Greers Chapel United Methodist Church

06/05/2026

S.O.A.P.Y Daily Journal:

Friday, June 5

OT: Numbers 36:1-13 NT: John 13:1-38 Ps/Prov: Psalm 144:1-15

S Scripture

John 13:5 — "Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him."

O Observation

Jesus, knowing who He is and knowing where He’s going, takes a towel and a basin and does the job of a servant. John makes sure we understand the stakes: He knows He came from God and is going back to God. And so He washes their feet. His identity isn't threatened by the posture of service, it makes it possible.

A Application

I preached on this text not long ago and it still works on me. The thing that allows Jesus to get on the floor and wash feet is that He knows who He is. Security is what makes genuine service possible. When I serve out of insecurity, trying to prove something, win approval, justify my place, it turns into something else. It's not service anymore, it's performance. I want to serve from the same place Jesus serves from: a settled sense of whose I am.

P Prayer

Father, help me know who I am in you well enough that service doesn't threaten me. Let me pick up the towel without needing credit for it. Amen.

Y Yield

I'm going to do something today that counts as foot-washing in my context, a task “beneath my pay grade”, a need I notice and meet without being asked.

06/04/2026

S.O.A.P.Y Daily Journal:

Thursday, June 4

OT: Numbers 35:1-34 NT: John 12:20-50 Ps/Prov: Psalm 143:1-12

S Scripture

John 12:24 — "Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."

O Observation

Some Greeks have come wanting to see Jesus and this prompts a moment of intensity. Jesus talks about his death, and he does it with this image: the grain of wheat. A seed that never gets planted stays a seed. It's only when it goes into the ground and dies that the life multiplies. The death is not the defeat, it's the mechanism.

A Application

I lead small communities. Two churches that feel like they might be declining. A campus ministry where every year the students graduate and the whole thing has to rebuild. I feel sometimes like things are always dying a little. This verse is not wishful thinking, it's agricultural truth. The dying is how the fruit happens. I need to stop treating every loss like a failure and start asking what might be germinating in it.

P Prayer

Lord, I trust you with the seeds that feel like they're going into the ground right now. Help me believe that dying and bearing fruit are not opposites, they're the same process. Do your work in what feels like loss. Amen.

Y Yield

I'm going to identify one thing in my ministry that feels like it's dying, and I'm going to pray over it today as a seed rather than a loss.

06/03/2026

S.O.A.P.Y Daily Journal:

Wednesday, June 3

OT: Numbers 34:1-29 NT: John 11:45–12:19 Ps/Prov: Psalm 142:1-7

S Scripture

John 12:3 — "Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair."

O Observation

Six days before the Passover, at a dinner given for Jesus, Mary does something extravagant. She takes expensive perfume, the kind that costs a year's wages, and pours it on Jesus' feet and wipes it with her hair. The whole house fills with the smell. Judas objects: this was wasteful. Jesus defends her.

A Application

I think about the tension between efficiency and devotion. I'm a planner. I think about impact, resources, sustainability. I run a campus ministry on a lean budget and two rural churches that don't have a lot to spare. Efficiency is real. But Mary doesn't calculate, she pours out everything she has on Jesus' feet. And Jesus says what she's done is beautiful. I wonder how often I've let efficiency crowd out extravagance in my love for God.

P Prayer

Lord, help me not to always count the cost when it comes to giving you what you deserve. I want to be more like Mary, someone who pours out what's most valuable without running the numbers first. Amen.

Y Yield

I'm going to do something today for God that costs me something, time, money, effort, that I can't justify on a spreadsheet.

06/02/2026

S.O.A.P.Y Daily Journal:

Day 2 | Tuesday, June 2

OT: Numbers 33:1-56 NT: John 11:1-44 Ps/Prov: Psalm 141:1-10

S Scripture

John 11:35 — "Jesus wept."

O Observation

Lazarus is dead and Mary is weeping at Jesus' feet and the people around her are weeping and Jesus is troubled in spirit and moved in his gut and then he weeps. Not as performance. He weeps. And then he raises Lazarus. The miracle doesn't undo the tears. He felt it even though he knew what was coming.

A Application

I carry grief in this work. People I love are sick, are dying, are watching everything fall apart. And sometimes I think I need to skip ahead to the hope, get to the resurrection part, not linger too long in the weeping. Jesus is my corrective here. He weeps before he raises Lazarus. The hope doesn't eliminate the grief, it comes after it. I want to be a pastor who can sit in the tears before rushing to the answer.

P Prayer

Jesus, thank you for weeping. Thank you that you don't skip the grief. Teach me not to skip it either, in my own life and in the lives of the people you've given me to serve. Amen.

