“Therefore, I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and sound judgment.”

2 Timothy 1:6-7 CSB

I’m sitting here writing this on a beautiful October day; rain, cloudy skies, and the leaves look like they are on fire. I love this time of year and love how fun it is to get into the spooky mindset, and ultimately eating lots of sweets. This month plays with testing your fear, now I am not a super scary season person, but I do enjoy the Scooby-Doo levels of fear that this time brings with it. I think about fear much more during this season, which is why I have been writing about it. We have fears about stepping out in faith and stepping into the life that Christ ushers us into, there is fear of the unknown and fear of failure.

What this season does, though, is reminds we that we give fear too much power in our lives.

Fear can truly paralyze us into being good with where we are, when God wants to move us into a life of deeper meaning. The thing is, we give fear too much power, when the truth is, Christ gives us a spirit of power.

When we choose to live a life of power, love, and discipline, we no longer allow fear to control our minds and begin living the way Jesus calls us into.

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“As they were traveling down the road, they came to some water. The eunuch said, “Look, there’s water. What would keep me from being baptized?”

Acts 8:36 (CSB)

In reading through the book of Acts, I love this moment where Philip has been led by the Spirit to leave his place of comfort and he ends up on a desert road with an opportunity to be a light. A eunuch, one devoted to service and who has modified their body to represent it, has an encounter with the Spirit through Philip. I recently stuck with his question, “what would keep me from being baptized?” Looking at the water, he asks a rhetorical question, because the truth is, he has nothing holding him back from changing his life for the better.

This moment has been encouraging to me, personally, because I’m in a season where it has been hard to follow my calling. The reality is, I may not be in a ministry position, but that does not lessen my calling. It doesn’t lessen yours either. What would keep me from living as a light? What would keep us from being a light to the world around us? Nothing, we are not limited to a standard or check boxes in order to live out who we are called to be.

Nothing can keep back you when you are empowered by a loving savior and no longer hindered from being an example of love to the world.

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“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Acts 1:8 CSB

I used to desire a life with no stress. I like having a plan and not needing to worry, but that’s not the case. We all know this, no matter how much we might try to get things set perfectly, life will always shift and change. You’ll experience great things and difficult things, and that’s the beauty of life. Dear Danielle and I joke that the theme of our entire marriage has been “pivot,” because we have found ourselves in an ongoing life cycle of change and shifting the directions we thought we would go. I’ll be honest, there have been times in these changes and shifts that life has thrown at us, where I wasn’t sure I could do it. That the difficult thing in front of us was too much, and yet, time and time again, we have been able to trust God and do the difficult thing.

As much as I would love a life where I never had to face something hard, that isn’t what it will be. It’s also important to understand that our lives are more than just making it through each day, we are called to be a light and live it out. I am so thankful for Jesus’ encouragement, that He will provide us with the powerful Spirit in order to be a light in all the world and accomplish what is in front of us.

Life will have its challenges, but remember, you can do difficult things.

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“Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.”

Acts 2:46-47 CSB

I really love reading through the beginning of the Church in the book of Acts, seeing how these believers came together as a community to share the Gospel and be there for each other. It’s pretty clear that in today’s world, things are very divided and tensions grow daily. What is even more disheartening and breaks me, is seeing that those who claim to follow Christ, spew the most hateful ideology of an us versus them mindset, all while mis-using Scripture to fuel their hate. Let me be clear, this is wrong and against the entire message of Christ and Scripture.

It’s so sad and yet also not surprising, we see that the goal of the enemy is to steal, kill, and destroy. What is a better way of doing that, than attacking the pride that lives in the heart?

Now, that sounds very bleak, but I have a heart for optimism and I truly believe that it does not have to be this way.

The truth is, the kingdom that Christ desires is one of diversity and deep love for one another.

We do not have to let ourselves fall into the trap that has been set, we can choose to follow the example that Christ left for us, to be a light in the world as a community because we are better together.

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“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

Matthew 5:6 CSB

In John Mark Comer’s book, Practicing the Way, he makes the statement that all of us are being formed by something, that can either be the world around us or by Christ. This is not just a profound statement, but one that is vital as people who claim to follow Christ. I’ve found that many times, people listen to an explanation for how to live, rather than seeking the path that Jesus left His disciples. Those disciples being you and me, not just the ones we read about.

When I meet with those who follow Jesus and those who just have questions about following, my biggest encouragement is to read and embrace the lifestyle that Jesus lived, because for all of us, that is the truth we are called to live out. It’s the easy answer, but often the answer that we avoid the most. Why? Why do we know what we should do and yet turn to something easier? We go to church on Sunday but don’t even look at the Scriptures referenced on Monday. We follow a myriad of influencers to give us their view of Scripture, yet don’t validate what they claim for ourselves. We end up misusing Scripture to either make ourselves look better or harm others, something that Jesus fully rejects and stood against.

We are all being formed, make sure you are being formed by the life-giving words of Jesus, our savior.

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“Then Joshua set up in Gilgal twelve stones they had taken from the Jordan, and he said to the Israelites, ‘in the future, when your children ask their fathers, what is the meaning of these stones? You should tell your children, Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.”

Joshua 4:20-21 CSB

I love this moment in Scripture, where Joshua has led the people away from harm, and he stops to mark the moment, looking back in order to move forward. I think this is important for all of us to do as we continue to grow in our lives. Not to dwell on the past, but to look back at where you have been and then use that to move yourself forward into new things.

September is here and with is brings in cooler (sort of) weather and into a season that begins a time of harvest. I view the year’s seasons as a way to reflect and navigate in my own life, as September marks the beginning of the end of the year. Fall is naturally busy and one that if I let it slip by, it can move through my fingers in an instant.

So, I begin to reflect so that I can take hold of the good that will come in the coming months.

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“In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”

Matthew 23:28 CSB

There was a video that went viral a little while back, where a youth group was interviewing their students, asking the student what the verse in their social media bio said…and not one student actually knew what the verse said. I saw a lot of responses and a whole lot of judgement, and at first I will admit I too had the thought of, “are they for real,” but I stopped myself because I too have been in that place. Where I looked good and like I had this deep relationship with God, but I really was just coasting in my faith or didn’t make it my own.

I mean, think back to high school, you’re really a product of your environment, and the church world is a very easy environment to look good without needing it to be real. Now, the majority of you reading this have been out of high school for many years, which would let us believe that we would never do something like what these students do, but we know that’s not really true.

I mean, who hasn’t shared a picture of their coffee and Bible…that might not have been opened at all, but the optics look great! The verse in the bio, the shot of your hands high in worship, your prayer before a meal in public, all of it looks great; but at the end of the day, the evidence matters more over the optics of your faith.

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