Afternoons with Sonny

In case you we're believing otherwise, you won't find a single place in the Bible where Jesus is disappointed with you. Doubts may comes, failure will happen, but none of that results in Jesus being disappointed in you or him deciding to take his presence away from you. That just won't happen. His love is unconditional.

You might already know this, but "do not be afraid" is the most repeated command in the Bible. The reason that is such an encouragement is not because it's a command to get over an emotion. At the heart of it, it's truly an invitation to see Jesus and know that his presence and his love shrink our fears.

I'm not sure what's lurking around the corner in your life that has you worried today, but this much I do know for certain. God will fulfill every promise that he has made to you. You may be asking, "How do you know for certain?" I know because God is a promise keeper. If he's said he'll do it, you can believe it. God doesn't break promises, he's not us.

The failure and disappointment of today has a chance to ruin our tomorrow if we're not proactive about realizing it. Tomorrow truly is a gift and it's given to us by a God of endless possibility. Why allow a bad today to ruin what could be an amazing tomorrow? Everyday, we have the choice to focus our attention the purpose and the power and the promise and the plan of our mighty God. Let's make th...

There's this part of the Bible where Jesus talks about the "narrow path". In my life, I've always taken that to mean that fewer will choose the narrow, more difficult path while most of the world will choose the easier, wider path. While all of that may be true, when Jesus talks about the narrow path, he's telling us that the path is only wide enough for one: him. This is what Jesus meant in John...

At one point or another, we've all found ourselves in a frustrating time of waiting, and that's about as frustrating of a time as it can get. We talk ourselves into the idea that it would just be easier if we could rip off the proverbial band-aid and just get the outcome now, even if the outcome isn't what we're hoping for, at least we'd have some clarity. I've learned over time and painful waitin...

Probably a lot of us, maybe you, could recite the Lord's Prayer if we had to. There's the line in there "Give us this day, our daily bread." That's not for next week, next year, or even tomorrow. Just enough for today. God is enough for us every single day. He's the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He will take care of you each day. He is our daily bread.

Not sure if you need to hear this today, but if you need to rest, it's okay. Whether that physically or spiritually, you can rest. God will handle the rest.

What is it that you need today? Do you need: -significance? -love? -acceptance? -purpose? -peace? -satisfaction? -calm in the storm? -a friend that sticks close? Well, Jesus fulfills all of those needs and more. If you've got Jesus, you've got it all.

There are times in our lives when we're faced with what feels like a mountain of a problem, and by God's grace, he moves it for us. But there are other times where God chooses not to move that obstacle. This doesn't mean that God is somehow no longer good, quite the opposite actually. God joins you right where you are to climb over that problem, no matter how long it takes. God is with us in our s...

The reach of God's grace is as deep and as far reaching as sin. There is no sin and no shame that God's grace hasn't already erased.

Here's the truth: We will never learn so much and become so mature in our faith that we'll no longer need to rely upon the grace and wisdom of God. It's just not possible. We're not that smart. We're not that wise. We're not that independent. We will never not need God and I don't know about you, but I'm thankful for that today.

If you're hearing an old piece of advice, it's probably because it withstands the test of time. This one from Saint Francis De Sales. “Be patient with everyone, but above all with yourself...do not be disheartened by your imperfections, there's no better way of growing in the spiritual life than to be always starting over again.” Lean on God today. If you've fallen, don't worry. He's always there...

Today marks the 5th anniversary of the Dallas shooting that resulted in the death of 5 Dallas police officers. If you we're in Dallas-Fort Worth 5 years ago, you will probably never forget what took place on July 7th, 2016. At a memorial earlier today, Chief Garcia said that: "Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid." Today we remember the 5 fallen officers who gave their lives for our communit...

I'm hoping that it has not been one of those days, but every once in a while, one of those days comes along. Since they do, I want to offer this reminder: God will not be sleeping tonight. Nope, he just doesn't need it. But we do and since God won't be sleeping, we can.

Maybe you find yourself walking through a child who is giving you a handful. If you are, you're not alone. We're currently experiencing this with our youngest child and I was recently given some encouragement from a pastor friend of mine that I think would be of encouragement to you as well. It isn't easy, but with God's strength, stand with your child during the tough times. Kids just want to kno...

Back on September 23, 1857, a man named Jerimiah Lanphier started a noon prayer meeting right in the heart of New York City. About 6 people were in attendance. A couple of weeks later, the largest financial crisis in United States History to date occurred and in the days following, more than 3,000 people gathered for noon time prayer. This prayer movement spread and as a result, over a million peo...

I'm no Hebrew scholar but in talking to people who are, I found out something really interesting. In the Hebrew language, which is the language of the Old Testament, there is no Hebrew word for "coincidence". A word that means a remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances without apparent causal connection. Just my humble opinion, but maybe we should stop chalking things up to "coincidence",...

We have to face the facts: We can't go back and get a brand new start. We just can't. There's no rewinding the clock, there's no time machine. But thanks to God's grace and mercy, we can start today and get a brand new ending.

Here is a piece of encouragement I heard from Pastor Matt Chandler that I wanted to share with you "If God has eternally loved me, then his love for me can't be based on my past. Because he loved me before I ever had one."

I wonder if you've ever thought of God as watching over us with this God notepad and pencil just keeping record of all the mistakes we make throughout the day. That may be a daunting mental picture but that couldn't be farther from the truth. Just think about it: If that we're the case, why would we need Jesus? Remember 1 Corinthians 13, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does no...

The story of David & Goliath is pretty well known and it's an awesome story, but sometimes I worry that it's gets written off in our minds as a great story to tell to kids in Sunday school. I'd agree it's a great story for kids to know, but by no means is a children's story. There's so much there for each and everyone of us to unpack. The Philistines we're feeling pretty confident as David stepped...

I don't know what you may be facing today, but I'm realistic enough to know you may be dealing with some problems that are causing you feel a little jumbled up. Unfortunately, I don't have any fixes for you. But what I do have some experience and what I've learned is when I spend just a little more the truths and promises we have in Christ, it seems to put those problems back into perspective. Whe...

It's not uncommon for us to have a thought and immediately pick up our phone and share it with our friends on Facebook or Twitter. And there's nothing inherently wrong with it. Here's just a thought the next time we have this urge: instead of casting your anxieties on the internet, which cares for no one, let's cast our anxieties on God. The one who cares for us.

A little nugget of wisdom from the always awesome Bob Goff "When God doesn't give us all of the answers we want, that's when we get to decide whether just having him is going to be enough for us." That hits deep.