Hey Carpool Crew, I'm Pastor Justin, and maybe you're headed to school or just finishing up breakfast or wrapping up a little homeschool. I am so glad you're here. You know that sound that the marker makes on the whiteboard, the little squeaky sound, and you already know it's your name going up there? Yeah, I've had that once or twice. Let's jump in with the one thing I want you to remember for the ride: God's mercy is new every morning. Listen to this from Lamentations chapter three, verse 23. "They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." So here's what's going on. Lamentations was written after Jerusalem was destroyed. The city was wrecked, and the man writing this is sitting in the middle of it. He doesn't pretend it's fine. He writes page after page about how bad it is. And then right in the middle of the worst part, he says, The verse before tells us what they are. Because of the Lord's faithful love, we do not perish, for his mercies never end. See, mercy is a fancy word for God being kind to you when you didn't earn it or deserve it. Now, he says God's mercies are new every morning. So think about that. On the worst day of his life, this man is saying God's kindness didn't run out yesterday. There's a fresh supply of his mercy this morning. Now, here's what fear does with a bad day. Your name goes up on the board at ten in the morning, and fear tells you that the whole rest of the day is ruined. Lunch is ruined, recess is ruined, homeschool co-op is ruined, jujitsu later or football practice or music lessons, it's all ruined. Tonight, dinner's ruined. Bedtime, don't even get you started, it's probably ruined too. And tomorrow feels ruined even before it gets here. Now, the bad thing is real. Getting your name on the board if you did something wrong is never fun. I'm not gonna tell you it isn't. But God's kindness toward you didn't get used up at ten in the morning. It's new every day. It's new right now, and it's new tomorrow. See, maybe your name's on the board for doing something you shouldn't have. Maybe it's a bad grade that you got on a paper that you have to take home and get signed. Maybe you got in trouble at practice, and you had a fight with your brother or sister before school. Hey, this week, there's a lot of things that could happen, but I want you to try this. Don't carry it around all day. You can admit that today might have not started out the way you planned or didn't really end the way you hoped, but you can thank God that His mercy for you, His kindness, His understanding, His forgiveness, His love for you is new every single day. And you don't have to deserve it, and you don't have to earn it. You get it because you are one of God's kids. Now let's go back to the one thing I want you to remember for the ride. God's mercy is new every morning. Remember, no matter where you are or how you're listening, God loves you. And parents, if this podcast is helping your family, consider subscribing. For less than the cost of a cup of coffee a month, you could be a subscriber, getting our weekend episodes, all of our Good Night Psalms episodes, and Carpooling with Heroes of the Bible. You wouldn't miss a thing. I hope you consider it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Now before you go, let's answer this question together. What's something that felt ruined, and what did the next morning actually look like? I'll see you tomorrow on Carpooling with Jesus.
