Jerry Lout ⚬ Writer ⚬ Speaker ⚬ Mobilizer

April 9, 2026April 9, 2026

Promising Outcomes

*Note to my Dear readers. My weekly postings here are, as of today’s entry, drawing to a close. At least for the present. I cannot adequately express my gratitude for your faithfulness in journeying with me on this more than ten-year journey. Meanwhile, as I continue in the writing craft (focusing for now on reviewing and editing unpublished content), I request and treasure your prayers. A big thanks to all who have left comments on the jerrylout blog entries along the way. Each one has brought wind to the sails. Bless you! Please consider shooting your email address to me if you would like to receive our ‘Jerry and Ann Updates’, which go out monthly. In due time, God willing, further hard copy and e-book publications will be announced. Stay tuned. Warmly in Christ, Jerry

Over our years of marriage, Ann and I have spent a lot of time in each other’s company. We routinely live our lives in an almost continuous state of interaction. We eat together. We travel together (whether to Aldis or to Africa,). We share the same lodging arrangements. We pray together. We talk. We joke and laugh with one another.

Ann and I grieve together – consoling, comforting one another (words not always required), in seasons of pain or of sorrowing loss.

As with most husband-wife relationships, Ann and I have grappled with and navigated through plenty of the differences that mark us as distinct individuals. We still grapple at times. Some of the differences that characterize us could be easily detected by any third-party observer. But the fact that we are unique and that we differ from one another in plenty of ways, does not threaten our commitment in walking this journey together. The vows we voiced to one another long ago (before the coming of children, and of grands, and of great grands) remain current. Our pledge, by God’s grace, holds fast and remains as binding as ever.

Many couples find that rhythms of simply being in each other’s lives do factor in, helping to establish and reinforce their lasting bond. One that even mirrors the spirit and language of the marriage covenant itself. Through grace.

So, we meet the encouraging principle again. In grace, healthy, routine practices, undertaken in good faith translate somehow into “training”.

Where a well-tended garden is stewarded under the care of a seasoned gardener, fruitbearing happens.

April 2, 2026

Good Call

The B.C. comic strip once posted a piece on Good Friday:

“I hate the term ‘Good Friday’”, says the forlorn caveman.

“Why?”, a second character replied.

“My Lord was hanged on a tree that day.”

Caveman #2 responds, “If you were going to be hanged that day and he volunteered to take your place, how would you feel?”

“Good.”

Turning to go on his way, Caveman #2 calls back, “Have a nice day”.

Throughout their years of befriending international students, many host families have welcomed scholars to their homes during holiday seasons – Easter weekend included.

The curious and wonderful thing about hospitality in the name of Christ is that it’s not so much about the actions themselves.

The aim is not the Sunrise Service or the musical event. The objective of the weekend isn’t just the fun of watching children scurry across the landscape in pursuit of elusive eggs, nor even of special mealtimes together – as pleasant as these are.

The treasure of the weekend is found in the extraordinary person being celebrated. Melodic lyrics center us afresh on the good of Good Friday,

I’m coming back to the heart of worship. . . It’s all about you – Jesus*

Here’s hoping for our readers a Good Friday leading to a Glorious Sunday.

March 26, 2026

Wings Of Assurance

The “training wheels” metaphor often serves well in life. No one gains much headway in growth skills apart from the element of training.

Equipping. Tutoring. Apprenticing. All are treasured words in the training enterprise.

Without guidance and up-close assistance in our learning process start accumulating a nasty assortment of bumps and scratches and bruises. Like many-a-kid who excitedly took up bike-riding for the first time. Plunging in with an eager self-confidence – but all alone. Left to ourselves, things seldom end well.

When a believer sets out to grow in their earnest hope of taking on the character and likeness of Jesus Christ, a simple adjustment in approach can make a telling difference. Assurance finds wings. Confidence in the Christ’s “with-ness” replaces feelings of being stranded without fuel or compass. And, God’s very engagement with us lessens the prospects of our getting ambushed by the fear of failure or of succumbing to the boredom of a purposeless existence.

In a pilgrimage that is shared among people marked by a growing love for one another, words like boredom and drudgery simply drop away. In their place come robust terms like adventurous. . . invigorating.

