One day, during a fire drill, a little girl burst into tears. She wrapped her arms around me and sobbed into my shoulder. “That was scary,” she whispered, “but I feel safe now.” That little girl’s fear didn’t disappear because the noise stopped. It disappeared because she found me – a person she trusted. She found a refuge.

We all need refuge. But as adults, we tend to carry our burdens instead of setting them down. We keep going, keep serving, keep smiling… even when we’re tired, overwhelmed, or spiritually dry. Deep down, we long for peace.

Too often, we search for peace in all the wrong places. We put our hope in routines, reputation, or our ability to manage everything on our own. We say, “I trust God” but still try to handle it all ourselves. We even neglect to pour out our hearts to him or run to his Word. We tell ourselves that we’ll get to it later, when the room is quiet, or when life feels more manageable.

Our trust is incomplete. Our commitment is flawed. Our hearts don’t always seek refuge in God.

But thank the Lord for Psalm 62:
“Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.”

God doesn’t wait for you to prove your loyalty before he offers his peace. He gives it freely because Jesus stood in your place with perfect faithfulness. Jesus trusted his Father even to the cross, so that your salvation would never rest on your strength, but on his! Because of Jesus’ faithfulness, we are forgiven, redeemed, and anchored in grace.

Now, Christ invites you to rest. To trust. To pour out your heart to him – without fear, guilt, or delay. His Word is your mighty rock. He is your safe place. He is your refuge.
So, when the noise of the day rises or your own worries feel overwhelming, remember: you don’t run the show. Run to your refuge. Run to your strength. He will never be shaken. And in HIM, neither will you.

“Watch me!” my daughter yelled from the hill at the park. Not tearing my eyes away from the conversation I was having with another parent, I replied, “I’m watching, honey!” And smart little girl that she is, my daughter returned, “No, Mom – look at me!”

I often try to give my children my focus, eye contact, my warmth. I should, I’m their mom! But it’s hard. I get distracted, overwhelmed, and I’m often running on empty.

The same thing happens with my relationship with God. I say I’m listening, that I’m paying attention, that I really focused on my morning devotion. But how often am I just giving him half of me, or less – distracted, divided, multitasking? My sinful heart is prone to wander. I elevate other voices, other tasks, other priorities. And in doing so, I sin against the One who gave me everything.

God should turn away. But instead, he turned toward me in mercy.

Because of Jesus, we stand in grace. Justified. Forgiven. Loved. Not because we earned his attention, but because he gave it freely on the cross. And through the empty tomb now we have peace with God. Even in our suffering, amidst the chaos, and in our distraction, God’s Spirit pours hope into our hearts like a steady stream.

That’s the mystery and majesty of our God: He gives us his full, undivided attention. In the classroom. At home. In our mess. And when we stop, even briefly, to give him our hearts in return, he fills us with peace that no noise can interrupt.

So, pause. Breathe. Stand in his grace. And when a little one tugs on your sleeve for attention, remember: you’re reflecting the same love your Father has shown you – patient, present, and full of peace.

You walk into your classroom. It is filled with differences: different personalities, learning needs, home situations, and emotional levels. You do your best to meet each child where they are, but there are days when it just seems overwhelming.

You’ve found yourself running on empty, wondering if you’re doing enough. You’ve felt frustrated when students don’t respond the way you hoped, or when fellow teachers see things differently than you do. Sometimes, instead of unity, all you feel is tension or disconnection.

And then there’s your own heart… it’s quick to compare, quick to judge, quick to grow impatient. You know the importance of showing Christ-like love, but it doesn’t always come easily.

The law is honest: we fall short. As much as we strive for harmony and teamwork, we often slip into selfishness. We fail to love others as Christ has loved us. We try to create unity on our own terms and forget that it’s not ours to build. We’re reminded again and again – we need a Savior.
And we have One.

On the night before His death, Jesus looked ahead in love – not just to the cross, but to you. He prayed for you: “I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message.” (v. 20). How beautiful to think about your very Savior, praying for you! He saw your classroom, your heart, your efforts, and your failures…and he loved you. He bore your pain so that you wouldn’t have to.

He prayed for unity – a unity that he would accomplish. Through his death, Jesus broke down every barrier between us and God. Through his resurrection, he gave us life, purpose, and peace. Because he lives, we are united to him and to each other.

