Stumble Up

Website

Stumble Up Husband and Father of 4 sons on a mission: anchor families in God’s Word while culture screams otherwise. Let your Life Song sing!

Real daily struggles + weekly verses to help encourage us to choose Spirit over Flesh with every interaction.

Last week the voice was a crowd. This week it has a name, and it is aimed at you.Nehemiah is rebuilding a broken wall. O...
10/25/2026

Last week the voice was a crowd. This week it has a name, and it is aimed at you.

Nehemiah is rebuilding a broken wall. One of the men opposing him says this:

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘛𝘰𝘣𝘪𝘢𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥, “𝘐𝘧 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘧𝘰𝘹 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘣 𝘶𝘱 𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴!”
𝘕𝘦𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘢𝘩 𝟦:𝟥 (𝘉𝘚𝘉)

They mock before they ever attack. Ridicule is cheap, and it asks one question: will you stop building long enough to answer me?

Nehemiah's first move is not a comeback. He takes it to God, and then he does something practical.

𝘚𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵.
𝘕𝘦𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘢𝘩 𝟦:𝟫 (𝘉𝘚𝘉)

Later, when the threats get worse, he says this to everyone on the wall:

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦: “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘢𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭.
𝘕𝘦𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘢𝘩 𝟦:𝟣𝟫 (𝘉𝘚𝘉)

𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘯, 𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. 𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘶𝘴!”
𝘕𝘦𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘢𝘩 𝟦:𝟤𝟢 (𝘉𝘚𝘉)

That is the week. An enemy's voice wants two things: that you answer it, and that you face it alone. Nehemiah does neither.

Nobody stands at a low place alone.


thestumbleup.com

My thirteen-year-old is in a group chat that is about one video game. It can run for hours.One day he told me he had bet...
10/24/2026

My thirteen-year-old is in a group chat that is about one video game. It can run for hours.

One day he told me he had better things to do, and he muted it. He takes care of his homework. He works on sports photos and videos. He can pull away.

He still fights the phone. He knows it; we all fight it. He mutes a lot of conversations.

“Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be mastered by anything.
1 Corinthians 6:12 (BSB)

At our house, we try to put phones down at dinner and at the things that matter, the way it was in the nineties :) But we all fight it all the time; it's the nature of the times, I suppose.

But dinner is an hour. I cannot mute that chat for him. I cannot police him twenty-four hours a day. He has to do it.

That is what this week cost me. Not a parenting win. The part where it stops being mine to decide, raise them to make good choices. They won't always, but the compass needs to be there.


thestumbleup.com

She is sixteen, and her church is spending a Saturday painting porches. Hers belongs to a woman in her eighties who sits...
10/23/2026

She is sixteen, and her church is spending a Saturday painting porches. Hers belongs to a woman in her eighties who sits in a lawn chair and tells stories about the house.

She propped her phone on a paint can to film a time-lapse for her story. She got a few clips of herself bringing the woman a glass of water.

Then she noticed the woman watching the phone instead of her. Fixing her hair. Sitting up straighter. Asking, is that thing on?

“Be careful not to perform your righteous acts before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
Matthew 6:1 (BSB)

She had turned the woman into a prop.

She put the phone in her backpack. She painted, and she listened, and she heard about the man who built that porch and the kids who grew up on it.

It cost her. There is no post. That night everyone liked another girl's video from the same day. Someone commented on hers: where were you today?

She was there. Nobody saw it except the woman in the lawn chair, and God. That turned out to be enough.


thestumbleup.com

He is a college sophomore. At two in the morning a friend from his hall sent him a long message. He is failing two class...
10/22/2026

He is a college sophomore. At two in the morning a friend from his hall sent him a long message. He is failing two classes. He has not told his dad. He has not been to chemistry in three weeks. He said please do not tell anyone.

Well, he screenshotted it and dropped it in a group chat with seven other guys, with a joke. They laughed. By lunch someone had sent it to another chat. By dinner his friend knew.

