Proverbs is full of practical observations and counsel regarding stewardship and material wellbeing. This passage refers to two seemingly contrasting attributes: generosity and moderation.

Generosity is implied when the teacher notes, “Whoever shuts their ears to the cry of the poor will also cry out and not be answered” (v 13).

“Father, if you will, please don’t make me suffer…” This is Christ, fully aware of the importance of what he is about to accomplish but also fully aware of the suffering about to be imposed. His words underscore the depth and intensity of this hour of darkness. Scourging, denial, mockery and hours of excruciating pain and torture. Verse 44 gives us a glimpse of the magnitude of this horror when it tells us “his sweat fell to the ground like drops of blood.”

When you’ve just lied three times, you don’t want your teachers, mentors or friends to find you out.

Jesus has just told Peter that he (Peter) will be tested the way a farmer separates wheat from husks – with focused intensity and power that shreds living material apart – but that he has prayed for Peter’s faith. In the courtyard of the high priest’s house, Peter declares (v 33) that he’s ready to go with Jesus to jail.

Have you ever been given the runaround? Have you ever been passed from one customer service agent to another with no one willing or able to satisfy your question? That happened to me just recently. I called one of our suppliers to get an answer to what I thought was a simple question only to be transferred from one agent to another with what appeared to me to be a strategy to wear me down.

Could you be silent for as long as needed?

At the July 2015 Pan Am Games held in the Greater Toronto Area, I led silent stand-ins. These stand-ins were the culmination of two years of awareness-raising around the reality of human trafficking during large sporting events.

What happens when you have to pick up your cross and follow Jesus?

Even though Simon is only crossing paths with Jesus, having just come in to the city from the countryside, the Roman soldiers grab Simon as they lead Jesus away. They make him carry the crossbeam as Jesus can no longer carry this weight.

Ambition – what a great value! Or is it??

This wisdom poem challenges us to reconsider where we focus our energies.

How often do we decide what we want to do and then ask God to bless our endeavour?