This unity isn’t about agreeing on everything or having the perfect classroom. It’s about being one in Christ – washed in his blood, filled with his Spirit, and called by his grace.

So, as you walk into your classroom today, or take on whatever task set before you – take heart! Your ministry matters, not because of what you do, but because of what Christ has already done. He lives. And because he lives, you are not alone. You are part of his body, a diverse and beautiful family, made one in his name.

If you knew that your time on earth was nearly over, what would you do? Who would you see and what would you say to them? You would likely spend much of your remaining time with friends and family, talking about good experiences of the past and telling them that you love them. If you have children, you would likely fill your last days making happy memories and inserting words of wisdom that you hope that they will remember later.

Jesus DID know when his days on earth were ending. Because Jesus is God, he knew that he was about to finish the mission that he was sent to earth for—suffering and dying on the cross for us. He spent his last few days with the disciples, his dear friends, and his last words to them are meant for us as well. He commanded them, and us, to “love one another”. We might say that this was his “parting legacy”. He wanted us to remember to love, forgive, and teach others to do the same.

Jesus was born and raised in the same world that we live in, and he experienced the same hurt and temptations that we do. He knows that sin makes it hard to love each other. He knows that we have to daily fight against jealousy, envy, pride, and lack of empathy. Yet he still gives us this command, to love each other. In fact, he says that this love we share is how others will know that we are his followers. By showing love to each other, we are a light to the world, reflecting the love of Jesus.

Jesus does not just tell us to do something without giving us the tools to achieve it. He knows that we will need to daily fight off our own selfishness to show love, and he gives us his Word, the Bible, as a “sword” in this fight. When we daily read the Bible, we learn more about God’s love for us and are strengthened to live as his child.
So, as we remember the life of Jesus during this Easter season, let us remember that he lived a life of love perfectly for us. Let us stay close to him by going to church with believers and studying his Word. Let us love one another, remembering that he first loved us (1 John 4:19).

Little children accept the world around them, just as it is. Their own perspective is the only thing that they know. Because of this, they often have no idea when they aren’t really seeing things clearly. One 4-year-old had severe issues with socially acceptable behavior, and more than the typical fidgeting and impulsivity that we would expect from young children. It wasn’t until he went to the eye doctor that the boy found relief. The first time he put on his glasses, he looked outside. “The TREES! Those Leaves! The leaves are MOVING! The leaves are REAL!” This child could finally see clearly. He had been walking blindly through his days thinking that what he was seeing was “normal”. How frustrating it must have been to try to meet expectations asked of him. What joy he had every day to discover the new things in front of him that he could now see clearly!

Before our Savior rescued us from sin, we walked around blindly. In fact, we couldn’t even see our own sin. We were so consumed by ourselves, our own selfish desires, that we couldn’t see anything else clearly.

But the God that helps us to see things clearly loves us always, and will continue to be forever faithful. He saved us by sending his son, Jesus, to die on the cross for every sin of every person. Jesus saved us from the venomous devil, the devil who wants us to be filled with doubt, despair, depression, sadness, and, ultimately, a death that will separate us from our God. The devil wants to cloud our vision and take us from our Savior.

Sometimes, even after we remember that we need a Savior, we continue to fall back into sins that we have committed, even sins that we repented of and resolved to never do again. Oh, how weak we are when we try to fight the devil on our own! How frustrating—and impossible– it is to try to meet God’s expectations of a life without sin.

But we can see clearly now! We can see that God and his forgiveness are real! When we call to God with a heart of repentance, he heals us of our sin, every time. Now that we see clearly, we have such great joy. We are no longer weighed down by sin and despair, but are filled with the true joy and peace that only God can give us. With this joy in our hearts, may we look for opportunities to share that same joy with others.

Despite America’s revolutionary departure from England’s monarchy, our country seems to have an intense curiosity about royal living. We are eager to pull back the curtain on the lives of those who are not like us and learn they really are like us in many ways. For example, Princess Anne, daughter of the late Queen Elizabeth, never accepted royal titles for her own two children. This effectively made the grandchildren commoners. Being far down the line of succession, Princess Anne and her husband felt this would help their children find more authentic jobs in the workforce. What a wonder to be an ordinary citizen but to have a living queen for a grandmother! Apparently, the Queen’s grandchildren would rough-house with their royal cousins in the palace balconies demonstrating that children are children no matter who your granny is!

