Have you ever wondered why you were where you were at a specific time? At least for me, said moments usually occur when I’m at work; it’s piled up to the gills, and walking along a sun-kissed beach would be the preferable alternative. Most of the time, we are left hanging, at least a little. But, sometimes, we find out.

One of those moments forms the basis of this Cephas Hour episode, the first one of 2024. Music in this show is by The 77s, Abbey Sitterley, Adam Again, Bob Bennett, Crystoria, Daniel Amos, Jars of Clay, Mac Powell and Cliff & Danielle Young, Phil Keaggy, Randy Stonehill, The Choir, Undercover, and Veil of Ashes.

MORE LIKE THIS: Abbey Sitterley’s Folk Music Is From and for the Soul
Cephas Hour Artist Spotlight: The 77s
Cephas Hour Sunday Spotlight: The Choir
The Lions of Undercover Roar Once More
Sean Doty, Leader of Alt Band Veil of Ashes, Passes Away

The show is available on demand at its website cephashour.com. It is also available via the following podcast services:

• Amazon
• Apple
• Audacy
• Google
• iHeart
• radio.net
• TuneIn

Hope it helps. Thanks.

I had one of those “Oh, so that’s why I’m here” moments at my workplace a few days ago. I’d been fighting a cold for over a week, and on this particular day, it was dragging me down big time. I was, as usual, doing price changes in our quite expansive apparel department and noticed a woman rather frantically going through the few Las Vegas Raiders items we have in our licensed section. 

I went into customer service mode, which sometimes relies far more on acting skills than anything else, and asked if she needed help. Which she did; she needed to exchange a sweatshirt for a different size. We didn’t have it in stock, so I offered to help her order it, thereby giving her free shipping. You would think I’d sold her a winning lottery ticket; she was so delighted that a store employee was actually helping instead of staring off into space or chatting up another employee. So, as I was ordering the correct size sweatshirt, she asked if I was glad 2023 was over. I replied in the affirmative, to which she responded, “Me too,” going on to explain why …

… both of her parents passed away last year.

I hugged her.

Sometimes, a hug is a powerful witness.

As you probably gathered from the previous segment, very few people I know, including myself, will miss 2023. It was a rugged year for many. Losing loved ones, financial worries, and the general malaise that has enveloped society permeated the entire year. It was very little fun. There were a lot of storms and minimal shelter from them. Still, the storms did pass -- if at times seemingly solely so they could combine forces and vigorously renew the assault.

The reflection period after the storm has passed is a necessary element of spiritual growth. How well we did, or to be blunt, how poorly, must serve as guideposts going forward. Did we cling to the faith? How did we do navigating the moments of emptiness, loss, and doubt? Did we praise Him in the storm? Or did we waste time yelling into the wind for having the temerity not to ask our permission to blow? Did we stew over our failures? Or did we steadfastly work on learning from them? Did we shade our eyes from reality’s often harsh glare? Or did we rejoice in the Light enabling us to see? It’s up to us.

In Paul’s letter to the Colossians, we find these words:

Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.

Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

This ties into what Jesus said in Matthew:

When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Piety, or to be more accurate, the outward assumption of same, does not equal true Godliness. To believe this is so is a dangerous equation we must avoid.