Any relationship is going to require a Grace Card. That’s because we are destined to fail each other over and over again. We will fail each other because we are fallible, and we will fail without even trying, because our expectations are always too high for the other to meet.
by Marti Fischer
Grace is more than a word. It’s a force. A quiet revolution. A hand extended when we least deserve it. Grace is that unearned kindness that catches you just before you hit the ground. And when Grace shows up? Everything can change.
Let me tell you a story.
Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint; but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction. Proverbs 29:18 (NIV)
The Jesus Movement came out of a time when social restraint was at an all time low. One of the most popular bumper stickers in the early 1970s was “QUESTION AUTHORITY.” It was the end of the turbulent ‘60s. The Vietnam war, the assassination of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., the struggle for civil rights, the widespread use of drugs and free sex, and student unrest had fired up a generation of baby boomers reaching maturity and resisting authority, expressing their newfound freedom with wild abandon. It was a generation without a prophecy — without revelation — without any awareness of the word of God and the result, as this proverb proclaims was a casting off of all restraint. When there’s no vision, there is chaos.
“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” – Proverbs 4:23
by Marti Fischer We live in a noisy world. Turn on the news, and it’s one crisis after another. Open your phone, and there’s a flood of distractions, arguments, and empty comparisons. It’s constant, it’s loud — and if you’re not careful, it starts to shape how you see the world, how you see yourself, and even how you relate to God.
There are seasons in life when you don’t realize how long you’ve been stuck until something in you starts to suffocate. One day bleeds into the next, and though you’re showing up — to work, to family, to responsibilities — inside, you’re not moving forward. You’re just waiting. Wishing. Spinning in place.
We spend much of our lives trying to control things—our schedules, our health, our careers, even our emotions. But relationships? That’s where control meets its match.
You can’t control someone else’s heart. You can’t script their responses or guarantee their commitment. And as terrifying as that can be, it’s also where the most profound growth happens.
by Marti Fischer
There was a time — not too long ago — when a generation on the edge of despair was set ablaze by the Spirit of God. It wasn’t polished. It wasn’t programmed.
But it was powerful.
Don’t sin by letting anger control you.
Think about it overnight and remain silent. Psalm 4:4
This verse is from a Psalm I chose as my message last night in Church at the Catch. It was a message I titled “A Psalm for a Ruinous Time.” In it David talks about those who were out to ruin his reputation, speaking lies about him and making groundless accusations against him. The important thing is what David tells himself to do about all this falsehood being thrown at him. First, he says don’t let anger control you.
by Marti Fischer
There’s a reason some songs never fade. They don’t rely on production or cleverness. They carry something true. Something timeless. And if ever there was a song like that, it’s John’s “All Day Song.”
Simple? Yes. But only in the way a sunrise is simple — the kind of beauty you don’t need to analyze to feel its power.
If you’re a man — especially one shaped by evangelical culture — odds are you’ve been told that control is strength. Maybe not outright, but the message has been clear enough: real men hold the line, take charge, and don’t let anything slip. You carry the weight, you solve the problems, and you don’t flinch.
But here’s the question: what if the very thing you think is protecting you is the thing holding you back?
John Fischer The Catch 