Luke, a middle-aged physician hired by a wealthy Roman to document the story of Jesus, sat down on a bench next to an aging Jewish woman somewhere in the Roman province of Judea.
Luke’s task was to put together the story– in order– the story of Jesus and his followers. People in Rome were talking about this Jewish Messiah but what they knew about him was in bits and pieces, stories told from Jews.
I’m still recovering from two months of travel. I came back from my last trip very worn out and fighting a chest cold that just won’t let go.
The past couple of weeks… I’ve just been tired. Normally, a day off will do for recovery. But this has been different. Each day I get up and mash the gas peddle of what I want to do… and there’s simply no vroom there.
I sat down in 8A matter-of-factly. The doors closed on Southwest flight 561. We reached 10,000 feet, I put my headphones on, read a book for a bit, drank a Coke, and avoided small talk with a chatty passenger excited for vacation.
70 minutes later it was over. My 6th Southwest flight of the week in the books.
It’s been a few weeks since I’ve been to church.
And it’ll be about another month until I get to be home on a Friday night to go to church at Journey.
For someone who used to work in the local church that appears really odd. (It feels weird to write, somewhat confessional.) I even remember a time when we, as a staff, pushed to define the amount of Sunday’s a leader had to be present in order to qualify to be a leader. I think we settled on 45 Sunday’s per year… I’d be disqualified by a country mile.
Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
This is one of those passages of Scripture so easily twisted that it is used to justify all sorts of weirdness done in the name of Jesus. (My favorite is using this as justification of a position against immigration reform.)
Yesterday, while completely unique, was absolutely typical.
The lion’s share of my day was spent hanging out with students, parents, and the staff at Battle Ground Academy from 7:30 AM until 8:00 PM. And by hanging out I suppose I mean that I talked all day with 5 classes of 7th graders, a 5-minute talk during the high school chapel, and capped it off by spending 2 hours leading a parenting workshop.
I wish validation were as simple a thing as getting your parking validated at the restaurant after dinner.
Validation is like helium. It’s a blast when you inhale it. And it’s present in the atmosphere all the time. But capturing it? Nearly impossible.
There’s something gnarly in us that seeks validation. A desire to see yourself as legit comes from a dark, insecure place. Seeking validation is lonely. It’s unnatural and unhealthy.
And although it’s an unhealthy place of loneliness it’s the corner pub, full of lonely and unhealthy people on a Friday night ignoring reality while seeking a fix.
Even a great, big, hard-hitting NFL player has legitimate fears to overcome in life.
I don’t know what your fears are. But I know that when I discover one I want to work through it and overcome it. Sometimes I can do it myself. And sometimes I need the help of others. But the point is that I don’t want to live a life defined by fear. Rather, I want to live boldly into the calling God has given me.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:6-7
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
John 10:10
h/t Buzzfeed
Working from home reveals all the daily routines that happen around your house while you’re typically away.
