These past few weeks of church have been the start of a new sermon series.  This series is going through the book of Galatians, which is a wonderful book including a lot of information about the Gospel and how to best be stewards of Christ.  This is also wonderful because this is the same book I have been studying with my Christian mentor, Stacy.  It has been really fruitful for me to get a lot of this wisdom out of this book of the Bible. 

The sermon this morning was really good about discussing the Holy Spirit and its role in our lives of Christians.  We are called to be followers of Christ and to be therefore changed by the Spirit.  We can not be justified by our own works.  We can not take credit for being saved because of who we are, but rather through who Christ is and what he has done for us.  

This also being said, My pastor Peter mentioned sometimes we as people and as Christians will claim, there will be nothing that can be changed about a particular personality trait we may have.  For example, “I am always going to have a temper.  It is just a part of who I am.”  Some may claim they won’t ever be gentle or kind.  They are too brash and harsh.  Others may claim they have no self-control ability.  They indulge in whatever is in front of them.  

Yes, while I do believe it is important to know there are certain people who will be different from others.  We are all created differently.  We have all been created by God who did want to make us a little different than everyone else.  He is a Creator.  He is creative, and he enjoyed making us all unique.  However, there are still important characteristics, such as the fruit of the spirit he wants us all to possess as believers.  These fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control.  We shouldn’t get to choose or cherry pick which of these fruits we can possess as a person.  It is an all or nothing kind of change.   

For me, I know I am not very patient.  It is not my strength.  I am also not the best at keeping peace when it comes to my mind.  I have always struggled with my own peace. I am a very anxious person, and this can really start to affect the other areas in my life.  Through my anxiety, I can let it ruin my state of mind and my trust of the Lord.  However, in those times when I am struggling with my Christian walk or with certain fruits of the spirit, I know I can lean on the Holy Spirit. 

The Holy spirit is mentioned about 90 to 100 times throughout the Bible.  There are then many verses that reference the Holy Spirit and its great work in our lives.  One of the verses referencing the Holy Spirit is Romans 8:26 which says, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” The Holy Spirit can give us the words we need in order to better pray.  The Holy Spirit will help give us advice when we don’t know what we should best do, and how we should best pray. 

There are two challenges for you this week.  The first is, of course, to try to be reflective of whether or not there is anything that you believe you can’t change?  Is there a particular characteristic you believe won’t ever be something you will possess?  Are there negative beliefs you have about yourself?  Are you very convinced your sin is a part of your personality? Maybe, are there any sins that you are secretly proud of?

Then the second challenge is to spend a long time in prayer.  To spend this time in prayer and to really believe and think you can be changed is the best way to develop this particular characteristic and to therefore grow closer to God.  Through the prayer and belief in God and the Holy Spirit, we really can be changed and more sanctified.  I have often spent a lot of time in prayer, focusing on my patience.  I am constantly asking for help when it comes to my patience.  I know I can lose my temper and can become irritated and frustrated regularly, and I then ask the Holy Spirit to help me out.  

Let the Holy Spirit change you.  Let the Holy Spirit make you more brave, more bold, more patient, and more kind.  We are called to be conquerors of Christ.  We are called to be faithful followers.  Even when we don’t believe we can do this, we can remember, we have Christ and the Holy Spirit in our corner. 

My husband and I have been taking a few steps to get healthier and to focus more on the food we have been eating.  I have never participated in calorie counting before.  I have done a 30 day “clean eating food challenge.”  Essentially this was a month with no added sugars.  Apples or bananas weren’t even on the list because of the amount of their natural sugars.  Then for a month or two one summer, I did try Keto with my dad, until I realized I needed some more carbs to train for my first half marathon.  However, it has been roughly 60 days since I started calorie counting with Cole, and I have already lost 10 pounds!  I feel lighter and I don’t feel as bloated on a regular basis. I have really overall been very happy with this journey.  

I bring this up in my usual Christian blog, because the church does sometimes discuss gluttony.  There are times we as people, Christians included, can be very gluttonous or very addicted to certain things in this world, even things like food and sugar.  I know I personally can be addicted to these things some days.  There are days where I wouldn’t be able to stop eating the juice filled fruit snacks, starbursts, or gummy bears.  This was especially true if they were in my area or they were at the store where I was shopping, and I decided to pick them up before I left. 

