Every conversation I have with @courtneyellis.bsky.social I learn. Her last book on grief was a great help to me and I’m excited to start the next one “Weathering Change”
Change finds all of us.
The question isn’t if change will come, it’s whether we’re ready for it and how will we adapt.
That’s where I was headed with that!!
I… I don’t want a youth pastor in my pocket.
One of the lies that current culture is forming within us is that being loud is the same as being faithful.
I’m coming to beliveve that courage looks like staying patient, kind, and gentle in a system that rewards rage and anger.
Habakkuk reminds us that there is a difference between Faithful Doubt and Faithless Cynicism.
Faithful doubt stays in the conversation.
Cynicism leaves and calls it “wisdom.”
Applause is a drug.
And When you’re young in ministry, it’s easy to get addicted.
The shift from “I need God” to “God needs me” is slow and subtle.
But inevitable if we don’t guard our hearts.
Only one is worthy of worship.
It’s Not me. Or you.
It’s Jesus.
Only Jesus. Always Jesus.
Applause is a drug.
And When you’re young in ministry, it’s easy to get addicted.
The shift from “I need God” to “God needs me” is slow and subtle.
But inevitable if we don’t guard our hearts.
Only one is worthy of worship.
It’s Not me. Or you.
It’s Jesus.
Only Jesus. Always Jesus.
I appreciate the work you put into this.
I too must now go down this rabbit hole!!
… you just gonna leave us hanging?!???
Habakkuk reminds us that Babylon is never a surprise villain. They are always admired before they are feared.
The seeds of judgment are most often planted during a season of pride.
Habakkuk reminds us that God is never unaware and never idle. He sees every act of injustice and does not shrug at oppression or violence.
That truth is comforting for those suffering from
And it is convicting for those who benefit from evil and injustice.
God is watching.
And He is at work.
Don’t! All 4 of ours are still up!!
You’ll come around to candy corn eventually!! lol
Looking forward to learning from you!
I find most empires have a little of both in them!!
😢
Habakkuk names five woes over nations:
- Exploitative economics
- Security built on injustice
- Violence as strength
- Dehumanization for profit
- Idolatry
A nation shaped by these isn’t walking with Christ, but marching to the rhythms of Babylon…
Bots say what?
So you’ve been complaining about churches not having service this past Sunday?
Hey quick let’s all get likes and rage clicks by shaming churches!!!!
We only have like a week before we’ll need to come up with another reason!!
*yawn*
I hope that however your church family worshiped yesterday, your Sabbath was a blessing not a burden.
A delight not a difficulty.
Because as Jesus reminds us,
“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”
Merry Christmas, looking forward to the new year ahead!
Advent reminds us that fear doesn’t have to drive our hearts. It calls us to “Fear Not” not as a command to obey, but an invitation to rest in
We can fear not because God
- has heard us.
- favors us.
- has a plan for us.
- brings good news to us.
And most of all … God is with us.
As one great theologian (Dumbledore) once said:
“Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, when one only remembers to turn on the light.”
Today is the darkest day of the year.
We’ve all lived through our own nights—dark nights of the soul, when the Son seems absent and the shadows linger.
But I’m stubbornly hopeful that darkness never gets the final word. The light has come. And the darkness will not overcome it.
I think it will give them both ammunition and stuff to think about.
The director is a former “youth group kid” or sees the bad and the beautiful in faith.
I took a couple solid punches from it.
Not that anyone needs to hear this from me… BUT:
Wake Up Dead Man isn’t just the best of the Knives Out series, but it’s quite likely one of my favorite movies of the year.
If you haven’t seen it and you even moderately liked the first two, I’d check it out!
While national leaders maneuvered and religious leaders accommodated power, God broke the news to pagans, skeptics, and outsiders… people still searching, still hoping, still hungry for God.
It turns out the Christmas story isn’t just ancient history.
Some things never change.
While politicians plotted and theologians postured, heaven sang its greatest announcement to shepherds; unclean, overlooked, tolerated only when they were useful.
1/2
It’s funny how that circle happens.
Good, really good, hated, good again.
It’s like candy corn. 🤣😂
Wait… is someone making the claim that they aren’t awesome?!
If your pastor has been credibly accused of plagiarism, removed from a church network, resigned instead of dealing with accountability and discipline after being found to have “patterns of persistent sinful behavior” by his elders.
I urge you to find another church.