In January of 2023, Tim Keesee and I set out on a journey—a journey that has since taken us around the world. Together we have visited twenty-odd countries spread across all six inhabited continents. But before we embarked on that journey, Tim had found himself a traveler on a very different journey—a journey through cancer. And that is the subject of his new book A Day’s Journey.

Yet this is not just a memoir of diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis. As he tells his own story, Tim reflects on the importance of days, the passing of time, the companions he encountered, and the friends and family members who helped shoulder his load. The most prominent section, though, is the one devoted to telling other people’s stories.
In this section, “Along the Way,” he describes a day spent with people who taught him about courage, hope, joy, wonder, and compassion—people who gave him a deeper understanding of the precious gospel of Jesus Christ. Some have suffered through illnesses, some through difficult circumstances, and some through fierce persecution. Some are just people he admires and looks up to. But all add to the story, all contribute their own knowledge and wisdom. Joni Eareckson Tada makes an appearance here, as do Rosaria Butterfield, Caroline Cobb, and a few whose stories are just as important, though their names are lesser-known.
Together, it makes for a compelling and helpful book. And since it is told by as skilled a writer as Tim, it is also a beautiful book—one that uses the riches of the English language to make it all the better to read.
Those who are enduring a long trial will find A Day’s Journey comforting. Those who are not—but who know they will in the future (since this is, after all, a world in which we all endure trials)—will find it challenging. All who read it will benefit from it and find that it leads their hearts to worship the Lord who accompanies us on every journey, the most difficult as well as the most joyful.
Buy from Amazon

The Lord be with you and bless you on this fine day.
I added a couple of noteworthy Kindle deals just a little bit late yesterday. And I’ll be on the hunt for more today.
(Yesterday on the blog: It’s Okay To Be a Two-Talent Christian)

Ed Welch explains why it’s so important for parents to avoid playing good cop, bad cop roles with their children. “The good cop, bad cop approach may work well when eliciting criminal confessions, but it was never intended for the home.”

I love this little anecdote from the life of Brother Andrew. And it makes me wonder how many of us know our Bibles well enough to be capable of doing something similar today.

We have all wondered what Paul was referring to with his “thorn in the flesh.” But more important than knowing exactly what it was is to consider what it represented.

Is it possible that there’s a part of the New Testament that predates the New Testament? This article (probably rightly) contends that there is.

“Though virtual reality is sufficient for some things, it is terrible for others. At best, it is a stopgap when the alternative is impossible; at worst, it severs the connection to the situation’s significance.” I very much agree. The question we need to ask is whether our churches are fostering virtual participation by constantly streaming our services.

This article, which is meant primarily for fathers, outlines a neglected discipleship tool we should all be making use of.

If you can honestly admit that you are drafting, putting in little effort of your own because of the greater effort of the one you follow, today is the day to confess that sin of complacency before God, to ask him to grant you godly fervor, and to pursue the means he offers to ignite such zeal.

We must allow the Word of God to confront us, to disturb our security, to undermine our complacency and to overthrow our patterns of thought and behavior.
—John Stott

I recently came across a wonderful prayer penned by Archibald Alexander many years ago. In it he prays that God would bless and protect him through the years of old age and into the gates of heaven. May his prayer be ours!

O most merciful God, cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength declineth. Now, when I am old and grey-headed, forsake me not; but let Thy grace be sufficient for me; and enable me to bring forth fruit, even in old age. May my hoary head be found in the ways of righteousness! Preserve my mind from dotage and imbecility, and my body from protracted disease and excruciating pain. Deliver me from despondency and discouragement in my declining years, and enable me to bear affliction with patience, fortitude, and perfect submission to Thy holy will.
As, in the course of nature, I must be drawing near to my end, and as I know I must soon put off this tabernacle, I do humbly and earnestly beseech Thee, O Father of mercies, to prepare me for this inevitable and solemn event: Fortify my mind against the terrors of death. Give me, if it please Thee, an easy passage through the gate of death. Dissipate the dark clouds and mists which naturally hang over the grave, and lead me gently down into the gloomy valley. O my kind Shepherd, who hast tasted the bitterness of death for me, and who knowest how to sympathize with and succour the sheep of Thy pasture, be Thou present to guide, to support, and to comfort me. Illumine with beams of heavenly light the valley and shadow of death, so that I may fear no evil. When heart and flesh fail, be Thou the strength of my heart and my portion for ever. Let not my courage fail in the trying hour. Permit not the great adversary to harass my soul in the last struggle, but make me a conqueror and more than a conqueror in this fearful conflict.
I humbly ask that my reason may be continued to the last, and if it be Thy will, that I may be so comforted and supported, that I may leave a testimony in favour of the reality of religion, and Thy faithfulness in fulfilling Thy gracious promises; and that others of Thy servants who may follow after may be encouraged by my example to commit themselves boldly to the guidance and keeping of the Shepherd of Israel.
And when my spirit leaves this clay tenement, Lord Jesus, receive it. Send some of the blessed angels to convoy my inexperienced soul to the mansion which Thy love has prepared. And O! let me be so situated, though in the lowest rank, that I may behold Thy glory. May I have an abundant entrance administered unto me into the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; for whose sake, and in whose name, I ask all these things. Amen.