Even if this is not something we commonly think of, the Bible does do some referencing when it comes to food.  Some verses reference eating, and how to be smart with eating food, as we should be wise with all things.  One verse is Proverbs 25:16 which says, “”If you find honey, eat just what you need, and do not have an excess of it, or you will vomit it up”.  Sorry to have the word vomit in the middle of my blog post.  It is not something usually included in my messaging.  However, it is important to realize we don’t need to eat food in excess.  The minute we start to eat an unhealthy amount, or even eating certain unhealthy foods in too much excess, we as people will get sick.  We may throw up, or we may lose energy, have our immune system compromised, and it can affect our mood and mental health.  Eating wise helps us in all senses of health.

This is why I am happy I am starting to look more at the food I am putting into my body.  However, I do want to make sure we don’t go too far the other way.  One reason I was always nervous to try calorie counting was because I didn’t want to be so obsessed with food in either direction.  I was nervous to be so preoccupied with how many calories are in food that I would then have a bad relationship with food, where I wouldn’t be looking at food in a healthy way.  However, so far, I have still kept a healthy relationship with foods, just watching the caloric intake. 

The challenge for this week is to think about how you eat.  First, what is your relationship to food?  Are you a person who tends to be a bit compulsive or gluttonous with food at times?  Are there moments where you are on the other end of the spectrum and you are constantly looking at food in a good way or a bad way?  Or do you see food as a stresser?  Are there times you are not eating to the best of your ability? Are there times when you are eating too much or eating too little?  

Then after spending some time in reflection, it can be good to make a few goals of eating healthier.  Is this eating less sugar or less fried foods?  For me, it was definitely needing to eat less sugar while also taking in less food or calories.  I needed to consume a little less.  This is of course not saying I can’t have a sweet treat here and there or I can’t enjoy a bigger meal from time to time, but I also didn’t have to spend a lot of time snacking or taking in just mindless candy.  

Reminder that God has created our bodies to do a lot of good works for Him.  Because of this, our body is a temple for the Lord.  We need to treat these temples like they were meant to be treated.  It is important that we feed and nutrient ourselves, so we can function and do all things we are meant to do for the Lord.  It is important to fuel our body with vitamins, protein, carbohydrates, etc.  We need our food, but we need to be mindful and wise, just as we need to be with all things.

Recently I finished a book called “Daring to Hope,” by Katie Davis Majors.  I have made a few blog posts about the quotes and the insight Katie brought to the table.  I highly recommend this book for her wonderful God insight and inspiration into ministry.  It is important to read books about missionaries with their stories and their work they are doing all over the world. 

Katie would often talk about God’s faithfulness.  God is faithful and He shows up in all things everyday.  Every morning, we can see God’s faithfulness.  Every morning we make up and we can feel his forgiveness, his mercy and his grace.  Think of all the times we as people can step away from God.  We can start to sin and we can follow the worldly inspiration.  Yet, even when we are not continuously faithful to God, he is faithful to us and our relationship.  

One quote I loved was all about this kind of faithfulness.  This says, “Friend, faithfulness is what we repeatedly do, whether or not we see the results. Faithfulness is when we pour into hard people over and over, when we continue to serve in difficult situations, when we intentionally choose to lean into Him in our troubles as well as our joys.  Faithfulness is a habit formed in our hearts when no one is looking, when the day is done and the stars creep out and our call isn’t easy but we don’t turn away.” (pg. 140). 

I love this quote.  It is important to remember that faithfulness is when we continue to show up, even in the moments when it is hard.  I will be honest when I say, there are a few individuals in my life who have made it more difficult in recent months.  They have had a lot of struggles and personal strife which can make it hard to love them at times.  However, being faithful to God is being faithful to those people and being a Godly example, even when it is incredibly taxing.  I have definitely not done the best job, but I also know God is continuing his faithfulness in me, so I can continue my faithfulness in Him. 