Receiving heaven’s grace that transports a Christ-follower more fully into “life in the kingdom”, means that something called partnering practices are summoned. Engaging the practices is anything but cumbersome.

“Whither Thou Goest” is a lyric my brother sang at my wedding. The years that followed saw my bride trekking with me from her Montana home, on then to Texas. After that, New York and Africa and places beyond. Our wedding vows held substance for Ann and me.

New (and routinely renewed) union in Christ bears similar features. Unrelenting love is marked by choice. It is orienting one’s life each day to keep walking in step with the beloved.

Growth in grace (God acting in our life), explains Dallas Willard, “is something we must plan for by regular engagement in activities that enable us to receive God’s grace in all areas (of our lives)”. Professor Willard’s statement brings clarity to what is fundamentally called for in the life of a Christian convert. And, all through the remainder of the disciple’s life.

In truth, a lifelong journey of deepening companionship with Jesus is the thing a disciple longs for. It is what they are fashioned to live into. Nothing less will sustain a person on the long path of flourishing to which we are called in the faith pilgrimage.

March 19, 2026

Training Wheels

“A happy marriage is built on love, trust, and the ability to pretend you didn’t hear that last comment.”

A quip from an esteemed Indian author* can lighten the mood when considering the challenging union called married life.

The training process factors into much of the arenas of life.

Once our “I dos” and “I wills” were offered and the rings assigned their respective homes on appropriate fingers, my eighteen-year-old bride and I were off to the church fellowship hall.

It was in this warm, festive environment that I gained my first appreciation for smiles in their affects on facial muscles. From the nonstop smiling. . . toward photographer and camera – toward well-wishers – toward happy gift-givers as we opened yet another brightly-wrapped present. Hours passed before my face returned to its natural, “unfrozen” posture.

Good and Long marriages are characterized by just that. Long. Ann and I would learn that we had embarked upon a lengthy journey marked by pleasure and pain, conflict and harmony.

Long celebrations –long excursions (Montana, Texas, Africa, etc.) – long conversations (some marked with tension). One fellow presumably confided, “Me and my lady, we have never argued; we have, however, had some loud discussions”.

Days and weeks and years of learning. Whether married or single, a person discovers that life itself becomes it own trainer.

As a grateful spouse in these sunset years, I count myself still a novice in becoming the “ideal groom” to the bride from my youth. God has honed and formed and grown us both through our years together – all the way up till now – training wheels yet in place.

March 12, 2026March 11, 2026

Milestone Thresholds

*note. The entry posted is copied from a column in The Okmulgee Times, December, 2025.

While the 52nd week of another season fades in the rear-view mirror of our marathon lives, my own week features an added, and quite special, milestone. . .

Penning this column two days ahead of the Times launching her inaugural 2026 publication, I ‘today’ (Dec 30^th) am reflecting on the fifty eight years of married living with Alice Ann Lout. My Montana bride.

What a memorable moment that chilly late-December evening of 1967. My (preacher) father-in-law administered the vows – his declaration of days earlier fresh in my ears, “Once I tie the knot it, it’s tied!.

A biting north wind had swept into Okmulgee and along her North Oklahoma Street where the modest church facility was hosting our matrimonial union. The wintry blast brought with it intermittent sheets of icy rainfall – Brrr.

The parsonage – home of the host pastor – lay beyond the church parking lot. The wedding photographer, a resourceful and energetic personality, ventured a suggestion: “How about we get a shot of the groom carrying his bride across the threshold!”

That image – me in my spiffy J.C. Pennys suit, bearing my breathtaking beauty up to an open doorway and through the entryway – ranks, in my books, as a photography masterpiece. And, the teasing calls of, “don’t drop her!”, echo till this day.

Thresholds. Yes, they are a thing.

Happy New Year, everyone.

Happy Anniversary, darlin’!

March 5, 2026March 4, 2026

Senior Access

Rocket science isn’t required for this brand of boot camp. Nor is youthful age! A quiet army of apprentices to Jesus (millions of ordinary people dotting our planet) enter their mornings in quiet resolve. Taking up practices that, bit by bit, lead to character change, they find that a deepening joy ensues.