Our reading points to a more significant man of royal blood living as a commoner. This Royal, Jesus, was the Son of God. He was also truly a common man but most importantly, was without sin. He did common things. He ate. He slept. He wore clothes. During this Holy Week, we also learn that he prayed. He sweat. He had friends who deserted him. He had enemies who tortured him. He bled. Exposed and vulnerable, he finally surrendered himself to death and was buried in a rocky tomb. Does this sound royal or majestic?

Just as we marvel at English royals doing regular things, we can consider why the Son of God would pursue the life of a common man. Using Scripture, we can pull back the curtain on his natural life. Jesus forfeited his royal advantage, not because he wanted to see how “the other side” lived but because he submitted to his Father’s will. His Father’s will was that Jesus become “the other side”, stripping him of his royal privileges, taking the place of helpless humans. You see, there was another curtain hanging. This curtain, our sin, separated you and me from our holy God. Separation from God is not just a tough life on the other side of the tracks. It is an eternity in actual hell. But Jesus did not just pull this curtain back, he tore this curtain, rendering it useless as a divider between God and those who believe in him. Now, because of Jesus, those who believe in him have peace with our holy God.

Our royal Savior, Jesus became common and walked among sinners to save them from eternal destruction. Because of Jesus we will become royal and walk among saints in the glorious halls of heaven.

I bought Oreos and beef jerky for my husband’s birthday. Knowing that he would eat them right away if he saw them, I hid them in a box. I hid them because I know he finds them “just too hard to resist!” But then I forgot which box. I searched everywhere and couldn’t find them. I even wondered if HE had found them already. We found them six months later!

What do you do to resist temptation? Do you try not to shop hungry? Do you try to distract yourself with a hobby? Or do you call a friend? Although these are all healthy ways to maintain self-control, turning to our dearest friend, Jesus, is the best choice when we are threatened with a temptation that can lead us into a sin that can destroy our life or family. God is always with us, always listening, and always, always faithful.

God also knows our strengths and weaknesses. He sees all things, including our sins and our struggles. He knows our limitations and he promises to help us fight against those things that wish to take us away from him. God is always patient with us, always ready to bring us back to him when we repent and ask for forgiveness.

In the Lord’s prayer, we pray “lead us not into temptation”. We are not saying that God is the one luring us into sin, however. Instead, we pray that when we are tempted, God will help us fight it. In Martin Luther’s catechism, he explains it this way: “we pray that God would guard and keep us, so that the devil, the world and our flesh may not deceive us or lead us into false belief, despair and other great and shameful sins; and though we are tempted by them, we pray that we may overcome and win the victory”. (Luther’s Catechism, Northwestern Publishing House, 2017)

God encourages us to pray, asking for help to resist sin and the devil’s temptations. In fact, it would be impossible to fight off these things without God’s help. It’s only through God’s mercy and love that we fight against the struggles of this world. It’s only though the perfect life, the agonizing death, and brilliant resurrection of Jesus that we can approach God with confidence that he will love and forgive us. We can pray confidently that God will hear us and help us. How happy God is to help us “win the victory” when we are tempted by sin!

Sometimes my sweet tooth gets me into trouble. It’s so hard to stop eating a yummy snack! I read once that a weight loss strategy is to eat half of something, dump the rest into the garbage can and then pour coffee grounds over it so that there is no temptation to dig it out. I remember reading that and thinking “if it’s really good, I don’t think coffee grounds would stop me”.

Sometimes we joke about being tempted by decadent desserts or tempted to spend the day reading instead of cleaning the house. But giving in to real temptations of sinful thoughts and actions is no joke. It’s not funny at all when we sin against our neighbor or coworker by spreading gossip about them. By listening to gossip as a friend “vents”, we are also gossiping! When we see something that we want and “borrow” it without asking and “forget” to return it, this is stealing! When we take five minutes extra for a lunch break, we are stealing time from our employer. These are all real temptations that we face every day.

