For the first time in a decade, I don’t work for the local church. When that change happened in November, it was wild. That first Sunday morning especially, I felt like I was breaking the rules. As if there was some sort of law enforcement officer who was standing behind the curtain waiting to arrest me for my deviance.
I feel like when I saw the bridge God was reminding me that I’m not God. I don’t have to have it all figured out. I just need to be faithful.
Like I do for most things in my life (don’t ask me why) I began to reflect on baseball. I began thinking about third base, and specifically rounding third. This week in the Advent calendar we are rounding third, so-to-speak, and heading for home. The joy in rounding third base is different than anything else in baseball because we know what’s about to happen. We are about to complete the mission set before us, and rejoice in its finality of tagging home!
One of the things the Lord has put on my heart this holiday season is the idea of how we approach Him. I am more and more convinced that Jesus wants me to show up physically in our relationship. That sounds strange, but one of the things I’m increasingly convinced of is that I can’t give Jesus authority in my life if I am not willing to approach the throne room with my physical self.
One of the things that I always end up talking about in disciple-making is coping skills. Mostly because I don’t think we have enough of them, and from my experience, if we don’t have good coping skills we end up getting derailed in our faith walk.
This week I celebrated a huge milestone. Three years of daily use of the Bible App on YouVersion.
Three years! My streak of daily reading would be a junior in high school right now. And I am not naive enough to tell you that the streak has been a daily practice of connecting with God’s Word. Actually, sometimes it was more like speed-reading, or just getting it done. Either way, I did it, and if I am really honest: I became a little obsessed.
I don’t rest well.
I wish I could tell you I was the turn the phone off, ignore the work, and be completely present (all the time) kind of guy.
I’m going to guess that life has felt like A LOT for you lately. It has probably felt heavy, overwhelming, and at times you may not even be sure if you are coming or going.
What I want to suggest to you today is that prolonged stress will turn your cracks into canyons.
There has been some serious stuff happening in the world. Even more so than just a normal year. It has been a lot. Some of it has been bad, some has been good, but I just wanted to invite you to take some time today to do an emotional inventory.
