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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The devil tempts us to hope in things that we can do.
God’s justification of us does not happen secretly in our spirits. God justifies you and me in His absolving Word
When I was about 10, I went on a hike with a boys brigade. We were all racing down this path at lunchtime when I decided to beat everyone to the bottom by deviating from the path.
In Christ we are freed to be for our neighbor without fear of sin and damnation falling upon us.
My parents will be the first to tell you, I can really put my foot in my mouth. I often don’t say the right thing.
The Sixth Sense is a suspenseful and scary movie where a little boy is born with the strange gift of seeing dead people.
How strange and yet how comforting: God prays to God for us, the Spirit to the Father. He sees through the fog of our emotions to what we truly need.
Death is never natural. Death is abnormal. Death is not human. Death is the enemy.
We demand that our Creator defend His judgment and justification of sinners in a courtroom where we are judge, prosecuting attorney, and jury.
This is why a Christian must keep learning to forget himself so long as he lives.
Jesus is the "because" and "therefore" of our salvation because He died for our sin
We focus on what we have, what we don't have, and how and when God is going to give us what we need. This the opposite of faith.