Today is the 18th day of September.

Wow.

This year.

Wow.

We got quite a ways to go, but wow, it's gone by pretty fast.

It's hard to believe this late into the year, this late into September. It's great to be here

with you today as we do what we do every single day, step by step, day by day, this is how many

days we've traveled into the year. I'm grateful for the journey that we are on,

this 20th journey through the scriptures.

Grateful to be here in a safe place.

One of the safest places in my life,

if not the safest place, is here.

In this safe container that we make,

this little oasis that we create every day as we gather together,

knowing that all of these defense mechanisms and all of the unguardedness

and hypervigilance

that we might live with, that can be, like, that can be just turned off briefly.

Because here we're just doing one thing, and that is engaging with the scriptures

and allowing them

to do whatever they do inside of us

with open hearts because our hearts are open to the Holy Spirit,

to God.

...