The Bible talks about Faithfulness a lot. Faithful as a word is referenced roughly 130 times throughout scripture. This is clearly a message God wants to show his followers.  He wants us to know that He will be faithful with us, and He asks us to be faithful with him.  One of those verses is Proverbs 3:3-4 which says, “Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.  Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.” But how is it, we as Christians can stay faithful?  How can we be described as faithful?  What will it mean to hear a well done, good and faithful servant when we enter the gates of heaven?   

Some of the best ways we can be faithful is through reading our Bibles and really understanding what it says in its entirety.  We cannot be a faithful servant if we do not know the commands we have been given by God.  We need to know all the commands and the promises God has given us.  We are so impacted by the things we watch, the things we listen to, or even the people or influences we seek out.  This is why it is so important to seek influence from the Bible and God’s written word. 

Then we also need to pray.  We need to spend time in prayer.  Prayer is how we best communicate with God.  To really understand all his commands and all his promises is through prayer and communicating with Him.  This is taking time to listen to doing the thing God most wants us to do.   What is God calling us to?  What is his goal for our lives?  How can we best serve God with the lives we have?  Then we can go to Him when the work is troubling and we need the Holy Spirit to give us strength. 

However, we also have to be willing to follow his commands, even when they are maybe not what we had originally thought we would do.  This is being willing to do the things He has called us to, and we may have to be willing to give up some of the things we would most want in this world, whether this be relationships or friendships, certain job promotions, leadership positions, money, or comfort.  This will mean speaking God’s truth to people who don’t want to hear it, but knowing if we don’t tell them, they may never know. 

The challenge for this week is to be reflective over whether or not we as people are faithful.  Are you as a Christian a person who is also faithful?  Are there times or places where you are not as faithful.  This can even be with the simple places in life such as driving.  When I am driving, I can very easily get frustrated but when there are people who are a bit slower on the road than I would prefer. I also can be like this when there are moments of gossip or times to vent around the individuals who I enjoy speaking to about life issues.  This can also be during the hard times of my life, such as when I am struggling through an illness or a major injury.  When there are simple or harder times in lives, we still need to remain faithful. 

As I have mentioned throughout some time, my church has currently been working through the ten commandments as a sermon series.  They finished it up this last week with the last three of the ten commandments, “thou shall not steal,” “thou shall not give false testimony,” and “thou shall not covet.”  This was a great sermon to cover the sins that sometimes we don’t give a lot of weight to as Christians.  These are all the three commands we often don’t follow to the best of our ability and maybe don’t even think they hold much weight in our Christian walk.  

If we are completely honest, many of us have lied and have stolen before.  Even if we are not stealing from a store or another business, we may have taken things that are not ours if we find it, or we steal time from our job, etc.  We also have lied, even if this is lying to ourselves.  Sometimes we lie in order to make ourselves feel better or we lie to look more impressive to other individuals.  While they may not seem like major lies, they are lies nonetheless.  

And all of us have definitely coveted, maybe even multiple, multiple times a day.  It can be really easy to fall into the trap of wanting what others have, or being able to do the things others can do.  Then we are spending a lot of our time being concerned and focused on others, while our own mental health and good thoughts start to go down.  We start to only focus on what others have as opposed to what we have and the opportunities we have from God.  

My pastor brought up a very good point about coveting.  When we covet, it is a sin of the heart.  Most of the time besides moments of bitterness, there aren’t many outward signs of coveting.  However, there are a lot of inward signs of coveting, and our heart is definitely impacted by us when we are coveting or are jealous of someone else.  Once we start to covet, it can be easier to lie to others about the money we don’t have, or to even steal the items we have most desired.  These coveting thoughts are what lead us to sin more and more.  

There are many verses about coveting and being aware of the love of possessions.  One of those verses is Luke 12:15 which says, “And he said to them, ‘Take heed and beware of all covetousness, for a person’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions’” It is important to remember that we can have possessions.  God blesses us with these multiple possessions for a reason.  However, we can never make these possessions more important than Christ and the love he has for us.  

This reminds us all that Jesus looks at the heart in all things.  He wants our love and our attention.  He wants us to be fully devoted to Him, and we can’t be fully connected or fully devoted to God when we are coveting the things or the skills other individuals have.  This means we can’t put it above others and we certainly can’t put it above Christ.  One of the times we show when we are putting other things above Christ is when we show we are coveting others and their stuff, or others and their skills, or others and their opportunities.  God has given us exactly what he has planned for us individually.  

