Our Weekly Devotionals are created by our staff and members to inspire reflections and conversation.
Dropping You a Line
We are barely two weeks into Lent and for many faithful people this means thoughtful, intentional sacrifice as a way to focus on their relationship with God. I didn’t grow up in a tradition that has rituals around Lent, but along the way I did make attempts at a denial practice, a “Lent diet” if you will – giving up chocolate or fast food or alcohol. In the end though, I decided that I needed a different, more proactive way to observe the season.
Say It in a Text?
I scrolled and scrolled through his lengthy text message as it came through on the tiny face of my smart watch. Panic, dread, loathing, catastrophizing - and about 150 words later, I got the message.
My brother is in the Navy, stateside, working on flight data - or something like that. I don’t really know, to tell you the truth, and I think that’s on purpose. He’s been back since last Christmas, having spent the last 10 months in the middle of the Indian Ocean on a giant aircraft carrier.
Holy Intersections
“Wait, you’re Dr. Pomeroy?”
“Yes,” I said, pointing to the name on my white coat.
“How old are you?” he said, intently searching my face.
I paused… looking around to be sure no one else was in his hospital room to hear. My age isn’t something I like to share. But when I did, he asked me if I had gone to Shawnee Mission Northwest. I looked at him more carefully. Was he one of my teachers? This guy was in really bad shape. Long gray hair and beard. Plus all of his medical problems.
Never One Thing
It’s a strange time of year. The world is frozen in winter. The world is also awakening towards spring. The days can be cold, yet the daylight grows brighter.
It’s a strange time of life. I feel a deep dissatisfaction as there is so much more to do, be, experience. I also feel a deep satisfaction from the life I’ve lived so far. I am in pain, tempted towards despair, yet I am likewise profoundly grateful and buoyant with joy.
Uncovering Hope
I’m not a big fan of snow. I know people love to get snuggly under a blanket and binge-watch TV while they are snowed in. I wish it wasn’t true, but snow makes me anxious. However, there is one thing I do like about snow. Our dog, Nelson, is a pit-bull terrier rescue. We do not have a fenced-in yard, so Nelson gets walked frequently. She, like all dogs, loves to sniff around.
God Speaks
Don’t make me come down there. – God
That is still my favorite one of all the billboards from an award-winning ad campaign that appeared about 30 years ago. Over the past few weeks, as I’ve watch unbelievable absurdities and casual cruelties play out on both the domestic and international stages, that is the image and phrase that has flashed into my mind more than once watching the unnecessary spectacles play out.
Veneration
I read a book recently about a small island off the coast of Korea where, at least until recent decades, the women woke each day to dive for abalone and octopus in freezing water, and the men stayed home to raise the children. The society had a fascinating mix of traditions and spiritual practices, including ancestor worship—quite different from my life in Kansas.
Recipe for Remembering
Early on Christmas Eve day, I sat in the kitchen with my brother while Justin prepped for the next day’s meal. We’ve hosted Christmas dinner for most of the 20 years that we’ve lived in this house. And almost from the beginning, Justin took over the duty of cooking our traditional Cuban meal for the holiday. He likes to recount the time he asked my Dad what was in the marinade for the pork roast. The way my Dad chuckled as he answered, “the same thing we marinate everything in.” It’s not quite that simple, and it is unbelievably delicious.
New Year, New Direction
New year, same old me.
But not really.
My 50’s will come to an end this year- which has been very stressful, of course. I spent a lot of 2025 trying to prove something to myself. Reading more than ever. Exercising and walking more than ever. Working more days and taking more call than ever. Learning more new electronic medical records and joining the staff at more new hospitals than ever. All while trying to be a good partner, father, son, brother, doctor, friend. Also while continuing to be involved with everything else in my life. Not to mention keeping up with so much reality TV.
Yule, the Season of the Longest Night
The holiday season is not merry for everyone. Whether we’ve lost a loved one, are dealing with our own or another’s physical or mental illness, are stressed financially or for other reasons, are isolated or disconnected from family and friends, or are simply deeply attuned to all the suffering in the world, the juxtaposition of a season when over-the-top cheer is the relentless focus right next to our own pain can be extremely difficult.
