Month: March 2020

Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. John 2:19 While enslaved to drugs, I couldn’t understand why God would allow me to have such a self-destructive appetite. Even in recovery, I’ve often been frustrated by my persistent flaws. Why would God allow me to have an ongoing hunger for unhealthy…
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Making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. John 2:15 Once, long ago and far away, I met a businessman who went to church, it seemed to me, just to network. I…
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Why waste time reading, when someone else can read for you? I’m happy to announce that the daily blog can now be listened to as a podcast. On the website – www.faithinthestruggle.com – under each individual entry, you should see the option to listen to the audio for that entry. Just click and . .…
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Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” John 2:7 One of the online news sources I view daily allows readers to respond to the articles. I’m not sure why I ever scroll down to read them, because usually, they are just vile comments, meant to inflame and agitate. One caught my eye…
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Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” John 1:46 As a kid, I had tremendous pride in my school, which meant that I thought the Watchdogs – yes, Watchdogs – were better than everyone else. I just knew that those who lived in the next town over were buffoons. Then, as…
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Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” John 1:38 I have certain goals at the gym, but I’m not there yet. My problem isn’t that I don’t know what to do. I know I should get up every day and go, but some days, I want to sleep…
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For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. John 1:17 I sat across from him over a cup of coffee a while back. He was a heroin addict who was facing significant impending consequences due to his addiction. Remorseful, but still not quite yet willing to give up chemicals,…
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In him was life, and the life was the light of men. John 1:4 Modern medicine sees addiction as a disease and step one of AA teaches that I’m powerless over my disease. I objected to these concepts initially, because I needed to believe that I wasn’t simply a hopeless victim and that I had…
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In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1 When first compelled to address my chemical dependency problem, I was instructed by some in the church that I didn’t need treatment or AA. All you need is Jesus. I was told that any attempt to…
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Repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations . . . Luke 24:47 Whenever I meet someone in clinic who has successfully quit smoking, I ask how they did it. Most have tried several times, failing repeatedly, and then committed to some significant change in behavior before finding…
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