The challenge for the week is to spend time thinking about what you could be coveting.  Is there anything in particular you covet on a regular basis?  Is there something you are desiring and hoping for consistently?  Is there someone you wish you were more like?  Are they hard to be around because of your jealousy?  If so, what are some ways this can be changed?

Then the second challenge is to spend time in gratefulness, even on the days and the times we find the most challenging or when we are really filled with feelings of covetousness.  This is the time we need to make sure to reflect on the good things we have in our lives and the good Christ has done in us. For example, I recently was a bit jealous of my fellow runners who just finished a full marathon this last weekend.  However, I then remembered the many opportunities I have had to run this year.  God has blessed me, and I can’t be overly concerned where others are at with their blessings.  That won’t help me become a better runner or a better Christian.  I pray all of you lose the shackle feeling of covetousness these next few days.

I have continued my reading of “Daring to Hope,” by Katie Davis Majors.  This book has really been inspiring.  I have really enjoyed getting to know about her ministry and her work with the women and children in Uganda.  She is very vulnerable and open about all she has been learning and growing in as well, even with her struggles. 

One of her recent struggles and feelings of inadequacy as she decided to take more time at home with taking care of her kids and household.  She felt as though she should be doing more, especially when compared to what she had years prior.  However, she was really getting to know the kids and even her visitors who would come to her house. Her taking a step back and spending more time at home, helped her make more connections with the individuals near her. 

One quote she mentioned and did put in her book was from Zach Eswine who wrote in his book, “Sensing Jesus,” which says, “God will give you a place to inhabit, which means that you get to become attentive to what is there where you are.  This means that to dwell knowledgeably and hospitality in and toward the place God gives you is to glorify him.  God will give you a few things that he intends for you to do in your inhabited place and with those people.  To do what God gives you to do is to strengthen the common good and to glorify Him.” (pg. 97-98)

In the past few years I have really developed a better relationship with where I am at in society.  There was a time I was very insecure about where I was in life.  I would often see many other Christians who were doing so much.  I would see people on their mission trips and I feel I am not doing enough for the Christian faith.  However, in the last few years, I have really gotten to see where the need is exactly where I am at. 

Waterloo, IA is not a huge city.  It is about 60,000 or so people.  However, amidst this city is a lot of pain, a lot of poverty, and a lot of other issues not everyone has to experience or what we feel most people should experience.  There is a lot of success and good things happening.  The schools are continuing to develop new ways to reach the students and the youth of Waterloo.  There are many organizations, such as the Job Foundation who are finding ways to encourage and empower the community of Waterloo. I am not ever planning on going into Waterloo believing I will change it all.  I do want to be a part of the community, a part of the empowering community. It is important I do not have the mindset that I can be a sole person who can bring the community some joy and some peace.  However, I can do my part, and I can help serve this community and those involved in my program to the best of my ability. 

One important verse to remember for this topic is Acts 1:8 which says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth”  For the people who this was being written to, their home area was Jerusalem.  It was close to them.  They could easily go and preach the word there.  This is because God wants us to share His Word with everyone, not just when we are mission trips through the church, not just when we are doing retreats, but when we are living our day to day life.  There will be some called to travel, such as to Judea and Samaria, but this isn’t everyone’s reality at every place they are in life. 

The challenge for you this week is to spend some time thinking about how you feel about the job and position that you have.  The challenge for this week is to spend considering how you can be a light to Jesus, no matter the position you are currently in or the place you are living.  This is important to realize we can’t just spend time wasted, wishing we could be somewhere else.  Yes, it is good to make goals for our future.  It is important to make sure to still spend as much time as we possibly can in being content with where we are and what can be done locally.    

“I love my dog more than people.”  “I would rather spend time with my cat than other people.”  “I do not like people.”  “I want to get away from other people.”  These are common statements on social media or things you will hear other people say.  I am sure I have also felt and said these things before as well.  I will commonly make the joke with my parents that I only facetime with them, so I can see the boys (my parent’s dogs).  Many people, including myself, have been brought up often crying more at a movie where the dog dies as opposed to a person.  

