The photos of the men in the prison in El Salvador have been tormenting me for weeks. Men, forcibly shaved, stripped down to nothing, put into cells with bunk beds four stories high, with barely any elbow room, sharing breathing space with other men... I see those pictures and I wonder, what could they possibly have done to deserve this?

I have mentioned previously that my word for the year is JOY. I knew when I picked this word back in November that it would be a hard word to focus on for 2025, considering all that was coming. I could not have predicted, however, all that has happened these past three months. It has been even more imaginably difficult than I initially thought.

In honor of the asylum-seekers who fled for their lives from the unthinkable, only to be forced to leave once more, as our own government revokes their status and turns them out.

This week in one of my classes, we are studying the enthronement psalms. The enthronement psalms make up only 7 of the 150 psalms contained in the Old Testament. Five of them, Psalms 95-99, are in order and seem to have a logical progression between them, starting with the beginning of a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and ending with God sitting on the throne of the temple. They’re worth a read if you’re looking for a devotion to do today. They’re full of praises to God and declarations of His reign over all things.

I started this blog thinking I wanted to talk about how we can have joy even in the midst of hardship. Instead, I want to talk about trauma.

I’ve been spending a lot of time this past week thinking about something my dear friend and pastor said to me when we had lunch together on Monday. It resonated with me deeply.

When I was growing up in the 90s, Billy Graham was a very big deal. He was doing his evangelistic crusades across the country, trying to bring people to faith in Christ. He had written books and been on TV. My dad used to volunteer for the crusades when they came to town, praying with people who came forward to the altar call.

I've been thinking about this a lot recently.

"Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment." - Romans 13:1-2

I have to admit that in the past few weeks as I've been reading one devastating headline after another, I haven’t exactly known what to pray for. I have prayed against hate, that God would help me to be compassionate in my responses to others and to not let hate seed into my heart. But in terms of the country, I keep throwing my hands up and praying, "God, what are we supposed to do? Tell me what to do and I will do it."

I grew up in the WWJD generation. Even if you didn’t, if you were around in the 90s, you might recall. WWJD was stamped on T-shirts and pins and slap bracelets and bumper stickers. The booming question of "What would Jesus do?" was asked from pulpits and at youth revivals and even made its way into popular Christian music.

One of the latest orders coming down from the White House is a bill to "end anti-Christian bias". I found that surprising. It suggests we need this bill because anti-Christian bias exists, only, last I knew, Christianity was the most privileged religion in the country... where is this coming from?