When it’s frigid outdoors, our tires need to be checked from time to time. The same is true with our souls. The cold days should prompt us to seek out the Lord — reminding us that we could all use a quickening of His Spirit. And just like that portable compressor my wife gave me last year; God has given us Word. I bet you have a copy somewhere you home. Read it often, it’ll recharge you and fill your heart.

$500 a week didn’t go far, especially with teenagers, a mortgage, car payment and the like. For about a month, the groceries thinned, until one week, all that was left was a box of quinoa, a cup of rice, and a few scraps in the fridge. We made do with what we had and never complained. Through it all, we thanked God for the roof over our heads, the food on our table, my wife’s income, and the promises God had kept.

What’s twenty bucks? To me, it’s just the means to satisfy my afternoon bread. But perhaps for Silas, it was everything—a start to a new beginning. “Father God, bless Silas. (You know his real name). May the blessing you’ve given me help him. Thank you for the opportunity to be a blessing, and for another teaching moment for us all. Amen.”

I know this sounds odd, but all that mucous we hock out when we cough, hack and vigorously force through our nostrils… well, all that yuck reminds of me of the crud that Jesus came to this earth to clear-out from our souls. And while that’s a bizarre analogy, just think about it for a bit. Isn’t it kind of true?

December 1, 2025 Jason Bonnicksen 365 Days of Thanksliving — Day 1 Today, I buried a man. His name was Harold Gene Schultz, and Harry was more than a man, he was a friend. Equally so, Harry was a parishioner and a brother in the Lord. I will forever be thankful for my friend and the man the Lord God put on this earth. Harry was a little rough around the edges, I loved that about him. He had been through a lot in life. He’d lost his wife at a very young age; had two children;