Why am I bringing up these examples?  Well, because I believe we as a society have fallen into a habit of not caring about people.  Even when we are joking, we are still making a lot of comments about not loving people.  This is because it can be very hard to love people.  We can find it very challenging to love all their faults, their mistakes, the times they have hurt us, and the lack of trust we have in our common man.  However, as we know, we have been called to love people.  This is actually the very second command in the ten commandments, which is held as one of the two highest.  

I have been reading a book called, “Daring to Hope,” by Katie Davis Majors.   This book is a great book about mission work being done all throughout the world.  This book does a good job explaining Katie’s work with the women and especially children of Uganda.  She has adopted many children, being the mother of 15.  One quote I have really loved from this book so far has been, “You and I both know the truth of it: loving people is hard.  It brings us to the very end of ourselves. And as much as we are trained to avoid it, the end of ourselves is such a very sweet place to be.”  (pg.49).

To correspond to this book I am reading, at church we then continued to go through the Ten Commandments.  The commandment we went over this past week was to not murder.  This seemed to be a very simple commandment. There are many of us who have not committed murder or anything even remotely close.  It certainly sounds easier than honoring the Sabbath and keeping it holy, or to honor our father and mother and all those who are in authority over us.  However, our pastor went even farther than just “do not murder.”  He reminded us that over everything, we are to honor life.  We are to honor the Lord through our love of people.  

This can be showing the people in our lives more attention.  There have been many blog posts where I have mentioned spending time getting to know those who are around us.  This could be spending more time off of our phones, so we have the opportunity to talk to them while we are riding on the plane next to each other.  This could be spending time smiling and caring about those individuals who are in the grocery store shopping amongst us.  This could even be spending time talking to the coworkers who sometimes are not the most kind.  

It is not easy to love people.  People have done things to hurt us, and they do things to make us frustrated.  However, we have also been called many times to love them, even amidst this. It can be very hard to love all people.  It can also be hard to love people when we are tired, when we are hurting or are emotional, or when we are incredibly stressed.  These are all factors that make us want to run away for solace and be alone.  I am not saying that here and there, this is a bad thing-it is important to rest and relax, but we also need to be cognizant of trying to love people on a fairly regular basis.  

I have just become more and more aware of my issues with this.  There is a particular person in my life who is very hard to love.  They are a part of one of the groups I work with, so I need to see them a lot in this particular season.  This person is very different from me and treats people differently than I would, they have different opinions than I have.  There are many things I need to do better when it comes to working with this particular person in order to do a better job loving them like Christ wants me to do.

The challenge for this week is to think about your relationships with the people around you. Is there one person or multiple people who you struggle to love?  Are there times you want to walk away or even run away from people because you don’t want to spend time loving them?  Are there times you just struggle to show love, the same way God has told us to love?  Then after you make those realizations, find ways to show this love; this selfless, kind, and patient love Christ wants us to have for people.

To end this blog post, I want to give one more quote from the book by Katie Davis Majors.  She is working through the pain of losing a loved one.  She is working through the pain of loving someone and then losing them.  However, she writes a very meaningful paragraph on the importance of loving people, even when they are hard to love or even when we possibly get hurt after they pass. “In the dark season, He doesn’t leave.  In fact, He draws near.  He whispers that loving    people is not in vain because in loving people, we know more of Him, regardless of the end result. God is love, and as we love in His name, He is glorified.” (pg. 83) We love people because ultimately this is showing love to God and it is making us overall closer to Him. 

My church is still continuing to give sermons on the Ten Commandments.  I have obviously really enjoyed this sermon series.  This past week was over Honoring thy father and mother.  This is the one command some find interesting.  It is a very specific command.  Something the pastor brought up was, “Why is this command so specific?  Why couldn’t the command be more about honoring everyone? Why is it just to honor thy father and mother?” However, there are many reasons my pastor brought up as to why it is important to honor thy father and mother. 

For one thing, we as people can struggle to honor others.  This doesn’t just mean mothers and fathers, but everyone in general, especially those who are in authority.  Learning how to honor our father and mother gives us an opportunity to learn how to better honor authority at a young age. We may obey our authority figures, but we also may talk disrespectfully about them when we are not around them.  This is really not honoring.  This is just basically following their orders.  It is important to learn how to honor someone when we are young. If we learn to honor our parents, then we can also learn how to honor our bosses, our government officials, etc.  This is important to teach us how to conduct and act in our society. Otherwise, we may want to go against authority because we may believe we know better or are just being defiant. 

Some verses good about highlighting this concept is Romans 13:1-2 which says, “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.” These verses remind us of God’s work in our lives and in the lives of our authorities.  

My pastor did a really good job reminding us we don’t have to agree with everything people in authority have to tell us or everything they stand behind.  There are going to be times we don’t agree with our supervisors or our parents or our government officials.  However, during those times, we need to make sure we can still be respectful and kind to those who are above us.  There is a way to honor those who are in authority while also disagreeing with them.  

I remember having mixed feelings about this command as I was growing up.  I loved listening to my mom (for the most part).  We got along great.  She is still one of my best friends.  I also was really close to my grandparents.  However, I did struggle getting along with my dad growing up.  There were times we got along great and we were able to do things together very easily.  However, there were times we did not get along at all, and I personally was not very good about respecting or honoring him.  There were times I didn’t feel as though he even deserved it. I have worked on this continually as I have gotten older, and it has gotten a lot easier to be respectful and honoring to my dad. 

Besides the relationships with my parents, I do overall have honor and respect for those who are my supervisors or are in charge of me at my job.  I want to make sure I do a good job at my place of work, which does include listening to my bosses and supervisors.  However, there are times when I struggle with this as well.  I can sometimes be pretty prideful in pieces of my work.  For example, I make lessons for the various age groups of the students who are in our program. I love getting the chance to be creative and incorporate fun pieces into the lessons.  Because of this, sometimes I am very open to changes and discussions of changes, and then there are times when I am not.  There are times I can be very happy with the way it looks, and I am not as open to discussion about how to make it better. This is something I have become a bit more aware of, and I want to make sure I can do a better job with it.  

The challenge for this week is to first be reflective over how we handle authority.  Are we good about handling authority?  Are you a person who does a good job listening and honoring those who are in authority over you, or are you typically a person who finds it hard to listen to authority figures?  It is important to be aware of those who are in authority over you.  It is important to be willing to listen, even if there are times when we don’t want to.

However, there is one important thing to remember and to take away is that we do have to honor God above all else.  We can still be kind and respectful to other authorities, but we do need to remember to put Christ above everyone.  For example, we still need to honor the Bible before we honor job commands.  This is why a person could decide or request to not work on the Sunday or at least one day of the week to honor the Sabbath.  Even though a request from work may seem like a way to honor work, it is important to honor the Lord above the one of work.  

Recently in church we have been going over the Ten Commandments.  Today’s sermon was all over Honoring the Sabbath and keeping it Holy.  It is important to make sure we rest.  This isn’t just because of our physical or mental health.  It is not just because of following God’s example for taking time off, while that is also a part of it.  

There are many reasons to honor the Sabbath.  The Sabbath can serve as a mirror and as a map to show us our relationship with God and how we can continue to grow this relationship.  I say this because we should want to spend time with God.  We have a day set aside to spend a lot of time resting in God’s goodness, spend time not thinking about all the things we usually do such as work, tasks, or other usual obligations.  It is to be completely surrounded by the love of our Father, Jesus Christ. 

For some people, it can be hard to imagine not having a productive day.  However, as my church mentioned, this is because of the culture we are a part of.  We are in a culture where productivity is praised.  Even as my pastor mentioned, there isn’t an award for whoever rests the best.  They are usually awarded for who is the most sacrificing with their time, whoever works the hardest, and/or whoever can accomplish the most.  It is important to work and to work hard, but it is just as important to rest.   

I am not the best at keeping the Sabbath Holy.  I am not very good at relaxing and instead I enjoy being productive.  I am a type A personality for sure.  I enjoy getting a lot of work done, even if it includes writing for this blog.  (I am writing this on a Sunday night, but it is in part because I have these thoughts fresh in my mind).   I would also usually say Sundays are my least favorite days.  I tend to have a case of the “Monday scaries” as some would call it.  I start stressing and thinking about the upcoming week, especially when that week will be very hard or busy.  I can really tend to get overwhelmed on the Sunday before. 

