Today On Planet Earth, May You Experience

A Ragamuffin Knows He's Only A Beggar At The Door Of God's Mercy.

The Noonday Devil Of The Christian Life Is The Temptation To Lose The Inner Self While Preserving The Shell Of Edifying Behavior. Suddenly I Discover That I Am Ministering To Aids Victims To Enhance My Resume. I Find I Renounced Ice Cream For Lent To Lose Five Excess Pounds... I Have Fallen Victim To What T.s. Eliot Calls The Greatest Sin: To Do The Right Thing For The Wrong Reason.

The Good News Means We Can Stop Lying To Ourselves. The Sweet Sound Of Amazing Grace Saves Us From The Necessity Of Self-deception. It Keeps Us From Denying That Though Christ Was Victorious, The Battle With Lust, Greed, And Pride Still Rages Within Us.

The Anything-goes Passiveness Of The Religious And Political Left Is Matched By The Preachy Moralism Of The Religious And Political Right. The Person Who Uncritically Embraces Any Party Line Is Guilty Of An Idolatrous Surrender Of Her Core Identity As Abba's Child. Neither Liberal Fairy Dust Nor Conservative Hardball Addresses Our Ragged Human Dignity.

Jesus Was Victorious Not Because He Never Flinched, Talked Back, Or Questioned, But Having Flinched, Talked Back, And Questioned, He Remained Faithful.