it’s truck season.
our outreach team is out serving + blessing the community multiple times every week,
jump in to serve and watch God use you.
Cup of Leadership
“I thought you might be Carter’s mom, but we’ve just seen so many different people with him at games. I wasn’t totally sure.” - a REALLY nice guy to Kristen last weekend at Carter’s basketball tournament
in the last month, Carter has been taken to AAU basketball by: his mom, his dad, his grandfather James, his other grandfather Dave, his real uncle Nick and his fake uncle Billy. before too long, his grandma and fake uncle Bobby and fake aunt Audrie will probably get thrown in there too.
this isn’t because I don’t like to watch him play. i love to. it’s just, we have 4 kids and i have church on Sunday and our family has a busy schedule.
one of the things that matters most to me is being there for people.
my kids. my church. my friends.
yet somehow, the nature of my life means i give the impression to new people i meet that my son has semi-uninterested parents. the optics are different than the reality. when i encounter people, i find myself trying to explain, or to manage the optics. ‘we have a busy family’ .. ‘my wife and i love each other, just we spend saturdays in different places’ etc etc … not that anyone i’m talking to really cares, but i’m trying to manage the optics.
the thing that we’ve decided to manage is, we give our kids have full lives and they are continually reminded that they are not their parents God. they also are reminded they have many people who love them helping make life happen. I’m sure that has complications for them I don’t totally realize, but this is the way that we’ve chosen to live. I think sometimes we are not able to see that every path of life has positives and negatives associated with it and when we only focus on the positives and don’t pay any attention to the negatives, we tend to deceive ourselves and possibly not help people that we really want to help
you might know some of the scriptures that fit here:
man looks on the outward appearance .. God looks at the heart. 1 Samuel 16
in the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. Mathew 23
i know your works, you have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Revelation 3
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i usually order diet coke when out for a burger. when they say ‘we have pepsi products,’ i’m even happier, diet pepsi is my favorite.
but my kids love sprite. and the alternative is L-A-M-E.
in 1984 pepsico launched slice to compete with sprite. it promised a component of fruit juice and a slightly different taste than anything previously available. it had a rapid rise + fall of popularity before being discontinued in 2000.
in 2003, pepsi co launch sierra mist as a replacement. it was a pretty straight forward copy of already available things, but just in the pepsi family. it had a quick rise + steady decline in popularity until being discontinued in 2022.
not long ago .. pepsi co announced STARRY, a 2023 attempt at a strong lemon-lime soda brand.
the problem?
many folks online claim it is the same precise formula as sierra mist, just trying to put fresh branding around a failed product. this product is destined to fail because the problem isn’t how it looks .. the problem is what it is. it won’t taste different, it will just have a different label.
too many churches + businesses + families do this to themselves in the name of optics. we spend so much energy trying to control how things look that we ignore how things are. if pepsi wants to finally breakthrough after 40+ years of trying, they will need to do more than come up with a better logo. if we want to do better, we must focus on BEING better, not just BRANDING a little better.
so i guess i’m saying, skip seeming like something and just try to be something
a bird’s nest?
New life is a beautiful thing. When the pregnancy test has two red lines, or you see a newborn or when a person shares a testimony in the baptismal tank it awakens our hearts and stirs our affections. This week, we were outside taking the flowers off the cross and much to our surprise, as I got on a ladder and looked on top of the horizontal part of the cross, we saw a robin’s nest and two beautiful teal eggs. It is for sure one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen in 2025.
My mind was blown as I looked at the irony of the new life in front of me on the very thing that brings new life to all who are willing to receive it. Here we had put up a cross for Easter to prepare our hearts of the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf to remember the pain and suffering he went through before and on the cross. And to remember that the only way that it was made beautiful was because Jesus conquered death. The tomb was empty, filling the gap that we never could strive to meet or attain or work our way to with good works. Instead, He did all of it, all we have to do is come to him in surrender.
Let’s never lose sight of the fact that the cross was made beautiful because of His suffering. These little robin birds have worked tediously to make a nest. The internet says that these two eggs will hatch in about 12-14 days. Only God could do that. Just like only God can bring sinners to repentance and hope and freedom. I praise God that there were several people in our services on Easter who accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
If you were one of those people that accepted Jesus as your Savior, welcome to the family. Jesus loves you so much. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 it says that, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come.” God is making you more like himself. I would invite you to read the Bible. I’ve found that John is a good place to start so that you know what Jesus is like and you can learn to live to exemplify him.
If you are one of those people who has known Jesus for a hot minute, remember that he is still doing a new thing. Isaiah 43:19 says, “Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” God wants to continue to use you to bring new life into other people’s lives. You might see all the stuff that still needs work but He sees His creation as something beautiful that points back to Him.
Last Week’s Sermon
i preached about the aftermath of the resurrection, Jesus showing up to Mary + in the Upper Room. it was called Resurrection Aftershocks
Playlist:
every sunday … we will update the music from the previous Sunday on this playlist, hopefully helps you connect with things a little better.
Saturday Morning Book Review
abundance by ezra klein and derek thompson
this book is written as a manifesto to help democrats get on track. i’m not really a democrat (i know it’s annoying, but i really am not anything), so i’m not the target audience. the authors basic idea is to convince the reader that we need to increase the supply of housing, infrastructure, and scientific innovation to meet the needs of our country. rather than endless red-tape and regulation, the democrats should become the party of making things happen. i learned a lot and really enjoyed the writers who are both extremely compelling.
3 reasons you might be helped by reading this book.
1. the first 15 pages give the concise + understandable history of 20th/21st century American politics from the perspective of policy/philosophy I have ever read. it would really help you understand how we got here.
2. so much of modern politics is about the personalities and the moral issues. this book is focused on some other important things government does in way you maybe haven’t considered.
3. our country is struggling. reading good faith arguments from people you may not totally agree with WILL grow your mind.
this is good news,
luke + kristen