The Sabbath is mentioned a few times throughout the Bible.  Obviously, it is mentioned in the Ten Commandments.  However, it is mentioned in a few other places such as Isaiah 56:2 which says, “Blessed is the man who does this (the Sabbath), and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”  Because again, the Sabbath is working on representing how committed and devoted we are to God and the relationship, making sure to honor the Sabbath helps us avoid the evil sins and decisions we could be making.  It reminds us of who God is, and helps us avoid our many temptations.  

It is important to realize the great benefits that can come from making sure to rest.  When a person is an athlete, and they don’t take time to rest, there is more of a chance of injury and the longer an athlete tries to not rest with the injury, the worse it will get.  This also works with mental health or our overall self.  The longer we go without sleep or rest, the worse off our body will be. Otherwise, the amount of anxiety and depression is more likely to increase and to get worse over time.  Then, of course, sleep is necessary for bodily function as it is recommended to get at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night for the average person to stay healthy.  

The challenge for this week is to think about the Sabbath. There are ways we can best do this. We can choose to pick a day when we do not have work.  Culturally, our Sabbath day is on Sunday.  This is the day we go to church and the day the majority of people don’t work.  However, if there is a person who does have to work, there are always other options to go to church on Saturday nights in some places and then to take off other days for this opportunity to rest and to enjoy the Sabbath. 

Also, it is important to spend time thinking about how to avoid tasks.  Maybe do your grocery shopping, your meal prep, and your household duties a few different days throughout the week, so you don’t have to spend your Sabbath day doing those chores.  During the time you would be spending doing those items, you can spend that day learning more about Christ and worshipping all He has done for you in your life.  This doesn’t just mean not working a job, but it also can mean limiting the tasks we would usually do.  

This last week was a very wild week as many Americans and even those in separate countries know.  Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist, was shot at a college campus while he was speaking and debating with college students, ultimately leading to his death. There were thousands present at the time of the shooting, creating havoc and leading many to be angry about the injustice, while others feeling as though he should not be honored.   

I am not going to say I am a person who really knew who Charlie was. I am not necessarily going to say I was a big fan.  Sometimes I am not very good about following things that are happening in the political media world or in the debate world. It is something I need to be better at.  However, I know he was a Christian as well as a person who was not afraid to speak truth and to speak about the Bible. 

I will be honest when I say I am not very good about speaking the beliefs I have in truth.  I really don’t like confrontations too often.  I hate getting into arguments or getting into tough conversations.  I often wish I was better and braver in these conversations.  I want to be able to speak my truth in love and in kindness. 

Recently, however, I have been called to speak truth.  I started to notice something I didn’t necessarily agree with.  I didn’t like how I thought a certain student was being treated who I was coaching in cross country.  I haven’t liked the certain words that have been said or used to describe this student by other adults who also work with him.  I had to speak the truth.  I had to talk to other adults involved, so we could all be called to teach and coach this particular student with more love and care than we had previously.  

This was scary because I don’t like confrontation.  I tried to be as reflective in my actions when I was having this conversation.  I didn’t want to come off as myself thinking I was better than anyone else. I didn’t want to come off wrong or to really disrupt the practices or the structure with all the other coaches.  However, it went very well.  They were all Christians as we work for a Christian school, so they appreciated me listening to the Holy Spirit and being willing to be convicted and speak from the heart.  I know not every hard discussion will go easily, but it is always just as worth it.  

This is something often brought up in the Bible as well, such as in Ephesians 4:15 which says, “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.”  This reminds us that we are supposed to spread God’s love.  We are meant to live our lives in truth and in justice and to tell others about this.  This doesn’t have to be done with harshness or in condemnation.  This should still be done in love.  These conversations still need to be spoken in kindness and in gentleness. 

The challenge for this week is to think about ways we can speak truth to those who are in the world or at least in your world or in your area.  Are there areas where you don’t usually speak about your beliefs or your values or your thoughts?  Are there times you are more bashful about your thoughts and ideas?  Are there times you are not as good about being brave?  Pray for bravery and the right words in these moments.  