Y Yield

I'm going to let myself feel something I've been pushing past this week. Not to wallow, just to be honest about it for a few minutes before I move on.

06/01/2026

S.O.A.P.Y Daily Journal:

Monday, June 1

OT: Numbers 32:1-42 NT: John 10:22-42 Ps/Prov: Psalm 140:1-13

S Scripture

John 10:30 — "The Father and I are one."

O Observation

Jesus is walking in the temple portico during the Festival of Dedication. The people press him for a straight answer, are you the Messiah or not? His answer is more than they bargained for. The Father and I are one. Not just in purpose, not just in mission. In being. They pick up stones.

A Application

I think about what it costs to say the true thing in a room that doesn't want to hear it. Jesus doesn't soften his answer to make it easier to swallow. He says what is true, even knowing what it will cost him. I don't always do that. There are moments in ministry and honestly in my personal life where I hedge, where I let the room decide what I'll say. Jesus doesn't do that here.

P Prayer

Lord, give me the courage to say true things clearly even in rooms that push back. I want to be someone who speaks truthfully about who you are without backing down when it gets uncomfortable. Amen.

Y Yield

I'm going to name one place in my life where I've been hedging instead of speaking the truth. Not to punish myself — just to be honest before God about it.

05/31/2026

05/31/2026

S.O.A.P.Y Daily Journal:

Day 31 | Sunday, May 31

OT: Numbers 31:1-54 NT: John 10:1-21 Ps/Prov: Psalm 139:1-24

S Scripture
Psalm 139:7 — "Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?"

O Observation
The psalmist asks where he could go to escape God, heaven, the grave, the far side of the sea, the darkest dark, and the answer every time is the same: you are there. Not as a threat but as a comfort. There is nowhere outside the reach of God's presence. It cannot be outrun.

A Application
I end this month with this verse. May has had moments of real clarity and moments of real weight. Ministry, family, the everyday grind of showing up. And here's what Psalm 139 says about all of it: God was in every single moment. Every hard Monday and every good Sunday. Every conversation I felt equipped for and every one I didn't. He was there. He is there. He will be there. That's not a small thing.

P Prayer
Lord, I cannot flee from your presence. And I don't want to. Meet me in June the way you met me in May, in the ordinary and the hard and the holy moments alike. Thank you for this month of your Word. Keep opening me up. Amen.

Y Yield
I'm going to pick up the reading guide for June. I've come this far. I'm not stopping now.

05/30/2026

S.O.A.P.Y Daily Journal:

Day 30 | Saturday, May 30

OT: Numbers 30:1-16 NT: John 9:24-41 Ps/Prov: Psalm 138:1-8

S Scripture
John 9:25 — "He answered, 'I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.'"

O Observation
The man born blind has been healed and the Pharisees are interrogating him. They want him to condemn Jesus. They're asking theological questions he can't fully answer. And he's honest about his limits, “I don't know all of that. But here's what I can't argue with: I was blind, and now I see.”

A Application
I love this man. He doesn't overclaim. He doesn't try to win the theological debate. He just tells his story. I was blind. Now I see. That's the core of testimony, not a complete theological system, not answers to every question, just the honest account of what happened. I want to help people in my congregation find that kind of testimony. Not neat answers, just true stories.

P Prayer
Lord, thank you for the things I know because you've done them in my life. Help me never be ashamed of my story. It might be simple but it's real and it's mine. Use it. Amen.

Y Yield
I'm going to write down, just for myself, two or three sentences about my own 'I was blind, now I see' moment. The core of it. The true part.

05/29/2026

S.O.A.P.Y Daily Journal:

Day 29 | Friday, May 29

OT: Numbers 29:1-40 NT: John 9:1-23 Ps/Prov: Psalm 137:1-9

S Scripture
John 9:3 — "Jesus answered, 'Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him.'"

O Observation
The disciples want to assign blame for the man's blindness. Someone had to have sinned, right? Jesus says no, that's the wrong question. The blindness isn't a punishment to be explained, it's a canvas for something God is about to do. The suffering isn't the final word.

A Application
I sit with a lot of people in their suffering. And the question underneath most of it is the same one the disciples are asking: why? What did I do? What did they do? Most of the time I don't have a good answer to that. What I do have is what Jesus offers here, not an explanation, but a presence. God's works can be revealed in this. The suffering isn't the end of the story.

P Prayer
Lord, I bring to you today the people I know who are in pain and asking why. I don't have the answers they need. But you do what you did here, show up, touch them, do something only you can do. Let your works be revealed. Amen.

Y Yield
I'm going to reach out today to one person who is in a hard season and just let them know I'm praying for them. No explanations. Just presence.