Jesus felt the same temptations and pressures that we do, but unlike us, he was not born with sin. Sometimes we call the sinfulness that we were born with our “Old Adam” because we remember that first sin that Adam and Eve committed in the garden. But Jesus did not have an “Old Adam”. He was fully human, tempted by the devil, but he was not sinful.

The words that Jesus was “tempted in every way, just as we are” should bring us comfort. Jesus knows our struggles because he lived them! He felt the same pressures, needs, and feelings that we do. What makes him different from us is that he never sinned, never gave in to temptations, never failed. Jesus had all the feelings, emotions, and senses that we do, and yet he did not sin, not even in his thoughts.

Jesus conquered sin for us! By living his perfect life, he was worthy in God’s eyes. He earned our place in heaven, and now God sees us as his redeemed children. As Jesus stands in victory, we sit at his feet. We read and study his Word, knowing that through the works of Jesus we will one day stand before him in heaven, with the crown of victory that he won for us. Now we can approach God’s throne with confidence, knowing that our debts are paid for in full. Praise God for his mercy and love!

What are your strengths? Maybe you are strong physically, smart intellectually, or gifted musically. Perhaps you have strong interpersonal skills. Our talents and abilities are gifts from God to use to serve him and those in his kingdom. But what about your weaknesses? We might be able to list even more of those. Oh, if only those weaknesses were gone so we could be even more effective in spreading the gospel message.

Paul, the inspired writer of 2 Corinthians, was frustrated by his weakness. In the verses preceding our reading Paul wrote that he pleaded with God to take away a thorn in his flesh. Certainly, God wouldn’t let Paul be hindered by this burden when he had such important work to do. That’s when God answered him, “My grace is sufficient for you.” Until his heavenly victory, Paul would never be free of earthly troubles and burdens, but he would always have God’s grace. This grace was enough, enough to conquer Paul’s hardships and challenges.

God’s grace is sufficient for us. It is not only sufficient but overflows daily into our lives. He lets us feel his grace so that we can show his love to others. He forgives our sins and leads us to learn and grow. He carries us through difficulties and guides us as we learn to trust more fully in him. And our hardships can be a source of encouragement to others who might also struggle.

God told Paul and all believers, “My power is made perfect in weakness.” The world scoffs at this idea. Wealth, strength, intelligence, influence, and power are valued. Weakness must be overcome at all costs. Actually, weakness has been overcome, but not in the way the world expected. The almighty God set aside his strength to come to this earth as a tiny baby. He gave up his heavenly kingdom to live among the common, weak, unimportant people. He even gave up his life to save ours. His apparent weakness was really power. Power to save all.

And God’s power is made perfect in our weakness. When we look at ourselves and see our limitations, we realize that it is God who works through us in this world. He can and does use frail human beings like us to spread his word. “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” (2 Corinthians 4:7). We can boast in our weaknesses because that boasting is really about God’s strength. He can even use me, and he does.

So we are thankful, certainly for our strength, but even more so for our weakness because Christ’s power rests on us. And that is enough.

Be prepared! This is the teacher’s mantra. We write our lesson plans, choose books to read aloud, create learning centers, give opportunities for creative play and movement, and the list goes on. We carefully plan and prepare because we want the best for our students, giving them ways to learn and grow academically, socially, and emotionally.

In today’s verse, an older pastor, Paul, is giving this same advice to the younger pastor, Timothy. Paul is speaking to us as well. He says:

• Preach the word. This is our foremost objective. We tell others what God tells us, without adding or subtracting from God’s words. We teach that we are all sinful and deserve only God’s punishment. We comfort with the awesome news of Jesus’ sacrifice and salvation. We talk about and show how to live a life of faith and love.
• Be prepared in season and out of season. There is that word prepared again. We are prepared in season as we plan and teach our Bible lessons and songs, taking time to study them on our own first. We make time throughout the day to learn about Jesus, talk about him, pray to him, and sing to him. We also are ready to use God’s word out of season. Think about those teachable moments we face daily. We point out someone’s sin, not in judgment, but to help that person learn. We offer God’s grace, love, and forgiveness to the one who feels the sting of their sin. We look at ourselves and our failures, being reminded that we too desperately need God’s law and gospel. How can we be prepared for these unpredictable moments? We study God’s Word daily, learning and being encouraged by what God tells us in the Bible.
• Correct, rebuke and encourage. These are words most of us don’t like to hear. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a day without needing to correct or rebuke? That isn’t going to happen on this side of heaven, so we patiently work with our students again and again. We help them see how their words and actions can either help or harm. We guide them through making God-pleasing decisions. We point out sin and comfort with forgiveness. And then we do it again. God, with eternal patience, does the same with us, and will strengthen us to persevere.

