March 2026

I don’t often eavesdrop on conversations but sometimes I catch parts and the parts I most appreciate are the honest, caring questions being asked. How are you really doing, how is your recovery, what’s keeping you grounded, what’s driving you crazy, what’s the next and most necessary thing for you?

Nicodemus comes to Jesus under the cover of darkness. He senses God to be at work in and through Jesus and wants to know more (John 3).

So Jesus goes to the heart of the issue: “I’m here to teach people about the kingdom of God, and the only way to see it is to be born from above.”

Nicodemus responds, “How can anyone be born after having grown old?”

How can anyone be born anew, born from above when life seems to be passing quickly, when vision seems to be narrowing? Is real newness even possible?

It is a question that troubles lone souls in despair, families in dysfunction, people under oppression, those recalling or experiencing trauma. Can anything truly be new, or are we too old, calloused, and careful to experience re-birth?

Can one start again? What is this birth from above in full maturity of life?

Here’s the thing according to Jesus, we cannot give ourselves a new start. This is a gift and experience that only God can give. The same Spirit who gave life in the first place gives life over and over again.

But being born anew is going to have some consequences. No longer are we simply trying to blend in or even survive. No longer are we avoiding truth, living in the shadows. When God breathes new life into us and provides mercies new every morning, we start reckoning with reality within and around us. Jesus starts taking us into the world and all that is broken in our society. Not only are we revived by the Spirit, but we are likewise equipped to bring hope, speak truth, make peace and discover together the next and most necessary thing to be about. And hopefully, someone’s eavesdropping.

Tom