunday:

I think, as we go into Easter Sunday, thinking about all the cultures all around the world, whether you celebrate it or not, whether you believe in God or not, this is an opportunity for us to remember where we are, who we are, and that we are the same thing, and that we’ve gotta get through this together.

What about the mission commander Reid Wiseman?

Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman doesn’t consider himself religious, but he asked to speak with a chaplain shortly after arriving back on Earth. Speaking at a NASA news conference Thursday, Wiseman said that while he was on the Navy ship that retrieved the Artemis II crew after splashdown, he felt he needed someone to talk to about his experiences in space. When the chaplain walked into his cabin, Wiseman saw the cross on his collar and broke down in tears, he said. – Reported by World Magazine, April 17, 2026

Meanwhile, Glover, who talked about community and togetherness lived it out on his street in Houston:

Back on the ground, the pilot gathered with his neighbors and told them from his driveway, “Some of us have never met before. And you know whose fault that is? Ours. So let’s choose to do this. … Let’s be neighbors. I don’t know if you heard me say it, but God told us to love him with all that we are and love our neighbors as ourselves. I love you. – Reported by Christianity Today, April 17, 2026

The psalmist felt small, and he didn’t have to look at the earth from the moon:

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? (Psalm 8.3, 4, ESV)

I’m still a bit haunted by my conversation with the Jewish lady who took me to task for “hating” people she thought should be loved and affirmed. (Please see What Would Jesus Do? from a couple of days ago.)

Hold that thought while we think about the kinds of things Pope Leo XIV is doing: taking on President Trump for the war in Iran is one thing. “Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace!” Going to Algeria and proclaiming peace with Islam is another.

Communion between Christians and Muslims takes shape under the mantle of Our Lady of Africa. Here, in #Algeria, the maternal love of Lalla Meryem gathers everyone as children, within our rich diversity, in our shared aspiration for dignity, love, justice, and peace. In a world where division and wars sow pain and death, living in unity and peace is a compelling sign. – Pope Leo XIV

I respect the Pope and understand that he sees one of his roles (maybe his main role) to promote peace. His efforts with respect to Iran and Algeria sound great, but both efforts may be misguided. A.S. Ibrahim, writing in World Magazine, explains about Algeria:

The rhetoric is fancifully poetic, but the reality it ignores is brutal. In Algeria itself, the very country the pope held up as a model of “shared aspiration,” Christians exist only by permission, under a 2006 ordinance that criminalizes evangelism of Muslims with penalties of two to five years in prison and steep fines. Distributing Bibles, posting Christian messages online, or even hosting a prayer meeting can trigger prosecution. Dozens of Protestant churches have been forcibly closed. The 2020 constitution erased explicit protection for freedom of conscience, leaving only “freedom of worship in accordance with the law”—a law written by and for the Islamic state. In a country that constitutionally defines itself as Islamic and treats conversion as a crime, the pope’s talk of “communion” and a “shared mantle” is not merely naïve. It is laughable.

Similarly, the pope and his recent predecessors have uniformly declared that all war is wrong, despite a long history of “just war theory” going back to Augustine. By contrast, the Rev. Gerald Murray, a Catholic priest and commentator on the Catholics’ EWTN, has called out his pope:

Christianity isn’t a pacifist religion. Churchmen need to affirm that the legitimate use of force is virtuous. Protecting the innocent isn’t simply the ideal we hope to attain, it is a clear duty. If negotiation is the only way to solve conflicts, Pope Leo should send home the Swiss Guard and train negotiators to meet with anyone who shows up at Vatican City with a gun or a bomb. Right now, everyone is treated as a suspect by having to pass through metal detectors to get into St. Peter’s. – quoted in Pope Leo XIV Goes to War by William McGurn, Wall Street Journal, April 7, 2026.

This is not to say I approve or disapprove of the current war in Iran. As I wrote a few days ago, such things are above my paygrade. I’m just saying sometimes war is called for. It’s not always wrong. Brad East has just recently written what I think is a balanced view of war and the role of Just War Theory.

Last week’s blog A Defeated Foe with an inspiring painting of the Archangel Michael stepping on the head of Satan reminds us not only that Satan is a defeated foe, but also that he is a foe! There is a war going on. It’s not always possible to just love peace and affirm everyone. (We are called, of course, to “speak the truth in love.” (Ephesians 4.15)).

Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus… (Revelation 12.17, ESV)

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6.12, ESV)

Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. – Jesus, as recorded in Matthew 10.34 – 36, ESV

It’s not every day that a historic record happens. Yesterday, Sunday, April 26, at the London Marathon, Sabastian Sawe became the first man to run the marathon in under two hours. 1:59:30. He beat the previous world record of 2:00:35, set in 2023. It’s roughly the equivalent to Roger Bannister running the first sub-4-minute mile in 1954. Both are records that at one time were considered out of reach.

There are lessons.

First, it’s an illustration of training. Sawe didn’t break the record by accident: he trained for it!

Second, it’s a reminder that training doesn’t guarantee results. Sawe finished first, of course. The guy who finished second ALSO ran the marathon in under two hours! Yomif Kejelcha of Ethiopia ran 1:59:41, just 11 seconds behind. And the guy who finished third, Jacob Kipling of Uganda, ran 2:00:28, also breaking the previous world record.

You can’t make this stuff up. I’m sure they all three trained exactly the same way. All three ran the best they’d ever run. Only one got first place.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. (1 Corinthians 9.24, 25, NIV)

The good news is that in our race we can ALL get the prize:

Train yourself to be godly. (1 Timothy 4.7, NIV)

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3.13, 14, NIV)

It will be interesting to see how long it takes for another sub-two-hour marathon. When the 4-minute mile was broken, it wasn’t long before A LOT of runners broke 4 minutes. Today, the record for the mile is 3:43.13. I’m expecting the same thing here. Now that people know a marathon can be run in under two hours, the elite runners will chase it.

Some stories are worth sharing. This is from an email sent to staff of The Navigators, the organization with which I serve. Jill Marion, who lives in the Washington, D.C., area was writing about an experience in a coffee shop she and her dad frequented for several years. Jill shares:

I was buying coffee from a barista we’ve seen consistently for years. I usually chitchat a bit, but I don’t take the time to stop and go deep. That particular morning she had braces on both of her wrists. I paused and thought, Do I get my coffee and say a few nice words? Or do I ask her what’s wrong? I looked at her hands, and suddenly I just felt so much concern for this barista. I thought, “That must be the Holy Spirit, because I know I just want to get this coffee and get to work.”

So, I asked. She responded, “Oh yeah, I have really bad carpal tunnel syndrome. It hurts so bad I can’t sleep at night.” Now, I had two options: Do I get my coffee, say, “I’m sorry,” and keep it moving? Or do I ask if my dad and I can pray for her? I could feel the concern welling up inside me — the Holy Spirit stirring in me. Jesus cares about her carpal tunnel. Jesus would pray.

So, I said, “You should let my dad pray for you. I’ll pray too, but when he prays, sometimes people get healed. What do you have to lose?” We stopped our morning, and dad held her wrists and prayed for her. She said, “Oh my gosh, my left wrist feels twenty times better, this is unbelievable!” The next day, as I was buying coffee, she excitedly told me, “My wrist is healed!” She had been telling all the baristas about it, and everyone was amazed. One of the baristas asked if she could sit down and have coffee with us, rather than serve us, so she could ask us questions about faith.

God is alive and well, and he’s still at work.

In another part of the same article Marion made this observation after an unexpected conversation with another customer in that coffee shop:

I can’t tell who is a seeker. I have to be the seeker and trust the Holy Spirit to lead.

Jesus told the disciples as he was preparing to heal the man born blind:

We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (John 9.4, 5, ESV)

Similarly, Jesus told the disciples in John 4, while they were in Samaria:

Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” (John 4.34, ESV)

God has work to do, and he has given us the privilege of working with him. Let’s keep our eyes open.

Jesus saw a man… (John 9.1)

As we were passing through Longmont, Colorado, on our way home from Estes Park a few weeks ago, I noticed several crabapple trees in full bloom. Beautiful, and I almost took a picture of them…but I didn’t.

Then we got home, and as I was walking to the community mailbox, I noticed our neighbor two doors over had such a tree. Wow. I took a couple of pictures of her tree. Then I walked back into our house and looked out our patio doors, and guess what? We have our own crabapple tree! (We moved in last July well after the crabapple blossoms were gone.)

June said, “A gift from God.” Agree.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (James 1.17, ESV)