Epiphany 2026

HOW did I miss Epiphany 2025? It was a great year!

This time I'm not going to go into great detail about what gifts I got for my family or what I said to them. I think I've created that model already - you can click the "Epiphany" label at the bottom of this post to see some examples. I'm just going to give a brief summary, because the things that the Holy Spirit has given me for family members have become increasingly targeted and personal over the years - I guess I've been learning better and better how to hear His voice in this situation. I need to start applying that skill all year round!

This year my youngest turned 18. She's about to graduate from high school, and she's really been blossoming this year. In 2025 her word was "create" and she's been creating amazing stuff all year... visual art and music have been all around her in 2025. But there have been a few goals in those areas that, although she worked really hard, she either barely reached, or barely didn't reach. Her word for 2026 is "launch". As in, Peter said "Lord, we've fished all night and didn't catch anything, but if you say so we'll launch out and try again." And you know what happened! I gave her a shirt that says "Jesus said, go fishing!"

My oldest is about to graduate from college. His word this year is "up". I feel like he's started to grow out of some of his kid and young man ways and emerge as someone who is on the way upward, as in, upward toward the prize of the high call of God. I gave him a metal sign that is a picture of a river with part of that verse on it.

My wife, after her battle with cancer, has just now started to show signs that she's ready to do pretty much anything that God calls her to do again. I think she's been a little bit afraid of getting sick again. her word is "confidence" - as in, your confidence is in the Lord! (I got her a gold bracelet with an encouraging word on it.)

I found out a week or two ago that my youngest is keeping all of her cards (this is the third year that I've printed out cards with a word and a Scripture on them for the year). My wife still has all three of hers on the refrigerator. (I haven't asked my son if he's keeping his.) All three of them have said that the words and Scriptures have been valuable to them throughout the year. If you're not doing something like this for your family, Epiphany is a great opportunity! The first week of the new year is a perfect time to get off on the right foot!

Epiphany 2024, part 2

Most years I start with my youngest and work my way up through her big brother and finally to my wife. This year I decided to reverse that and start with my wife and work my way backward. Her gift and word were a little heavy, and I didn't want to end on that note!

This year I also get some help from a friend and got some cards printed up. Each card has as a background an image I found of The Magi, then printed over that, their name, their "word", and a related Scripture. I'm no graphic designer, but I'm really happy with how they came out! I think I'm going to keep doing it in future years!

This year my wife has been in a battle with breast cancer. At the stage we caught it, it is a winnable fight, and we're in a good place now, but the treatments are no fun. They are time-consuming, and uncomfortable to the point of sometimes being painful. She had a surgery which left her flat on her back on the couch for several weeks, doctor's orders not to move unless she absolutely had to. Her word was "Second Chance". I reminded her that if we hadn't gotten treatment from some amazing doctors and medical technicians using tools that didn't even exist 5, 10, 15 years ago, she would be dead right now. I told her to consider this her reset button. This is the "turn it off and back on again" reboot. This is her video game "extra life". Now is her chance to do things she never did before, because "before" is over with and "second chance" is now. The gift I gave her was a beautiful pewter "ticket" like you see in the picture (it's actually a photo of two of them so you can see the front and the back) by an Etsy artist named Cynthia Webb. I left a message with my order telling her that this was for a gift and I was hoping the USPS would be quick about it, and in the package she included a sweet reply telling me she hoped it made it on time! (It did!) Click on the picture and take a look at her work! It's pretty fantastic stuff!

The Scripture I included for my wife is from Psalm 40:1-3 (I had to leave out part of it to fit it on the card, but the missing part applies too): “I waited patiently for the LORD to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry... He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the LORD.”

By the way... my daughter protested " 'Second Chance' is two words!" Of course it is, but a "word" can also mean more than one word. "I will take care of this problem, you have my word" - "I'm angry with that guy, I'm going to have a word with him!" ...or how about this one: we call the Bible the "Word of God". The sense I'm using it in, though, is in the "word of prophecy" sense. I do not have the ministry of a prophet of God, but I believe that as the father I have a similar ministry to my own family. So that's why I use the word "word" even when it's multiple words.

