Wayfarer

I have always been a morning person, dang it. A chapter-a-day podcast from Psalm 143. The text version can be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

Thus far in my life journey, I am happy to say that I have avoided prison time, at in the traditional sense of the word. A chapter-a-day podcast from Psalm 142. The text version may be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

All of the ritual, participation, knowledge and cognitive assent to a belief statement at church had relatively little effect on my motives, my thoughts, my words, or my actions. A chapter-a-day podcast from Psalm 141. The text version may be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

Ever since I was a kid, I have been one to excessively ruminate on conflict or personal problems that I encounter along life's road. A chapter-a-day podcast from Psalm 140. Text version may be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

I've learned along this journey that sometimes old things must be razed before new, fruitful things can begin growing. A chapter-a-day podcast from Psalm 139. Text version may be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

I find that God's Kingdom is not about top-down systemic power but about bottom-up organic transformation of Spirit. A chapter-a-day podcast from Psalm 138. Text version may be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

This past weekend as I spent hours power-washing, I found my mind wandering back to a slight that I experienced fifteen years ago which became the death knell of a relationship that effectively ended ten years before that. A chapter-a-day podcast from Psalm 137. The text version may be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

As I thought about the structure of the song, I couldn't help but think that it parallels every life story, my life story. A chapter-a-day podcast from Psalm 136. Text version may be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

Wendy and I returned last night from our "spring break" in which we spent a long weekend getting our Playhouse at the lake opened up and ready for the coming summer. A chapter-a-day podcast from Psalm 135. Text version may be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

In the quiet this morning I find myself meditating on the spiritual notion of "call and response" which works in both directions. A chapter-a-day podcast from Psalm 134. Text version may be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

I am grieved by the level of discord, dissension, conflict, and "cancellation" in our culture of late. A chapter-a-day podcast from Psalm 133. The text version can be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

When Paul said that for the believer "old things pass away" I believe that among the things that pass away are beliefs, patterns of thought, and behaviors that were instilled in me by the systems into which I was born and in which I was raised. A chapter-a-day podcast from Psalm 132. Text version can be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

Contentment seems always to reside on life's horizon, but David's lyrics remind me today that contentment is found within me. A chapter-a-day podcast from Psalm 131. Text version can be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com . Please share this podcast with anyone you might enjoy it.

As a student of history, I can tell you that public shaming, scapegoating, and what today we call "cancelling" have been around as long as human civilization. A chapter-a-day podcast from Psalm 130. The text version can be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

In the quiet this morning, I find myself confessing that there are a host of human experiences that I can't completely fathom because I haven't experienced them myself, but that doesn't mean I can't seek to understand, to empathize, and to learn lessons from the experience of others. A chapter-a-day podcast from Psalm 129. The text version can be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

Wendy and I were so blessed this past Christmas to have the kids and Milo home. As always, meals were an important part of the family agenda from cocktails through dessert. A chapter-a-day podcast from Psalm 128. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

When I was a young man, I embarked on a fact-finding mission to better understand my families of origin. What I discovered was that underneath the veneer of stories that I'd been told (the good, polite, and acceptable ones) there was a whole lot of mess. A chapter-a-day podcast from Psalm 127. Text version can be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

In the quiet this morning, I find myself reflecting on the highs and lows of this life journey. A chapter-a-day podcast from Psalm 126. Text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

I have found that the spiritual truths that God wove into creation increasingly come into focus and gain clarity as my eyes weaken and my vision fades with age. A chapter-a-day podcast from Psalm 125. Text version can always be found at tomvanderwell.com .

I have experienced that the breaking of certain traditions has been a spiritually healthy thing for me personally. I have also found that rediscovering lost traditions, that may have needed to go away for a time, can be equally as healthy to my spiritual journey. A chapter-a-day podcast on Psalm 124. Text version can be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

There were different songs of ascent for the different seasons of life each spiritual wayfarer might be in on the repeated journey to and from Jerusalem. A chapter-a-day podcast from Psalm 123. Text version may be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

His mission was not to change the kingdoms of this world, but to instill the Kingdom of God into the hearts of individuals, that I might bring that Kingdom into the human systems in which I interact every day. A chapter-a-day podcast from Psalm 122. Text version may be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

In the quiet this morning, I am reminded by the lyrics of this song that sometimes I need words of assurance and affirmation along this life journey. A chapter-a-day podcast from Psalm 121. Text version can always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

One summer in my youth, I worked in the cornfields. I will always remember it as the summer that I learned about work songs. A chapter-a-day podcast from Psalm 120. Text version may be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com . 

Making the Great Story a part of my daily life hasn't made me perfect or pure, but the Great Shepherd has always used it to find this lost sheep and call me back to the fold. A chapter-a-day podcast from Psalm 119. The text version may be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .