Top of Mind Monday

Even better than holding hats...

Someone rightly pointed out yesterday that the phrase "We need more people holding hats" worked against the balanced response that following Christ should bring. It's better to be obedient to what Christ is telling you to do and do it than it is to simply assume you should "hold the hat." In the context of the illustration, Abraham Lincoln was also doing the good and right thing speaking against the injustice he saw in the country as he took on his new role as president. 

Obedience to the Lord. It's even better than simply holding hats.

One of the most encouraging things...

I pretty much hold down my seat in the second row, middle seat, so I'm not sure what hearing the church sing sounds like from other places in the room, but goodness it's encouraging when I hear our collective voices rise as one! Woowee!

So if you're ever wondering about how you can encourage me, get in the room, belt it out (use the Spotify playlist to prepare if needed), and let the praises ring!

Wait. Another super encouraging thing...

And if that doesn't work, grow spiritually and start leading and discipling others. Whether it was hearing Libby talk about how she was leading the charge in encouraging and praying for teachers, getting texts about how loved they've been by other leaders, watching elders walk to a prayer closet to pray for our church, having a guy in our group step up and lead as Katelyn and I went to support family last night, or watching others prepare a retreat for our leadership teams this weekend, it is SUPER encouraging to watch leaders lead for Christ.

Who's next?

God is love and his love is perfect.

I had the honor of preaching the wedding of a family member this past weekend and they had requested the "love" passage from 1 Corinthians 13. As Clayton Reese and I studied the passage in preparation, it hit me like a ton of bricks how hard love can be in the context of marriage. Always patient. Always kind. Always serving. Keeping no record of wrongs.

And the God hit me with the gospel.

He is love. And he perfectly loves us.

Mercy.

I preached the wedding, but really, our Father in heaven just put a bunch of gospel fuel in my tank.

God is love. His love for you is perfect. And when you lean into him, he'll help you love others well.

I value praying for you.

A variety of factors have had me bumping into a ton of my limits recently. One of the gifts of crashing into those limits is that it pushes me back to prayer. Trusting God with the things I can't do and the people I want to do more for is best done through prayer - and that's a huge way God is growing my faith.

All of that to really say, I value and want to pray for you! And specifically!

So send me a text and tell me how I can be praying. It would be an honor to do so, and it would help grow my faith in Jesus.