This is an excerpt from the introduction of Stretched: A Study for Lent and the Entire Christian Life by Christopher Richmann (1517 Publishing, 2026).
We can bring our troubles, griefs, sorrows, and sins to Jesus, who meets us smack dab in the middle of our messy mob.
Confession isn’t a detour in the liturgy. It’s the doorway.

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Jesus, Who is truly God, became a regular Joe (or Joshua as the case may be) for us.
I hate driving. I am more of a “pew-pew” guy than a “vroom-vroom” guy. I battle my own heart every day in Atlanta traffic.
God’s grace and freedom announces the truth to us about ourselves. We need a real Savior.
Whenever I read the Genesis account of Abraham, I’m more impressed that he’s often a clumsy, mess of a man than that it’s “faith that’s accounted to him as righteousness.”
God is for us in His foolish, scarred Word and Wisdom. Nothing is against us, nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.
Only Jesus’ absolute absolution can satisfy a troubled conscience.
I cannot recall how many times I sang along to this theme song, punching and kicking as a kid in the 80s. But much of my desire to join the Marine Corps had its genesis in the 80s cartoon “G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero.”
From the very beginning, God made everything out of nothing. For mankind’s redemption, God’s Son did everything while we did nothing
The little gold man has become one of my most prized possessions for he reminds me of God’s love for me.
God goes to work on us through His Word like a woodcarver chisels a block of wood.
When God adds His promise to creation, we understand a greater reality than what we see: Light given; Light that sustains life; Light that will end up living in the midst of his people forever.
The pastor declares it. We receive it. The forgiveness of sins. It’s a simple thing.