Monday Mind Dump (9/26/22)
• Been an intense last few weeks with some real ups and downs.
• First, the downs:
• The biggest by far has been being part of making the decision to let our Students pastor go from his role leading our Student ministry.
• Joshua has been a wonderful guy to have at our church and staff, and he's made a positive difference in my life and family.
• Two of my kids are in the ministry (with two more to come in the future), and one of them has been an intern for the last year.
• So my heart is very much bound up in the ministry — not just as a "leader" but as a dad.
• It's been sad not just to lose all the strengths that Joshua has, but also to see the the grief and loss it causes to those close to him and his family.
• Despite these very real hard things, I'm convinced it was the right decision and that we were left with no other good choice for the long-term spiritual and relational health of the ministry.
• But it's very hard as a leader to make decisions that you know will cause pain for people, even when you know it's right.
• A mentor once told me, "Love first, lead second, but always do both."
• That's what I'm trying to do.
• The other big downer this week was being the last car hit in a funky accident last Thursday evening.
• It was right by my house as I was on my way to fill in for Cristina Adams in teaching at Surge school.
• Everyone walked away fine and it wasn't my fault, but it's still a pretty big hassle and a little bit scary.
• The car that hit me kind of launched up in the air and took out my back window and top left panel, but left the back of the car basically unscathed (weird!).
• The last downer is just that I haven't been sleeping super well — waking up at 3 or 4 in the morning more than I'd like to.
• Tends to flare up in more stressful seasons, which this has been.
• If you think of it, I'd appreciate your prayers.
• On the upside:
• It's been fun to preach the last few weeks.
• Two Sundays ago on Mephibosheth was about as much fun as you can have as a preacher (feels like months ago now!)
• Yesterday was a much heavier day, processing the sin of David in the situation with Bathsheba.
• It was a fascinating passage to study, and to see that so many of the assumptions I would typically bring to the story were a bit faulty.
• This video with Dr. Carmen Imes was especially helpful in understanding some of the dynamics in play.
• And this article was thought-provoking for sure: Why It’s Easier to Accept David as a Murderer than a Rapist
• I've also been reading the book by Jay Stringer, Unwanted: How Sexual Brokenness Reveals Our Way to Healing.
• We're having Jay here for a Sexual Wholeness Conference in October, and his book has helped me connect at a deeper level with my own life story, but also with how so many of us experience a passage like the one about David, Bathsheba, and Uriah.
• Also on the upside, the 8U Lady Cardinals team I'm coaching has figured out how to run a few plays and we're standing at 2-2 so far.
• The girls are a lot of fun, but it's dang hard to help some of them understand what's happening.
• Fun nonetheless.
• Also good has been the new monthly cohort that I'm leading for church planters and potential church planters in partnership with the Surge Network.
• We had a good first meeting and it's a great group of guys.
• Will be fun to serve them and learn together in the coming months.
• Another upside was our first King & Culture Live show.
• It was a real hoot — probably 50 or so people came, the Mike Griffith Trio played some great music to open, and then we had a fun conversation about Self Love (listen here).
• The Q & A was lively and kept us on our toes (we'll release that soon).
• It was fun to show people how the show works from a behind the scenes standpoint.
• Maybe worth doing again at some point in the future, but we'll see.
• Another "up" was taking Hank to the DBacks game on Saturday night with some of our friends.
• It was my first game of the season and was a really fun time.
• And, last on the upside list, is that my dad is arriving in AZ in the next few days.
• Many of you know that his summer was spent fighting tongue cancer.
• So far it seems to have gone well — he's done with treatment and healing pretty well.
• Him getting down here in time for Hank's birthday later this week is a big-time highlight.
• We're looking forward to seeing him on Thursday night for Hank's 6th birthday dinner.
• Will be the kickoff of a fun weekend, with our church planting partner from Istanbul staying with us and preaching at Gateway this weekend.
• His name is Bilge (pronounced bill-gay) and he's a fascinating guy: a Turk who grew up in Germany, has a PhD in physics, plays music at a professional level (listen to his albums on Spotify or Apple), is a seminary professor, and now is a church planter of a church in one of the least Christianized cities in the world.
• I'm so excited for y'all to meet him.
• We'll learn a lot and have a great time.
• So, I hope you have a good week.
• No matter what ups or downs come our way, let's stay focused on Jesus — he's enough for us no matter what we're going through.
• All of life is all for Jesus.