we are leaning in to building ourselves up in Christ.
4 options to grow this semester.
kristen + I are doing a pre-marriage class
there is a class for those who want grow in ministry + leadership
and other cool options, check it out.
bumpy people
i walked by this sign the other day, it’s on the same block as our church. the neighborhood decided that because of construction, we should take extra care when we are in proximity. the ground isn’t smooth, so we should move slower.
the implication is that those passing through should be willing to take a little extra time and be a little inconvenienced, for the sake of their own safety.
something about the simplicity of the unspoken request on this sign struck me hard.
a few years ago during the peak COVID shutdowns, it felt like we were making progress this direction, but now it feels like we have reverted. there is tremendous spoken and unspoken pressure for people to figure it out. get it together. pick up the space. stop being so trauma-wounded.
and sure, some people do need to hear that message. there is a temptation to perpetual victimhood. there is also many other people, who simply need our kindness and patience … to take the analogy further, pavement with a serious problem often needs several layers removed in order to be properly built back up.
this takes time. and care. and while it’s happening, the pavement is uneven.
simply,
what would happen if you/i took the same approach as this sign to every:
… child of divorce who struggles to commit in a relationship?
… person genuinely hurt in a church taking a long time to step up/commit?
… older person who struggles to see truth through the haze of modern media culture?
… younger person who struggles to see truth through the haze of modern media culture?
what if we prepare for the road to be bumpy rather than resent it?
ephesians 4 .. with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
What God’s Teaching Me
w. bobby greenwood
Last Weeks Sermon — my message from Easter Sunday, the ‘right’ enough
(luke is obsessed w these weird AI pictures he creates, i do not support it, i find it creepy)
Have you ever played the game of Battleship? When I was growing up and our family was headed on our yearly road trip, those miniature games to play were a godsend. If you’re not familiar, Battleship is a game with a peg/grid system and each player is given four boats that are within certain coordinates. The goal of the game is to ‘hit’ your competitors' boats and therefore sink all four of their ships. But, there’s one big problem with Battleship that I’ve found in my experience, if you are not playing on a solid surface and you accidentally hit your grid/pegs all the work you have done suddenly gets disheveled and you want to give up immediately. If you’ve ever been discouraged, you’ve found yourself there too!
Discouragement is the feeling that can often bombard the facts of life. The irony of discouragement is that It can come after a ‘mountain top’ experience or in a season filled with trials. But often, because discouragement is a feeling it can stay inside as an internal conversation because the effort to fight the battle you’re already fighting has worn you down.
The word discouragement isn’t found in the Bible but we certainly see people who are battling it. The one that comes to mind immediately is Moses when God asks him to lead the people and he’s like ‘uhhhhh, no, I can’t I have a stuttering problem.’ Then, God is like, ‘well you’re who I chose so I will send your brother Aaron with you so that he is by your side and he can speak for you.’ Even still Moses felt like he wasn’t sure that he had the courage to overcome his weaknesses to do the task God had before him.
We see discouragement in many of the Psalms, take for instance Psalm 13:
“How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.”
I love the Psalms for this very reason, it is ok to be honest with God about your discouragement. After all, He is a God who sees. I think when the battle of discouragement is happening inside of you and you don’t verbalize it (at the very least to God) that the enemy uses that even more to make us believe lies. But when we verbalize the doubts, based on what we can see to the God who sees, we are able to get to a newfound place of remembering who God is. If we are praying to the God who made all, who sees all, who is always working and always good, then we can shift in the midst of our prayer just like David does. We can remind ourselves of the promises of God that He always offers to us.
As believers, we know we are in a battle. No, we’re not trying to sink ships. We’re battling for faith over fear, for standing on truth in a world full of shifting sand, to keep our ears and hearts heightened to the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit. The battle of discouragement is real but you don’t have to stay there. Pursue time in God’s Word so you can know the truth of who God is and how He’s on your side. Speak honest prayers to Him in the midst of your battles. Ask God for faith so that you can stand firm in the battle.
Saturday Morning Book Review
slow productivity: the lost art of accomplishment without burnout
by cal newport
the modern worker has too much faux-productivity and a general lack of clarity on when/if they will ever get out of the endless flow of meetings and nonsense. the meaningful work we aim to do is often frustratingly shuttered into small pockets at the beginning / end of the day. the movement to stop this mentality often focuses on doing less work, which feels impractical to most of us.
cal newport proposes a different solution. a classic way of thinking about work can produce high quality work if we stop the mania.
1. do fewer things
2. work at a natural pace
3. obsess over quality
this way of working he proposes will help us do better at things that matter and help us avoid things that don’t. a really helpful book i plan on utilizing in my work extensively this year.
this is good news,
luke + kristen