Not for everyone… maybe just you
Hello all,
As I consider April’s Running Thoughts, I realize something—I don’t really know who I’m writing to.
Only a small percentage will read this.
So if you are reading this… then this was written for you.
Can you hear me as you read?
Or are these just more words—lost among the thousands that pass before your eyes?
What I’m writing is very personal to me. These are not casual thoughts—I’m sharing something intimate.
And I want you to receive this not as something written to a crowd… but as something written to you.
So please do this:
Fill in your name here—
Dear __(your name)________,
—and hear me say:
I care. Love, Tom.”
__________,
Each month I find myself saying the same things… just in a different way.
And I’ve come to realize something—I think I write because I need to hear it myself.
There is something therapeutic about it. It feels like I’ve at least done something with what I feel.
Because honestly… I sit here nearly in tears at my keyboard. 
Once again, I find myself longing—for us—to move from surviving life… to actually living it.
I will admit to you, __________ (please do hear your name),
I am tired.
I watch my days expire one at a time.
I’m still within my “best used by” date… yet I feel constrained… at times impotent… even useless… as the seconds tick by.
__________,
Have you ever watched someone you love struggle… and you couldn’t struggle in their place?
You just wanted to take it from them.
Have you watched someone suffer needlessly—filled with sadness, anxiety, confusion, regret?
Or maybe…
Are you that person right now?
Quietly—or loudly—carrying pain?
Grief?
Relational, physical, emotional, or spiritual poverty?
I see it every day.
Sometimes in the mirror.
Always in the world around me.
Like Groundhog Day—the same day repeating itself—
we move through cycles of meaninglessness in a fallen world.
“We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.”
—Matthew 11:17
Many years ago, in a Tommy (The Who) -like moment, I heard:
“Tommy, can you hear Me?”
And I answered:
“Yes… I do.”
And that is when my life truly began.
“We know that we are children of God,
and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.”
—1 John 5:19
All of these heavy thoughts come from one place:
Loving frustration.
Because real hope… real meaning… is available—right now—to everyone.
There is a key.
I have it.
And I so deeply want others to see what I see.
__________,
I wish—just for a moment—I could step inside your thoughts… your heart… your eyes…
so that you could see:
He who is… and was… and always will be.
The One who loves you perfectly.
The One who is not just part of life—
but the very meaning of it.
Recently, in a men’s group, we talked about God’s promises.
Someone said,
“Yes… theoretically, they’re true.”
That word—*theoretically*—stuck with me.
Because that is where so many people live.
We nod.
We agree.
We say “amen.”
But we don’t live it.
And so God becomes a concept… instead of reality.
__________,
This matters more than anything:
Is God a theory… or is He truth?
“Do not merely listen to the word… and so deceive yourselves.
Do what it says.”
—James 1:22
When we are deceived… do we know it?
No.
Because if we knew—we wouldn’t be deceived.
God gives us one protection against deception:
Do His Word.
Not admire it.
Not agree with it.
Do it.
Taste and see.
Seek and find.
Ask and receive.
Go… to know.
__________,
I need you to pause and check yourself.
Are you actually doing His Word?
Or just agreeing with it?
Do you say you believe in God as He truly is?
Then are you living in alignment with that?
Are you stepping into His promises—and discovering they are real?
If so—keep going.
And encourage others to do the same.
There is no doubt—you exist, __________.
Here you are.
And there is no doubt—you did not create yourself.
You were created—on purpose—for His purpose. 
Let’s not waste our time.
Can I encourage you?
Go… to know… and then show Him.
There.
I feel better now.
I remain available.
TG