All in Christ + Culture
They’re like the headphones that came with your iPhone - the ones that keep getting wrapped up into a twisted ball.
Like it or not, you may have more in common with the knotted mess.
How did that happen?
How can the chords get so messed up in such a short amount of time? I’ll admit. I have Airpods. I am, however, the designated unraveler in our family regarding the earbud wires.
Often, I ask while unraveling, “How does this happen?”
I started this post in December. It started with something like, "Congratulations, you've made it!" We made it through 2020. I never posted. Over the past ten months, most of my writing has been a personal processing rather than a public offering. I'm sure that the small band of followers of this blog understand because you, too, have been through some surreal terrain over the past ten months.
In April of 2020, we were a few weeks into the COVID-19 crisis. We realized the opportunity we had as Precept leaders in the United States to hold out hope
Have you heard a lot about hope over the past few weeks?
Whether it is on the news where commentators say, “Hope is not a plan” or it is a casual conversation over zoom when someone says, “We hope for the best" there have been some interesting conversations about hope.
No matter what the situation through the history of the church, the people of God are people of hope. No matter the darkest night, the people of God shine forth the light of hope that can only be found in Jesus.
In the midst of chaos, we can find so many things to make us fearful and discouraged.
Oh, friends, what a strange day we find ourselves in right now.
Just a quick word.
I don’t have time to sit on the stump and think it through.
I don’t have time to edit or get feedback from my trusted few that desperately want me to continue to grow as a writer.
I’m spent.
You are too.
It’s been a long day (that has felt like four).
I’m working from the home schoolroom, surrounded by Latin declensions, a timeline of every event ever, and all the maps.
Weighty good and weighty hard decisions were made today.
Audaciously bold and broken prayers have been prayed over many a Zoom call today.
I don’t want to add to the noise for you.
I do want to share, however, how the Lord has encouraged me tonight.
Are you as distracted as me?
Constant notifications.
Someone you follow on Twitter has posted something.
Someone in a Facebook Group you manage asked a question.
Someone on Instagram has liked your photo, responded to your story, or posted a life update.
Someone on SnapChat has asked you a question.
Someone LinkedIn has messaged you about that open job position.
There is a bad kind of bigger - you know, where the waste line gets bigger or the expenses get bigger.
Then, there is the good kind of bigger.
This quote gets me every time. I know, I know - it’s the trifecta of Christian quotes, Tolkien, Lewis, or Keller. A book I’m currently reading with our Precept Team quoted Lewis. The author, Ken Boa, uses it to set up a chapter entitled Dependence on God.
Prepare yourself for the blender. The Lord has been so good. He has poured out so much grace. I wanted to share those things with you, but it is going to be like putting several different ingredients in a blender. I pray that the Spirit turns it on and mixes them up for you as He has done for me this week. Four Years Later- Ferguson. One year later - Charlottesville and the change that the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings. Jesus Changes Everything!
Everywhere you turn, it seems like darkness is enveloping the light. Consider what has been happening within the church of America throughout these crazy, hazy days of summer.
The mere mention of the word conjures up emotion. Visceral News media and political pundit driven emotion. Rather than a binary choice - choose one option or the other., for or against - it is more of a spectrum, a sliding scale. Sadly, many Christians are confused, thinking it is only one or the other. While confused, they're also adamant-whatever side I'm on, the other side is evil. Weird, right? Adamant in their confusion. If someone wants to find out more information, they could turn on the news or search the interwebs - the adamant confusion then turns into a frenzy of shock and awe opinion, talking heads and either fear based commentary or guilt based commentary. Adamant confusion turns belligerent.
There must be a more excellent way. There is an opportunity for us to listen and engage.
Over the next few posts, I'll be sharing some of the content from a sermon I recently preached at Sojourn Chattanooga on Acts 10 & 11. Grace For Every Race was a tough sermon.
There is no continent exempt from the permeating history of racism and discrimination. Over the centuries discrimination has looked differently, some say that it no longer exists. We can all agree that the parasitic sin of discrimination is still at work.