My son spent the last part of this year working at a pretty great job he got in order to pay off some school bills and get back on track for college. The word I had for him was "Focus". I wanted him to remember that even though he had a pretty decent job that he's working at right now, his college is to prep him for something even more amazing to come later! I actually gave him two Scriptures, Proverbs 16:9 and Hebrews 12:1-2: “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps.” and “Let us strip off every weight that slows us down... and let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.” I gave him the cool nautical-style telescope at left (it's mostly for show and not as much to use, although it does actually work). The inscription on the telescope says “Go Confidently in the Direction of Your Dreams/Live the Life You Have Imagined.” I told him not to ignore the people God puts right next to him in this season, but also do not lose sight on the longer-term vision for his future.

Things were a little different for my daughter. For my wife and my son, the "word" almost felt obvious. For my daughter, it took a little more prayer this year. As a dad it would be easy enough to just make up something, but I deeply feel that it is important that whatever I give and say to them for Epiphany every year is inspired by God for that year. Finally something dropped into my heart for her: "Friends". Honestly, I don't even know exactly what that means to her, but I told her that what I felt in my heart was that she seems to have an easy time at making friends - people at school seem to know who she is and think favorably about her. Maybe there are kids who don't like her, but so far I haven't met anyone who seems to be uncomfortable talking to me, like a teenager is when they have to talk to the dad of someone they don't care for. I told her that I think she needs to not be apprehensive about making friends with people. Open up and be a friend when someone needs a friend. I gave her John 15:12-13: “This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” I don't think, though, that the application of that Scripture ends with literally giving up your life for someone, as in getting hit by a train while you're pushing someone else off the tracks. I think that "laying down your life for your friends" might mean just laying down your cell phone when someone needs to talk, or laying down a book you're enjoying to enjoy the human being right next to you. When she was opening up the twin necklaces you see above, I made sure she understood that I wasn't trying to call her names - I just knew that she would think it was hilarious (she did). I told her she was welcome to keep both necklaces if she wanted to, but I was hoping she would actually give one of them to a friend!

I hope reading this has inspired you to do something like this for your own family. You don't have to be the dad... you can be the mom, or a grandparent, or you can even be a brother or sister and seek the Lord for a word for someone. You might just be a friend, and the Holy Spirit might inspire you to share with someone. A small gift, a physical object, can hold meaning in the way that just words might not... it's why prophets in the Old Testament (and even the New Testament) used physical objects to communicate a message. It's also why we send greeting cards at Christmas and birthdays, and why we give flowers and candy on Valentine's Day. I always try to link to the things I pick out in case you want to share them as well, but please, her from the Lord on your own! The word He gives you is the Word that is needed by exactly that person at exactly that moment!

Five Golden Rings!

Happy Fifth Day of Christmas! And when it's the fifth day of Christmas, you know what that means... only one week until Epiphany! Take a look at my first post about it to see why it's a big deal for me. If you want to join in the fun, you've got seven shopping days left!

Patriotism

Lately I've been working at baseball games.

My daughter is in high school band, and one of the ways we an raise money to pay for our kids' band fees is to work shifts in the concession stands at our local minor league baseball team's games. Every night we serve customers from the time the gate opens until the time the national anthem begins. When the anthem plays, everyone in the stadium gets quiet and turns to face the flag. The stand stills, and we all take off our ball caps and put them over our hearts. It's an amazing moment every night - even the most unruly guest seems fully prepared to pay respect to the American flag.

I have respect for the flag, and I would be remiss, blogging on Memorial Day, to not mention the sacrifice of lives that our service men and women make every single day. Stick with me until the end of this blog post, because I'm not taking away from that at all. But I've always had a nagging doubt, or worry, or hangup, or whatever you call it, at what almost appears to be worship of a red, white, and blue idol. When we sing of our love for our country, when we pledge our allegiance to it as represented by the flag, are we putting it above God?

In 1954, when the words "under God" were added to the Pledge of Allegiance, it wasn't because of religious fervor - it was because Congress was afraid of communism. But I think it does add something useful for a Christian. Our country (and your country, too, if you don't live in the United States) should have our full support and allegiance - as long as it does not counter the Word of God. If there ever becomes a time when the United States places itself into direct opposition against God, that is the point where my allegiance ends. But not before!

It occurred to me the other night, as my baseball cap was hovering over my heart, that patriotism to a country that has not set itself against God, is in itself a Godly thing. The reason patriotism aligns directly with faith is that true faith in God values and cherishes people, as the God of the Bible cherished people enough to send His Son to die to save them. On Memorial Day, and every time we pledge allegiance to the United States flag, we show that we value the people who live and die in this country. Those are the people Jesus came to save. The value that God saw in them is the value we see in our country, because a country is really made up of the people God loves. Our love of our country is our love for what He loves!