This book is dedicated:
To the powerful men and women of God who taught and challenged me through his Word and lived out its teachings before me: Pastor Hiawatha Coleman, Reverend Gregory Johnson, and Thornton and Frances Anderson.
To the mighty women of prayer who instilled in me the discipline of devotion, the necessity of solitude, and the power of the Spirit: Denise Van Dorn and Rachel Barber.
To my comrades in this fight for justice: Lisa Sharon Harper, David and Joy Bailey, Rudy and Juanita Rasmus, and Ken and Tamara Wytsma.
To my bestie, Jen Casselberry, whose loving, persistent nagging demanded this idea become a reality.
To my amazing children who fill my life with joy and keep me on my knees: Jessica, Joshua, Joel, Lea, Asha Joy, and Jonathan.
And to my husband and friend, Leroy Barber, whose fire and faith inspire me to believe that not only is it possible to change the world but also that we are required and accountable, as Jesus followers, to do so.
Sometimes you get tired. In the midst of the marching and the posting and the blogging and the meetingsyes, the many, many meetingsyou get tired. Tired of having to explain it again to people who dont get it. Tired of figuring out the wording and the right tone of voice. Tired of swallowing the frustration that rises like bile in the back of your throat and tired of pushing down the anger or the sorrow or the fear. Sometimes you get tired while pursuing this thing called justice , and you just have to pause, breathe, and steal away until the dust kicked up in that days battle settles. Sometimes you have to take a moment to feed your soul.
I was able to get by with snacking on Sunday morning sermons and sporadic, repetitious prayer when I was schlepping through the dull routines of lifework, eat, sleep, school, eat, sleep, play, eat, sleep. But when I dared to pursue the narrow way of the kingdom, to discover and fulfill purpose, to hear and heed the call, I slowly realized that my spirit required something more substantive and nourishing.
Doing justice is often intense and progress painfully slow. For it requires both strength and endurance to accept the mistake, the misquote, and the misunderstanding, or to push through the pain of disappointment... again. You must be willing to be a friend without making friends and to find glory in your weakness. Days are sometimes wrought with emotional cuts and bruises, and relationships are often strained or lost. Patience is tested. Courage is tried. Yet love must remain both method and goal.
On those days (every day), this book is meant to be more than a devotional. Its a reminder of the why and a suggestion of the how for our spiritual disciplines. Its a tool for creating a quiet space, a connection point between our divine contact and our human context. Its an expression of gratitude for the good days and a word of encouragement for the bad, a pat on the back and a kick in the butt. At the very least its meant to provide the thought, word, and hope that is needed on any given day to keep you on the path, in the game, and going about the work of the high calling of God that is in Christ Jesus.
Jesus said, I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst (John 6:35), and My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work (John 4:34). We are fed and strengthened by the Bread of Life to go and do the good works that nourish our souls. Daily work fueled by daily devotion is the meat and bread designed to sustain us through this life.
As you begin or end each day, read and reread each days Scripture passage (occasionally, you will find verses quoted in my translation, noted as DT). Pause and think on the accompanying reflection. Hum the tunes you hear when you scan the QR codes that are sprinkled throughout the book. Taste and chew. Pray and listen to the Spirit, then make note of what you have heard in your notebook or journal. But know that you cant receive the full benefit of the meal until you have digested it by acting on that word in your everyday life.
Eat and may your soul be refreshed, your heart cleansed, your mind renewed, and your courage restored. May you be moved again and again to do justice as you respond first to God and then to the needs of others.
Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? Who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?
Psalm 94:16
READING: PSALM 94:12-23
In 2008, the war film Defiance was released by director Edward Zwick. The film is based on the true story of four Belarusian Jewish brothers who manage to escape Nazi forces sweeping through Eastern Europe by taking refuge in a forest. The brothers turn their struggle for survival into a battle against the Nazis. They are joined by an ever-growing crowd of other survivors who, emboldened by the band of brothers, choose to risk their lives to defy the Nazi forces in a fight for freedom.
I was first intrigued and then inspired by this daring and bold resistance to authority. I saw a nobility in their causea righteous indignation that moved me. The brothers and their friends were a ragtag bunch who, much like David facing Goliath, appeared to be inadequately armed and poorly matched against the vast and powerful Nazi army. But they were no longer choosing to hide with hopes only of surviving. No, they were choosing to fight so that they might live .
I think about the bands of brothers and sisters that rise up today and scream No! to pipelines that destroy sacred land, yell Times Up! to the men and institutions that abuse women, and cry Black Lives Matter! to a legal system whose practices suggest that black bodies are without value. I think about the boycotts and the marches, the hashtags and the signs, and I wonderis this, too, the way of Jesus?
As I consider this current disruption movement, I run through the scriptural narrative in my mind, hunting for evidence that Jesus was involved in acts of resistance, either by instruction or example. However, despite my hopes to the contrary, I could not come up with one example where Jesus or the disciples held up picket signs or marched in the street. There is no record of a sit-in or die-in at the palace gates in Rome. No calls for the resignation of Caesar or Pilate or the chief priest.
Can a corrupt throne be allied with you a throne that brings on misery by its decrees?
PSALM 94:20 (NIV)
But we need to recognize that there is a record of protest throughout Scripture and that standing for often involves standing against . Standing for the poor is standing against greed. Standing for the oppressed is standing against tyranny. Standing for love is standing against hate. Standing for righteousness is standing against evil.