Be prepared! It seems like a tall order and has eternal consequences. But we are not left to do this on our own. God equips us with his Word and gives us the Holy Spirit to guide our words and actions. He chose you and placed you where you are. He is with you always. You are prepared.

Have you ever watched a child participating in “The Marshmallow Test”? During this test, a sweet treat is placed in front of the child, and the child is told that they can get an additional treat if they can wait a few minutes before eating the first treat. It is so hard to wait! Some children eat the treat as soon as the adult leaves the room, others dip their head down to smell it while they wait, and others cover their eyes to try to help resist the temptation. Participants say that the test is an exercise in patience, obedience, and delayed gratification. But all children agree that it is very hard to wait!

God’s people had to wait a long time for Jesus to be born. When Adam and Eve committed the first sin, they were promised that one day, a Savior would come and rescue them from this big problem of sin. But they had to wait! In fact, they had to wait thousands of years for this promise to be fulfilled. It must have been so hard to wait!

On the first Christmas, the time had come. The wait was over! The words are very clear. God sent his Son, who, born of a woman, is both God and human. As a man, Jesus needed to do the one thing that no other person has ever been able to do—he needed to keep all of God’s commands perfectly. Jesus could never sin, never give in to the temptations of this world. And Jesus won that battle against sin for us!

Jesus passed the “marshmallow test”, and so much more. Not only did Jesus live a perfect life, but he also allowed himself to be punished in our place. The punishment that WE deserve was served to Jesus. The sins that WE have committed were placed on Jesus, and yet HIS righteousness (being “right with God”), his purity, have been credited to us. And now God has adopted us as his children, blameless in his sight because of the work of Jesus. Our inheritance, freely given by God through Jesus, is eternal life in heaven.

And now we wait! God’s promise to Adam and Eve has been fulfilled, and now we wait for the fulfillment of his promise to bring us to him in heaven. We don’t know how long we will be on this earth, and we don’t know when Jesus will come again. But we DO know that God will keep his promise to bring us to our new home in heaven. And while we wait, we have work to do! We can show our love for God by continuing to study his Word in the Bible and by sharing the joy of God’s promises with others.

What are you waiting for? A new job, a baby, a spouse, a house? Doesn’t it seem like within every season we are always waiting for something? Have you ever forgotten that you aren’t waiting for Jesus? Seems like a silly question, but seriously. Sometimes all we need to do is remember that Jesus did indeed come as promised and is still with us. This Christmas, the wait is over and no matter what losses, sadness, joy, or anticipation we have going into these next couple days, there is one thing that unites us all: Our long-awaited Savior is no longer words on a page. He is flesh and blood, baby Jesus born in a manger.

“Jesus” wasn’t a name that would have been that important to God’s Old Testament people, the Jews. They were the chosen family, hand selected by God to carry the line of the Savior and yet they didn’t even know his name! They had to trust through every trial that the Savior was coming. Slavery, war, rebellion- you name it, the Jews had been through it. And yet, there was always one common thread that brought hope- a Messiah was coming. For thousands of years, the promise of a Savior kept the light burning. Sometimes it seemed as though it could barely keep shining, but God always made a way.

Maybe you feel more like an Old Testament Jew than a New Testament Christian this Christmas. Are you facing what feels like an impossible command from God like Abraham? Are your requests to God feeling like they are landing on deaf ears like Rachel? Are you feeling betrayed by the ones who should love you the most, like Joseph? Maybe you are in a leading position like Moses and feel like you don’t have what it takes. Do you relate to Esther and know that you should be more courageous in a scary situation, but can’t find the strength? The Old Testament gives us countless examples of people of faith who came up short. But then after what felt like an eternity of silence, one name changed everything: Jesus.