These people are not hero saints. They do, nevertheless, strive to keep a clear goal in mind. . . to grow to be like their Lord. Taking in an ancient prayer (portions of which may provoke a smile) helps underscore the wisdom of ‘training’ even into the sunset years.

Growing Older
Lord, You know better than I myself
that I am growing older and will someday be old.
Keep me from the fatal habit of thinking
I must say something on every subject and on every occasion.
Release me from craving to
straighten out everybody’s affairs.

Make me thoughtful but not moody;
helpful but not bossy.
With my vast store of wisdom,
it seems a pity not to use it all;
but You know, Lord,
that I want a few friends at the end.

Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details;
give me wings to get to the point.
Seal my lips on my aches and pains;
they are increasing, and love of rehearsing them
is becoming sweeter as the years go by.

I dare not ask for improved memory,
but for a growing humility and a lessening cock-sureness
when my memory seems to clash with the memories of others.
Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally I may be mistaken.
Keep me reasonably sweet, for a sour old person
is one of the crowning works of the devil.

Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places
and talents in unexpected people;
and give, O Lord, the grace to tell them so. Amen.

The prayer (snippets of which might provoke a smile) was penned by a Carmelite nun of the 16th century.* New habits can replace old ones bringing a person to noticeable transformation.

Change into Christlikeness beautifully grows when habits that were found in the routine life of Jesus become the disciple’s aim and practice. Entered into in prayer and reliance upon the Holy Spirit.

An occasional trip down Self-inventory Lane is recommended.

Do I often measure myself as the brightest bulb in the room? Do I have an inflated sense of self-importance? Am I given to talking too long and too much? Am I stingy with compliments? Do others possibly view me as the whiner, the grump?

Are there things about yourself – attitudes, behaviors, moods – that could do with some renovation? If your list – like mine – is long, don’t despair. Habits are replaceable. And, the Spirit is present to generously lend aid.

February 26, 2026February 25, 2026

inconspicuous

My friend from Asia had come to faith while studying at an American university. I smiled as he later shared an account of bringing Jesus along to a game of poker.

The family member who invited him for the friendly match had grown indifferent to the faith and was considered a non-believer.

While my friend shuffled the cards his phone stayed busy looping a melodic playlist. As the song “In Christ alone” quietly sounded in the background, the relative was drawn to the tune and began softly whistling along. Soon, she was giving voice to the lyrics in sing-along style.

Reflecting on my friend’s happy retelling of the experience, I realized that he was then and there exercising a spiritual discipline – that of meditation or of contemplation. I was reminded just how the various disciplines or practices, when exercised in everyday life, serve as a powerful means of grace – forming the believer further into Christlikeness.

Jesus meditated. He practiced contemplation in inconspicuous ways – much as any of his fellow human beings might. Consider the 70-plus Old Testament quotes he offered up as he conversed with various individuals and gatherings of people over time. Jesus, the son of God, had purposefully given time down through his earthly years in committing to memory truths that carried real meaning. My Asian friend has, likewise, given himself to scripture memorization – as well as to contemplations on being an active witness to loved ones. He has been following the savior’s lead while aligning with God’s encouraging counsel, to “think on such things”.*

John Mark Comer makes a bold call to the person wishing to grow. “My thesis is simple. Transformation is possible if we are willing to arrange our lives around the practices, rhythms, and truths that Jesus himself did, which will open our lives to God’s power to change.”**

February 19, 2026

All That Matters

The exercise of talking with God (praying), was invented by the Lord himself. . . to make way for communion and (as importantly) for transformation.

God talks. He comes with worthy things to say. All his communications are like that.

God also listens, wishing that his children grow to know him as companioning friend and not simply as “rescuing deity.” He speaks. He listens, and surprisingly to some, he seems quite content at just sitting with his image bearers in unstrained silence. This is itself a form of prayer. The practice carries a label. The discipline of silence.

But whether it is God speaking or the person speaking or simply an intentional time of God and his beloved sitting voiceless in one another’s company, he ever has this matter in mind. Transformation born of closeness.

