Today, I am deeply grateful for those of you who have supported the Dial Hope Foundation with a financial donation. You are a blessing to many!

The famous actor Paul Newman founded many charities, including the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp for children battling cancer, AIDS, and blood diseases. One afternoon, he and his wife Joanne stopped by the camp to have lunch with the kids. A counselor at a nearby table, suspecting the young patients wouldn't recognize a famous movie star, explained, "That's the man who made this camp possible. Maybe you've seen his picture on his salad dressing bottle?" The children were quiet. Blank stares. So the counselor tried again: "Well, you've probably seen his face on his lemonade carton." An eight-year-old girl perked up. "How long was he missing?"

The story made me smile. The truth is, children don't care if you are rich and famous. They only care that you care. And when it comes right down to it, it is the same for all of us, isn't it? The people who matter most in our lives are simply the ones who cared.

Take a moment today and think of one person who made you feel truly cared for. Maybe it was a parent, a teacher, a friend who showed up when you needed them most. Chances are it wasn't their fame or accomplishments that stayed with you. It was simply that they were present. They noticed. They cared. That is a gift worth passing on.

Prayer: Loving God, we pray with the words of the apostle Paul: "Blessed are you, God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Father of all mercies and God of all consolation." Thank you for your mercy and grace, for your love and care, and for the friends and strangers who have been instruments of that care in our lives. Give us open hearts and open hands, that we might be a blessing to them, to you, and to this world you love so much. Amen.

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In the Gospel of Mark (4:26-34), Jesus tells the crowds that the kingdom of God is like a seed scattered on the ground — and it grows on its own. In fact, it is like a tiny mustard seed: small, but once started, it has a way of taking over everything else. Like kudzu — small, but unstoppable.

What's clear in this series of parables is that the results are beyond our control. If a seed grows at all, it grows on its own timetable. You can't force it. Sometimes people will respond, sometimes they won't. Sometimes we'll see the fruit of our work — but sometimes we won't. Like the sower, our job is to keep sowing. Keep throwing those seeds out, trusting that God is at work even in the little things. Because you never know.

I was recently reading about a food drive at a school in rural Appalachia. A volunteer sorting through donated food reached into a box of cans and pulled out a little brown paper bag. Out of it fell a peanut butter sandwich, an apple, and a cookie — items that weren't on the suggested list. Crayoned in large letters was a little girl's name: "Christy, Room 104." While at school, Christy had felt moved to give up her own lunch for someone who was truly hungry.

When the story got out, donations to that food drive skyrocketed. One small act of love by a child inspired countless others.

Archbishop and twentieth-century martyr Oscar Romero once wrote:

This is what we are about: We plant seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities. We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning — a step along the way, an opportunity for God's grace to enter and do the rest.

Prayer: Loving God, we don't often see the results of our small actions. But we pray today that you would take whatever we have to offer — bless and multiply every dollar given, every hour volunteered, every sacrifice made. May these be seeds of your eternal kingdom. In Christ's name. Amen.

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Today’s message was written by my friend, Rev. Roger Kunkel, founder of Dial Hope.

Today I want to focus on this passage from Galatians 2:20: “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.”

Helen Keller dedicated one of her books with these words: "To Anne Sullivan, whose love is the story of my life." How many of us could say something like that — naming the person whose love made the greatest difference in our lives?

The truth is, someone's love is the story of every life that finds itself on the path God intended. And how many might say the same of Jesus Christ — that his love is the story of their lives. No day passes that they do not give thanks for the one who loved them and gave himself for them. Christ's love is the story of the best we have ever been or done.

Prayer: Compassionate God, thank you for your unconditional love — for the gift of your Son, Jesus, who has made all the difference. Help us today to make a difference by leaving heart prints of love, gentle kindness, and hope. Touch us. Heal us. Transform our sadness and grief into joy. In Jesus' name. Amen.

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Yesterday we reflected on Jeremiah's invitation to walk the ancient paths. Today, a natural question follows: what does that actually look like?

A friend of mine who practices meditation once shared this image: real apple juice — freshly squeezed, full of pulp — is murky when you first pour it. But set it on the counter for twenty minutes, and the pulp settles. It becomes clear. That's what happens to the mind when we get still. We begin to see what's actually going on inside.

Or imagine the surface of the ocean — restless, waves crashing. Then you slip down below the surface, where it's still and peaceful.

But going deeper looks different for each of us. Some of you meditate. Some journal. Some set aside time each day for prayer or scripture. And for others, it's watching the twilight settle over the river each evening — or finding God most real in the very act of helping someone else.

We live in a time of deep division and immense need. It can feel overwhelming. But I'm increasingly convinced that the one gift we can all offer — if we're willing to go deeper — is the gift of our own inner peace and groundedness. That stillness is the wellspring of compassion, generosity, and grace that the world so desperately needs.

Prayer: Loving God, we know we can't give what we don't first have. Help us draw deep from the wells of refreshment and healing our tradition offers. Fill us with your light. Heal us and renew us, that we might be channels of your peace. Amen.

Last week we reflected on these words from the prophet Jeremiah: "Stand at the crossroads and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way lies, and walk in it. And find rest for your souls." (6:16)

In this short passage there is a call to reflection: stand and look. And then action: ask, walk — and find.

Reflection and action. Because a deeper faith, an inner reserve, the peace and light that we crave — and that the world craves — is not just handed to us, is it? It requires something of us.

It requires us to walk the path. To pay attention. To notice where God is at work. To ask the tough questions, engage in the spiritual practices, and have an honest conversation with our own traditions.

And here is the good news: we don't walk it alone. These ancient paths have been worn deep by countless others who walked before us — people who doubted, who struggled, who kept going anyway. The path is proven. The question is simply whether we are willing to step onto it.

Prayer: Loving God, you have not left us without direction. You have marked a way — worn deep by those who walked before us in faith. Give us the courage to step onto that path, and the patience to walk it faithfully, one day at a time. In Jesus' name. Amen.

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