Today Heather shares a devotional reminder that will encourage you in whatever waiting season you may find yourself. There is often a period of waiting between an anointing and an appointing—that is, between the event of being selected for an assignment and the act of officially stepping into that new role. David’s wait was nearly 15 years. If you are experiencing what feels like a false start, today’s episode will encourage you.
Today’s Scripture can be found at 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 and will be read using the Christian Standard Bible:
“Don’t you know that the runners in a stadium all race, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way to win the prize. Now everyone who competes exercises self-control in everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable crown. So I do not run like one who runs aimlessly or box like one beating the air. Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified.”
Heather will be bringing you a meditation like this one every Monday for the rest of 2023.
Host Bio
Heather Thompson Day is an associate professor of communication at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. She is the author of eight books, including I’ll See You Tomorrow and It’s Not Your Turn. Reach out to Heather on X, the app formerly known as Twitter at @HeatherTDay and on Instagram @heatherthompsonday. Get Heather’s weekly inspirational email delivered to your inbox every Friday night at 7 PM EST. Sign up now at: www.heatherthompsonday.com/links.
President Obama met today with the nation’s top Catholic bishop, Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, after weeks of growing tension over policy changes in the young administration.
George, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, met with Obama for 30 minutes to discuss “important opportunities for the government and the Catholic Church to continue their long-standing partnership to tackle some of the nation’s most pressing challenges,” the White House said in a statement.
Neither the White House nor the bishops’ conference would elaborate about the meeting beyond their short statements.
It was the first time Obama and George have met in person since the November election, according to the White House, though they have spoken twice on the phone.
Though Obama and George have both held prominent posts in Illinois, where they met a number of times, they never developed a relationship, the cardinal said last November. Obama, who is Protestant, was a state senator in Illinois from 1997 to 2004, when he was elected to the U.S. Senate.
“It’s always been a friendly meeting, never substantive,” George said at a November meeting of the USCCB in Baltimore.
On Tuesday, the USSCB said George “expressed his gratitude for the meeting and his hopes that it will foster fruitful dialogue for the sake of the common good.”
The U.S. Catholic bishops have blasted Obama recently for opening federal funding to international family planning groups and embryonic stem cell research, while planning to roll back conscience protections for health care workers.
At the same time, Catholic Charities USA and other Catholic advocates have praised Obama’s proposed federal budget, which includes funding boosts for health care, affordable housing, food stamps and Medicaid.
Also on Tuesday, Obama sent the nomination of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to the Senate for confirmation as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. A Catholic, Sebelius has angered conservative Catholics – including her bishop, Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kan. – for supporting abortion rights. Naumann said last May that Sebelius should not receive Communion unless she
publicly recants.