Christmas is Fun
Growing up, my family had prime rib for Thanksgiving dinner. It wasn’t until I was teenager that I learned that is not the norm. When I asked my mom why we didn’t have turkey for Thanksgiving like my friends did, my mom said that Nammie (my grandmother) felt like she could never live up to her mother’s Thanksgiving dinner with the perfectly cooked turkey. So, she made her own Thanksgiving tradition.
The Season of Snowfall
I sat at my desk in my home office this week and watched the snow falling through most of the day. I thought about how, in a different year of my life, before my own business and home office, I had to commute from South Kansas City to downtown, no matter what. Snow looked so different to me then. The mere mention of snowfall sent me into a mode of focused tactical planning…what route would have the fewest ice-covered bridges? Did I have everything I needed to dig my car back out at the end of the day if the office garage was full by the time I got there? Did I have a number to call into that 8:00 am meeting I could not miss, in case I had to call in from the road?
On a different yet similar note, the United States has taken the riches of Latin America --through Banana Wars and political interventions designed to benefit US corporate interests. US mining and oil companies have dumped so many toxins in parts of South America that tap water is unsafe, even if filtered or boiled, even for brushing teeth.
The Roots of our Riches
This church, like so many in Europe, is decorated in gold—650 pounds to be precise, or about $60 million in today’s market. There are thousands of such churches across Europe. Even small towns have churches with golden alters. Some estimates say that Latin America shipped 200,000 metric tons of gold to Spain alone between 1400 and 1800, much of it mined with indigenous slave labor.
On a different yet similar note, the United States has taken the riches of Latin America --through Banana Wars and political interventions designed to benefit US corporate interests. US mining and oil companies have dumped so many toxins in parts of South America that tap water is unsafe, even if filtered or boiled, even for brushing teeth.
Words
I’m trying to calm my anxiety that this year is nearly over. Late November and I never even decided what I wanted to do. I know I had planned to spend more time having coffee and lunch with friends. See more bands. Maybe return to Uganda or India. Go to church more.
Looking at the year from this side of it, I definitely worked more than ever. Took more call nights and weekends. Visited zero new vacation spots. Took fewer days off. Watched more reality TV. I did read a lot though.
We Need a Revolution
As this devotional is appearing on your screen, the new PBS doc “The American Revolution” has started airing over six consecutive nights. I’ve been looking forward to it for two reasons: first, because I’m a sucker for those particular films and the way they serve up history with captivating writing and evocative visual images (no grainy photos in this one, but lots of paintings, reenactments, and maps). And second, because I want someone to explain how once upon a time we got out of a “worse” jam than the one we’re in now and to unlock for me what our future holds–hopefully the restoration of rights, civility, basic dignity, and care for every person.
Pause
It was the day after Halloween and already we had Christmas music blasting through the speakers.
For four and a half hours, as we drove to visit family in Iowa, we sang loudly and out of tune. First we sang Nat King Cole, as Casey loves the classics. Then we belted out the high notes in Kelly Clarkson’s “Underneath the Tree.” We laughed when we realized just how terrible we sounded. I spied Cadence in the rearview just rolling her eyes.
Wonder
I am fortunate to have the time to make a quiet space almost every morning. As I reflect, I listen to public radio classical music. I listen to the beautiful orchestras playing Bach and other pieces. And here’s what struck me like lightening today: Isn’t it WONDROUS that there are people gifted with the ability and the desire to play percussion or violins or whatever FOR US?!! And that’s true, of course, for whatever one’s taste in music.
Hope is the Point
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another…
Hebrews 10:23-25
Into the Woods
On March 15, 1991, PBS aired the filmed version of the original Boardway production of Into the Woods. I was not new to musicals, but this struck me as something completely different. I listened to the soundtrack over and over. When Disney released the movie, I made my family watch it. I say one line all the time, “How do you know what you want / Till you get what you want / And you see if you like it?” from the song A Very Nice Prince. I think that line resonates because it is so true. We are all expected to know exactly what we want, but how do we know if that’s really what we want until we get it and then evaluate.
Celebrate Joy
I was blessed to be able to travel abroad this past month – soaking in the sunshine, history, architecture and culture. On trips like this, I always expect the unexpected – I’m primed for it – as it is part of the journey. But I admit to being caught off guard this time – by joy.
Not my joy – but the shared joy we stumbled upon one dusty afternoon in a small village, when a loud sudden uproar around the corner jolted us – definitely the happy roar of hundreds of people.