I spend a fair amount of time in airports and on airplanes. On almost every trip, someone inevitably asks me what I do for a living. I generally want to answer, “It’s complicated.” There should be a special club for those of us in indescribable vocations. In the last year I have settled on, “I’m a trauma therapist. I specialize in the intersection of faith and mental health.”

My grandmother (who we lovingly called Mema) used to say, “There is a time for everything—a season for every stage—an ending for every beginning.” It reminds me of these words from Ecclesiastes 3:

Growing up, I thought I was pretty much the perfect kid. Even in high school, I was always the good kid—I even got voted “Parent’s Dream Child” my senior year of high school. (Yes, I know that’s not a “Most Likely To” award, but hey, it’s a small town and you gotta take what you can get.)

Today we focus on the Epistle, Philippians 3:4b–14, with a devotion from A Year in the Word.

We focus on the Epistle today with an excerpt from Reading Romans with Luther.

As we enter the season of Lent, we read a devotion from Sacred Head, Now Wounded: Resources for Lent–Easter Preaching and Worship.

Our devotional reading for the Fourth Sunday in Lent comes from a sermon in Concordia Pulpit Resources.

Today’s devotional reading focuses on the Epistle and comes from Saved by Grace: A Study of Christian Doctrine—Student Book.

Our devotional reading this Sunday focuses on the Gospel text and comes from Concordia Commentary: John 1:1–7:1.

My friend bought an old, but low mileage, cute Volkswagen Bug. But this car had sat immobile for too long. Almost immediately, the car’s fuel pump failed. Next, the water pump failed. Soon, the belts failed. And so on. Our bodies are very much like that little Bug. If we don’t use them, we lose them, so to speak. They do not function at their best. “Fearfully and wonderfully” God designed our bodies (Psalm 139). And when we use them by moving (exercising) them, the way God designed, our bodies are amazing. However, if we sit, just like this poor car sat, they fail to be all they can be.