No longer was the Messiah a shadow of things to come. The Word made flesh was here, son of Mary and Joseph, conceived by the Holy Spirit, to save the nations. How blessed are we to know his name—to know without a shadow of a doubt that the prophecies are no longer just words on a page, but flesh and blood making his dwelling among us. He walks alongside us through the hills and valleys.

The waiting is over. The struggles remain. But the waiting is over. We can rejoice this Christmas that God keeps his promises. While we live as New Testament Christians we get to call on the beautiful name of our Savior. In this world, we will have trouble. We’ve seen it all over Scripture. But let one thing unite us. Jesus is here! And he’s overcome the world!

“Don’t take it personally.” Has anyone ever said those words to you after saying something that you did, indeed, take personally. Faculty, staff, friends, students can all say things that might offend or hurt us. But what if I told you that Christmas is the perfect time to take things personally? John the Baptist takes the stage in our verses today from the Gospel of Luke. He was foretold way back in the book of Isaiah, and here we find him “preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” I love John’s ministry because it had such a laser focus: point people to Christ. Just as in Advent we look for the coming of the Savior, the Baptizer spent his time paving and preparing the way for the coming Messiah.

John took the coming of the Savior personally. He knew what it meant for the world, yes. He’s even the narrator of one of the more famous passages in Scripture: “Look the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” (John 1:19) As wonderful as it is to consider God’s love for the whole world, John also knew what it meant for him as an individual. He wasn’t preaching a message of repentance only for others, but knew he personally needed it as well. John even told the crowds that he was not even worthy to untie the sandals of Jesus. He knew his sin and he still looked for and proclaimed the Messiah boldly. His unworthiness didn’t make him run away from Jesus, but rather to him. John’s repentance made him look at his sin so that he could truly look at his Savior.

Repentance is personal. It can be uncomfortable and painful to relive our shortcomings and failures to live up to God’s perfect measuring stick. This Christmas season, I encourage you to truly reflect on why God had to send his son Jesus in the first place. Galatians 4:4 says, “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.” Our sin is personal, but so is God’s grace. He knows your sins, every one of them, and he forgave you fully. Maybe John the Baptist felt so personally connected to Jesus because they were actually cousins- part of the same family. In Galatians, we see that we, too, get that same personal relationship since we have been adopted into God’s family as his sons and daughters.

Don’t be afraid of repentance this Advent. Seeing our sin only helps us see our Savior more clearly. Verse 6 says “And all people will see God’s salvation.” Don’t run away from your sins this Advent, run to the Father and experience the fullness of God’s grace that covers our guilt and shame. Take it personally, friends, our repentance is met with the open, forgiving arms of Jesus.

“Look here.” You might find yourself saying this reminder to your students while you are trying to teach. As their eyes wander, you might need to remind them that you have something important to say to them and that it would be best if they kept their eyes on you. Sometimes in your teaching, you might feel like you’re constantly saying, “Look here.” Oh, the sweet focus of God’s littlest lambs.

This reminder would also be helpful for all of his lambs. Children, teens, adults, all of us. “Look here!” What are we looking at? We are looking to Jesus, our Savior, for our every need. Life works better when we fix our eyes upon Jesus. In any and every circumstance our eyes can be looking up to where our help comes from.

In Jude 20, the Bible says, “But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.” This section of Scripture has the heading, “A Call to Persevere.” It reminds us that there will be many scoffers among us who don’t see the value in the Word of God. These people should not come to us as a surprise, because God’s Word has already warned us of them. It is important to “build ourselves up in the most holy faith.” Be in the Word of God and know what it says. Look to him. Pray to him and ask the Holy Spirit to strengthen your faith.

Your students are new to this world. They don’t yet know how ugly and corrupt it is. They don’t know how full of sin and sadness this side of heaven truly can be. So, you teach them to look up. You help them get in the habit of fixing their eyes upon Jesus, so that when trouble comes their way, they know who to look to.

You are not new to this world. You are aware of the ickiness, the sin that is all around you. Thankfully, you’ve also been graced by the faithfulness of God throughout your life. He’s been with you every step of the way. What a privilege it is to teach the next generation of believers where to fix their eyes. What an honor it is to have the Word of God to open every single day and be reminded of God’s love and forgiveness.

So, look. Keep looking. Never lose sight. Keep your eyes upon Jesus.