“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
January 21st
13:23
13:23
Saw this at an elementary school and I think it’d be a good start! :)
Happy MLK Day.
18:10
It is time for birth
“Power. Greater power than we can imagine, abandoned, as the Word knew the powerlessness of the unborn child, still unformed, taking up almost no space in the great ocean of amniotic fluid, unseeing, unhearing, unknowing. Slowly growing, as any human embryo grows, arms and legs and a head, eyes, mouth, nose, slowly swimming into life until the ocean in the womb is no longer large enough, and it is time for birth. Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity, Christ, the Maker of the universe or perhaps many universes, willingly and lovingly leaving all that power and coming to this poor, sin-filled planet to live with us for a few years to show us what we ought to be and could be. Christ came to use as Jesus of Nazareth, wholly human and wholly divine, to show us what it means to be made in God’s image.”
–Madeleine L’Engle
Ed Fairburn - Deutschland. Ink on a 1977 road map of Germany
Map of Chicago in 1901
20-Something Leader and Performance
There’s a verse that popped out of the a reading I was recently doing in Matthew 3. And it’s a verse that we all know quite well.
As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:16-17
I often read this and never did consider the timing of this glorious and amazing confirmation of the Father’s love for Jesus.
Check this out.
This was before Jesus started His ministry.
Jesus was yet to feed thousands, cast out demons, raise the dead, confront the Pharisees, train His disciples, die for our sins or resurrect from the dead.
Yet, before Jesus does a single act of His ministry, the heavens tear open and God says “I love you and I’m so happy with you.“
Where was Jesus up to this point? What has He been up to?
Jesus, until this point, had been laboring in obscurity as a humble carpenter in a tiny little ghetto town called Nazareth.
So, what made God so happy with Jesus?
It couldn’t have been His ministry or His teaching or His leadership, because these were yet to happen.
So, again, what had Jesus done that made the Father so proud?
Jesus had spent the last 30 years of His life, cultivating an abiding passion and love for God.
Everyday, He just chose to be passionately in love with His Heavenly Father.
And this made God happy! Very Happy! :)
Here’s what you need to remember as a 20-something leader.
Contrary to what you may believe (or what others want you to believe), the one thing that pleases God isn’t what you do for God or how well you do things for Him.
God could care less about the level of your performance in ministry. The people in your church might. But God doesn’t. He doesn’t care about your performance (how well you sound and look etc.). Rather, He cares about you!
The one thing that pleases is God is the quality time you spend with Godto cultivate a life-long passionate relationship with Him.
So, as you’re preparing for yet another Sabbath, to lead praise and worshp, teach Sabbath School, facilitate in small groups and coordinate outreach programs, please remember to not get so caught-up in doing something forGod that you forget to spend time with Him!
The #1 priority in your life, the primary task of your life is always to prioritize time with God and hear His confession of His deep & sufficient love for you.
So that the voice of your Heavenly Father drowns out the voice of the crowd.
June 7th
19:20
19:20
"A man who has committed a mistake, and doesn’t correct it, is committing another mistake."
— Confucius
May 28th
23:02
23:02
thank you for this, Sonya.
Too bad I’m already taken.
May 15th
23:08
23:08
"Time is the way we spend our love."
— Zadie Smith, On Beauty.
