May 19th, 2026

Hi Friends,

Highlight packages or movie clips or TV show “shorts” are great if you want to get the sense of what happened while saving time. They are lousy if you want to immerse yourself in the event or the story. Sadly, it seems that too many of us would prefer that our lives would be YouTube shorts — just a few critical details without all the living. But, my friends, that is not real life and it is certainly not the Christian life.

At the end of her romantic novel, Hello Stranger, Katherine Center writes a defence of the literary genre. In that defense, she argues,

“Structurally, thematically, psychologically—love stories create hope and then use it as fuel. Two people meet, and then, over the course of three hundred pages, they move from alone to together. From closed to open. From judgy to understanding. From cruel to compassionate. From needy to fulfilled. From ignored to seen. From misunderstood to appreciated. From lost to found. 

Predictably.

That’s not a mistake. That’s a guarantee of the genre. Things will get better. And we, the readers, get to be there for it. 

We get to watch people get good at love.

We get to witness infinite ways that characters master the pro-social behaviors that make all our lives better—how to listen, and learn, and connect, and nurture, and care-take, and trust, and appreciate, and savor. We get to see people overcome their prejudices, change their minds, forgive each other, and sacrifice for something larger than themselves.”

I’ve re-read that quote several times and, every time, I think, “This is what the Christian life is supposed to be like. The end is decided — “guaranteed” if you will — and, because it is decided, we are moving toward it. We are becoming better people, motivated by hope and promise. We actively seek to benefit the lives of others we meet along the way.

Paul wrote to the Ephesians: "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.” (Eph. 5:8-10)

As followers of Jesus, we are on a journey — our lives, literally — that takes us through wonderful places and experiences and not-so-wonderful places and experiences. We are guided every step of the way and every opportunity we encounter, wonderful or awful, pleasant or abysmal, toward a good end. Each experience is an opportunity to grow, to demonstrate not only what we believe but how much we trust the One who guides us. Along the way, if we trust and obey, our lives get better and that also holds true for the lives our lives touch. Why does all this happen? God saved us and moved us from darkness to light. Now, the challenge is to live as children of light. Keep that in mind as you work your way through this week. Today matters and you matter because we are moving to a guaranteed end.

Blessings!

Doug