Now that's power.

I am noticing how Peter's first letter begins. Inside of the first two sentences of his letter to the scattered, chosen sojourners, he uses his words to bless. At the end of his first rather long sentence (bible sentences translated into English can stretch on for awhile), he says, "May grace and peace be multiplied to you". A word blessing to his letter recipients, which thankfully includes us. The very next sentence starts off with these words. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!" A word blessing to God.

This impacts me. Follow me on a word trail today.

Our backdoor neighbors fight. Our house tucks back up against the backyards and back decks of the next street up. Our houses are actually pretty close. We can hear the television from their screened porch where they watch and spend time a good bit. And as we can certainly hear the television, when the shouting begins, we hear that too. They yell and scream at each other. There have been a few times when I have gone and stood at our fence wondering if I would need to jump the fence to go to the door.

I catch glimpses of the political proceedings of our country. I almost don't know what to say or write. I am slowly shaking my head in disbelief as I type that this is even real. The primary currency of the backstabbing, power hungry, disgrace filled proceedings is words.

And me. The times that my words have wounded Lea and our sons. Once the words are out, they're out.

Late last year a prominent national pastor engages in a cutesy name game at a church conference. In a word association game that the emcee is leading, the pastor is to give a one word response to a name. The first name that is mentioned is the name of a prominent, female, bible teacher with whom the pastor has had disagreement with. There is lots of laughter and chuckling in the audience and banter back and forth between the pastor and emcee. Then the pastor's response to this woman's name being named. "Go Home." And raucous laughter ensues.

Last night I watched and listened to Shaquille O'Neal weep and speak about the words that he didn't get to say to his teammate Kobe Bryant after a tragic helicopter crash. He was weeping as he spoke about daily life being primarily focussed on joking around and then regretting not having the chance to say anything else to someone you care about.

Several months ago, musician Toby McKeehan and his wife lost their oldest son Truett at the age of 21. Sudden. Quick. Hard. Within the last couple of weeks, Toby released a song of grief and processing called "21 Years". As a father, it deeply impacts me as I watch and listen to his grief and hope intermingled. I stumbled on to something intriguing as I watched his video. People listen to songs for the first time and offer real time commentary about what they think about the song, like or dislike etc. Kind of a fascinating platform as I ponder it. I began to watch several of these "reaction" videos of people listening to Toby Mac for the first time and using the song "21 years" to react to. One particular video really affected me. Two young men who clearly use this platform of music critique often popped up. They have a routine, names they go by, subscribe buttons and a whole spiel. They declared that they are listening to Toby Mac for the first time. They have no context for who he is or what the context of this song "21 years" is about. They bounce comically into their listening critique and begin to take it in. As they slowly decode that the song is about a death and eventually the death of a son, their lighthearted critique time begins to change. One man begins to weep to his surprise. As he weeps, he instinctively speaks profanely out of habit. This intersection grips me so much. The F word and grieving are co-mingling in the same moment as Toby's lament and hope pour over these young men's lives. The death of a son and a father's lament are impacting unsuspecting listeners. Now that's power.

Words.

I think this is part of why Peter's words of blessing to you and me and to his Father are affecting me so much. All of these people and me are so capable of missing the chance to bless and the pull to choose the path of death with words is real. Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. So I am nourished by the Spirit's movement in Peter to write words of blessing that we share in today.

And this leads me to something that is very intimate for me each week. In a little bit I will begin a holy routine that I experience each Wednesday. I will copy the link for this weeks BuyTheField into your specific text or email thread and I will see your name. It really means a lot to me to think about you. Your name being in front of my eyes each week affects me. I want to be a blessing in your life. And so with this weeks opportunity I want to say this to you. Thank you. Thank you for loving me and my family. Thank you for speaking into me. I am rich to know you. Each of you.

And so, with this offering of words...

There's more.