All week the crowd has been somebody else. This time he was not in the crowd. He was the reason there was one.

A gossip reveals a secret, but a trustworthy person keeps a confidence.
Proverbs 11:13 (BSB)

He did not text an apology. He walked down the hall and knocked. He said it was wrong, with no but. Then he went back to the group and wrote: that was wrong of me, delete it.

It cost him. The group told him to relax, it was a joke, and somebody called him pastor. His friend said okay and closed the door. He has not forgiven him yet. He might not.


thestumbleup.com

Today would have been forty years. She is sixty-four, sitting in his chair with the tablet because she meant to look up ...
10/21/2026

Today would have been forty years. She is sixty-four, sitting in his chair with the tablet because she meant to look up a recipe.

Instead: a couple from church in matching shirts on a beach for their fortieth. A friend's grandkids on a trip. Someone's new kitchen. Every picture is fine. Every one of them says the same thing to her: everybody else's life kept going, and yours stopped.

A tranquil heart is life to the body, but envy rots the bones.
Proverbs 14:30 (BSB)

A highlight reel is not a verdict on your life. But it was not really the pictures. The scrolling was easier than the quiet.

She put the tablet face down on the arm of the chair, next to the remote. Then she let the quiet come, and the grief came with it, full strength, with nothing between her and it.

That was the cost: an hour she had been avoiding for six months.

Then she called the young mom across the street who had said, call anytime. She never had. This time she did.


thestumbleup.com

It is ten to midnight. He is forty-four, and he has spent the last hour in the comments under an article, going back and...
10/20/2026

It is ten to midnight. He is forty-four, and he has spent the last hour in the comments under an article, going back and forth with a stranger who has been mocking his faith.

The stranger is wrong. He is right, and he can prove it. His next reply is typed, and it is the one that ends it.

Then he hears what he has been calling the guy in his head the whole time.

Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye but fail to notice the beam in your own eye?
Matthew 7:3 (BSB)

You can be right about the speck and still have a beam.

He deleted the reply and closed the laptop. He prayed for the stranger by his username, which felt ridiculous.

It cost him. The stranger got the last word, and it was a good one. In the morning a college friend who had been cheering him on texted, you just let him have that? He wrote back, yeah.

You do not owe the crowd your answer.


thestumbleup.com

She is sitting in a hospital parking garage with the engine off. Her son is ten. This afternoon, a doctor used a word sh...
10/19/2026

She is sitting in a hospital parking garage with the engine off. Her son is ten. This afternoon, a doctor used a word she had to look up in the elevator.

She has four paragraphs typed out about his symptoms, the tests, and the word for what it is.

It is a good post. It asks for prayer. It is brave without being dramatic. She knows what happens when she presses the button: hundreds of hearts, people saying they are praying, the feeling of being carried.

Then she reads it again and sees whose story it is. It is his. He is ten, doesn't know the word yet, and is up in the 4th-floor room watching cartoons.

Do not give dogs what is holy; do not throw your pearls before swine. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.
Matthew 7:6 (BSB)

Jesus was not talking about a phone. But I think the shape of this verse fits better than we would like it to. What is holy here is not hers to hand out. It is a ten-year-old's hardest day.

And the crowd is not the villain in this story. Nobody in it would mean any harm. They would pray for him at six o'clock, sincerely, and by nine they would be scrolling past somebody's vacation. That is what trampling can look like. Not cruelty. Just a lot of feet moving on.

She deleted it. She texted her sister and one friend and asked them to call. Then she sat in the car and asked God, not well, but asked.

What it cost: her husband was on a plane home and could not be reached. Her sister called back at nine. The friend did not answer until the next morning. She carried it that night with almost no one.

She carried it that night with almost no one, and nobody told her she was brave.

