David Sandel

Tuesday of Holy Week, March 26, 2024 (click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures) Take these ancient words and make me cry Hear me, O islands, listen, O distant peoples. And in your hearing, in your listening, know how close God is to you, within you, in your very eardrum and nostril,...

Monday, March 25, 2024 (click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures) Austin traffic Surely it’s not as bad as I remember. I’ll soon be finding out. But for now, here’s a final story from Chris’ family’s visit to Austin last year (devotion from March 25, 2023): Hardly working Here I am, Lord....

Saturday, March 23, 2024 (click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures) Back to the future This morning I began the trip back to Austin, leaving behind people, places, memories in Illinois that I am grateful for. Spring weather is slipping into the Midwest, and I fully expect Texas to be also in...

Friday, March 22, 2024 (click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures) Jesus might be our 155th cousin (See yesterday’s devotion for that remarkable possibility) The Lord is with me, like a mighty champion. Because it isn’t just Bodie Hodge, it’s all of us reading this today, all of us living today. We’re...

Thursday, March 21, 2024 (click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)  God draws Abram’s forehead to the ground It’s in Genesis 17, one third of the way through the longest book in the Torah. Abram prostrated himself, and God spoke to him. This is my covenant with you: you will become the...

Wednesday, March 20, 2024 (click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures) Fighting Illini If our God, whom we serve, can save us from the white-hot furnace and from your hands, O king, may he save us. We’ve been there before. Often in mid-March some of us go crazy, jumping up and down,...

Tuesday, March 19, 2024 Solemnity of Saint Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary (click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures) Sleeping with Joseph Joseph, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. It is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She...

Monday, March 18, 2024 (click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures) Men and women, Mars and Venus, heading into heaven Jesus, man, meets accused prostitute, woman. Indignant men who consider themselves righteous drag her from her bed to him. Teacher, what do you say? But Jesus bent down and began to write...

Fifth Sunday of Lent, March 17, 2024 (click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures) Woven into the sorrow of the world Create in me a clean heart. O God. And how, pray tell Holy Spirit, will you make such a miracle? Father of Lights? Savior of us all? One day at a...