Photo Every Day 2025

I have not been feeling well since mid January. Boo for sickness.

On the second week of January I traveled with Polen Band to Florida for the Sonlife Disciple-Making Conference, where we led worship and I helped train a Strategy Seminar. I brought some kind of sick bug back home with me and haven’t quite fully healed from it, yet. I have been trying to recover during the weeks, and have been traveling over the weekends.

On the weekend after getting home from Florida, Polen Band led worship for a high school youth retreat (“Ice Camp”) at Miracle Camp in Lawton, MI. We drove back up to Michigan the weekend after that to lead worship for a second “Ice Camp” retreat. The weekend after that we drove to Lake Geneva Youth Camp in Lake Geneva WI for a high school retreat called “Arctic Blast”. Polen Band led worship, and I had the privilege of speaking for the retreat.

The students at these camps have been a lot of fun. There have been some incredibly passionate worshipers in the crowd. Seeing their zeal for the LORD is contagious, and encourages me to pursue Jesus more intentionally, myself.

Back in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was raging across the world, I asked a buddy of mine to handcraft me a special mug of a face with a mask on it to remember the craziness of what we were living through. On the back of the mug is the simple verse Romans 8:28.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28, ESV)

Today I was thinking about that promise of God using all things for good. It’s true. He doesn’t waste anything. He uses “bad” situations for good. He uses “good” situations for good. He is in the business of taking broken things and making them beautiful. Praise the LORD!

If you, like me, have been feeling under the weather for a while, it’s okay. God is good. We can trust Him. We can’t always see Him at work, but we can trust that whatever He is up to, it is good.

This silly mug always reminds me of that important truth.