Some things are precious because of who they belong to. She decided that one belonged to her son, and to God, and to the two people who called her back.


thestumbleup.com

Pick up your phone in the morning, and before you've finished your coffee, it has told you a few things about yourself.W...
10/18/2026

Pick up your phone in the morning, and before you've finished your coffee, it has told you a few things about yourself.

Who saw what you posted, and who didn't. Whose kids look happier than yours. Whose life seems to be going better this week. None of it is said out loud, and it all occupies you for a bit.

For the next four weeks, we'll listen to the voices that try to tell us who we are, one at a time: the crowd, the people who are against us, and the one in our own head that can be the meanest of the three.

Then we'll end with the only voice that actually has the right to answer the question. This series is called By Name, because that is how Jesus says the shepherd calls his sheep.

The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen for his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
John 10:3 (BSB)

Not by their reputation, and not by their worst day. By name.

We start with the crowd, and with two verses read in the order Jesus said them.

You hypocrite! First take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Matthew 7:5 (BSB)

Do not give dogs what is holy; do not throw your pearls before swine. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.
Matthew 7:6 (BSB)

The second verse gets used to write people off. Jesus put your own eye first.

And the pearls aren't just arguments you are trying to win. They are your kid's hard day, your marriage, your grief, your faith. A screen will take all of it and hand you back a crowd's opinion of you.

I work in technology. My wife and I both do a lot of our work on our phones, and it can look like we are on them more than we should be (which we undoubtedly are). I am not writing this from "above the problem".

The crowd has an opinion on who you are. It does not get a vote.


thestumbleup.com

I pray for about the same three things most mornings. A heart that forgives. Integrity solid enough that nobody can reas...
10/17/2026

I pray for about the same three things most mornings. A heart that forgives. Integrity solid enough that nobody can reasonably question my motives. Righteousness, which I am not going to get all the way to, and I know that when I ask.

Forgiving is not actually my problem. I forgive people. I will still help you, I will still take your call.

My problem is that I remember, and the trust does not come back.

But I tell you not to resist an evil person. If someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also;
Matthew 5:39 (BSB)

I used to read that as being about not hitting back. I do not hit back. I thought I was fine.

It is not about that. Turning the other cheek means standing there and letting them do it again. Not retaliation. Exposure.

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
Matthew 18:21 (BSB)

Peter wants a number. I have a number too, and mine is worse than his. Mine is one. Once you take advantage of the good I assumed about you, you are outside the circle, probably permanently.

My better half says I sometimes assume too much good in people. She is right, and that same trait runs in the other direction. People definitely do try to take advantage of you everywhere you turn; she is so right.

Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.
Ephesians 4:32 (BSB)

Two words there, not one. I can do kind.

This series was called Open Hands. Four weeks of it. One of mine is still shut around this, and I pray about it most mornings, and I am getting better as long as I practice getting in the Word every day.


thestumbleup.com

The invoice is dated two years ago and he is owed every cent of it.His partner took work out the side door while they we...
10/16/2026

The invoice is dated two years ago and he is owed every cent of it.

His partner took work out the side door while they were still partners. He found out the way you always find out, from somebody who assumed he already knew. The partnership ended badly and the invoice is the last piece of it, and a lawyer has told him he would probably win.

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Matthew 6:12 (BSB)

We say that line out loud in church most weeks. Debts. Not feelings about debts.

Jesus also says something that has bothered me for twenty years.

if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well;
Matthew 5:40 (BSB)

Read it again. The person in that sentence is in the wrong and Jesus knows it. He does not say make sure the claim is just. He says let it go, and then some.

I am not telling you to eat every debt you are owed. There are people for whom paying is the only road back, and letting them skip it is not kindness.

What he did: he told the lawyer to stop.

That is real money out of a real household. He is not calm about it. He says some weeks he adds up what the house would have looked like with it.

It stops with him. That is all he has got.


thestumbleup.com

Address

Colleyville, TX
76034

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Stumble Up posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category