The creator is ever in the business of saving his people and of growing his people to become much like himself. This is the only way his children are able to come to know him as he intends. In rightly practicing the discipline of silence within the discipline of prayer, the devotee to Jesus is sure to undergo metamorphosis. Change of character is underway as the disciple discovers that the really great thing going on is not a cosmic movement rattling the universe. Rather, something is happening at the interior level of the apprentice as they engage the practice. Such practicings of silence are, paradoxically, bringing forward inward transformation.

“Everyone thinks of changing the world”, Foster writes, “but where, oh where, are those who think of changing themselves? People may genuinely want to be good, but seldom are they prepared to do what it takes to produce the inward life of goodness that can form the soul.”*

For the believing Christian whose heart cannot stop yearning for more of Christ (where God’s presence may be getting routinely manifest in the ordinariness of daily living) nothing short of inside-out change will do.

February 12, 2026February 11, 2026

Talking With Whom?

In the mid-1970s a gifted couple were putting together a series of Bible studies to help equip church leaders across Africa. Fred and Grace Holland* found themselves mulling over the program’s course on Prayer. “What name can work that best identifies the heart of this practice?”, the couple wondered.

The textbook, Talking with God – a modest-sized publication bearing an attractive green-tint cover design – still enjoys wide usage across the continent.

If prevailing prayer reflects the life rhythms of a maturing Christian, anyone who engages the discipline finds themselves in admirable company. From Abraham to Daniel and from Hannah, the mother of Samuel, to Hannah the widow in the temple where little Jesus was dedicated.

This practice (talking with God) has, through history, helped form his people into a different kind of humanity. Christ’s apprentices have grown to exhibit his core nature.

“Talking with” God implies something beyond a mere one-way conversation. In listening attentively to God’s voice – spoken through the revealed word (holy scripture) and through impressions and promptings brought forward from his own indwelling presence – the believer grows receptive to Christ’s particular “way of being”. Like a caterpillar-turned-butterfly, change is underway from the inside out.

As one’s own heart then finds voice (silently or verbally) – offering up thanksgivings, petitions, groanings – or bursts of joyful praise. A longed-for resemblance to God’s son takes form. Apprentices of Jesus, habituating themselves in their talking-with-God discipline, take on over time, just a little bit more of the likeness of their Lord. His graces: Goodness. Patience. Meekness. Lovingkindness. . .

As the writer of Celebration of Discipline put it, “The primary purpose of prayer is to bring us into such a life of communion with the Father that, by the power of the Spirit, we are increasingly conformed to the image of the Son.”*

February 5, 2026

Down-to-earth

Some call them spiritual disciplines. Others say spiritual practices. Either label works.

The refreshing thing for the Christ-follower is understanding that God has supplied down-to-earth practical exercises to aid them in their journey toward Christlikeness. Disciples of Jesus worldwide routinely celebrate these provisions – practices that fuel actual growth in Christ.

CELEBRATION

Wonderful news of hands-on, easy to grasp, and habit-building exercises has made its way across the globe (afresh) in recent times. And Richard J. Foster has brought immeasurable aid to believers of most every demographic through his masterfully-crafted work, aptly titled Celebration of Discipline. Fosters’ is a voice among many.

Christ’s followers everywhere – those longing to reflect the character of Jesus while savoring richness in the with-God life, happily find themselves on a transformative adventure.

Practicing spiritual disciplines, especially those repeatedly seen across the pages of scripture, results in God’s children getting changed from the inside out. Always occurring in the company of (through the empowering presence of) the Holy Spirit.

What are some of these habit-inducing (and doable) spiritual disciplines that people have been putting into practice all the way from Bible times til now?

Common among them are the disciplines of praying – studying scripture – worshipping in community – serving – advancing justice. .

One reason the disciplines continue generation after generation is found in their effectiveness. Orange trees are known by the fruit that they produce. Things are no different in the spiritual world, within the believer who cultivates and nurtures the plant-life of their own souls. Flourishing becomes
predictable, inevitable.

One could ask, “How many practices or disciplines are there?” Fixed numbers are hard to come by as concerns and needs and opportunities can vary from community to community
and from season to season.

We do know of a dozen or so disciplines, tracing back through church history, faithfully served the Christian family – and through it the world – for centuries.

A host of changed lives stands as shining evidence to the
wisdom of growing a close friendship with these practices. Aiding the ordinary person toward Jesus-likeness.

One such practice – talking with God.