I have also been trying to work on myself more in this area.  This is one of those reasons I have started to read the book called, “Toxic Empathy” by Allie Beth Stuckey.  This book has so far discussed pro-life v. pro-choice discussion, the transgender movement, and multiple others.  What is a true Christian’s stance on these issues and how can we share our love with others who have different perspectives about Christ?  We should not be afraid to speak God’s truth.  We shouldn’t be afraid to be empathetic about others who are hurting themselves more through their life decisions. 

I would highly recommend this book.  It has been a very good idea to look at this book and how we can best speak our faith in love and in truth. This book shows how we can be stewards of both truth and love and how we can win people to Jesus when we have these tough conversations.  This book does a good job of showing how we are not being completely truthful believers when we include this toxic empathy or not always listening to the world, but rather to the truth God gives.

I absolutely love the musical Hamilton.  I have gotten to see it twice this year.  One live for the first time with my friend and matron of honor, Izzie and then I recently got to see the live taping of the show at the movie theater with Cole.  He had never seen the musical before and had hardly heard any of the music, so it was good to have him experience it, even if it was mostly for my benefit. 

Since I have seen the show now a few times, I can really start to pick up on the well-crafted characters and their developments., as opposed to paying attention to just the plot. For example, Aaron Burr.  He is considered to be the villain in the story.  He is the one who shot and killed Alexander Hamilton, our protagonist, in a duel.  (This isn’t really a spoiler alert since it is said in the opening song of the musical and it is an actual factual part of history.)  However, was Burr a cold hearted murderer throughout the musical…no.  That is what makes him almost more scary.  He was just a man. He was a father, and he was a husband who, at least according to the musical, loved very deeply.  A man who was afraid to state his real opinions because of how others would see him, and a man who was filled with great jealousy. 

Throughout the musical we see Hamilton being overall more successful than Burr in many ways. He was ranked higher in the military by George Washington, as well as being liked more than Burr significantly.  Hamilton was someone many people wanted to listen to.  He maybe wasn’t liked by everyone.  However, there were a great deal of people who did listen to him and he was able to make a lot of decisions for the country.  Burr wanted the opportunity to make decisions for their new country, but he didn’t ever really want to step on a lot of people’s toes or become unliked.  This jealousy and envy would eventually lead him down a destructive path, one of murder.

The Bible reminds us to not be jealous or envious.  This is reminded throughout the text from the beginning to the middle to the end.  This is even mentioned as one of the ten commandments in the Bible.  One verse in Proverbs discussing not being jealous is Proverbs 14:30 which says, “a peaceful mind gives life to the body, but jealousy rots the bones.” This is exactly what happened to Burr.  He had been so jealous of Alexander that it really had rotted his bones. 

I tend to be jealous at times. In fact, I often struggle with jealousy.  I think I can often get jealous of people and their abilities.  For example, when I meet someone who is an incredibly talented runner, I can often get jealous.  I work really hard at running, yet I am not near the level of talent other people are.  This also can happen at choir when I meet those who are incredibly gifted singers or music readers.  I can get filled with jealousy because I may be insecure about not having a music reading ability as strong as theirs.  

This is a reminder to not be so focused on the things of this world and the jealousy coming from life’s situations.  There are many times we can get jealous.  There are many times we can fall into wanting what others have or we are wanting to have a certain skill that maybe other people have. There can be many times we can get jealous about the life situations some are in, that we are wishing we could have, such as being married or in a relationship or having children or a certain job position.  We can sometimes see life experiences others are having and become jealous since we are not close to having that particular life experience.  We have to remember everyone has a different life path.  Everyone has a different journey, sovereignly designed by our gracious Lord and Father. 

The challenge of this week is to think about the instances when we have experienced jealousy or the times we get the most jealous.  It is very important to first beware of the times we can most feel jealous or the times we can most get insecure and in our heads.  After we spend time reflecting on those thoughts and those jealous antics, we need to spend time in prayer to overcome jealous moments. We can seek this growth from the Lord and he will help us overcome it.