As I write this we’re on vacation in my happiest place. A place of fresh cut grass and warm breezes and colorful flowers and sand-between-my-toes that we’ve been blessed to enjoy for years thanks to some hospitable and gracious friends.
Anyway, vacation is a great time for me to catch up on podcasts and reading along with the fun of activity with great friends. It’s Spirit Stretch Friday so I thought I’d share a few resources I’ve enjoyed this week. Actually, maybe “enjoyed” isn’t entirely accurate. In some cases “convicted” might be more accurate. As I look at them they’re all kind of about coming up short. Maybe you’ll be able to relate.
The first is a fantastic blog post from Steven Furtick. If you struggle with insecurity and doubts about yourself (and I think if you’re breathing you probably do), take a look at this and finish the devil’s sermons.
Along those same lines, Andy Stanley preached a great sermon titled, The Comparison Trap. He talks about the land of “er” and “est” where when we compare and don’t measure up we either hate the other person or hate ourselves. Toward the end he asked a question that shook me to my core (That was the “bomb” of the post title. More on that later). Take a listen.
The last resource is a book I’ve been reading called Flunking Sainthood (A year of Breaking the Sabbath, Forgetting to Pray, and Still Loving my Neighbor). This is a memoir by Jana Riess who writes about her year-long experiment of trying twelve spiritual practices – one a month. I’m still in the middle of this and am not sure what I think about it as a whole, but Riess writes with delightful humor and some interesting insights. While experimenting with Lectio Divina she reads all of the book of Mark all month because she doesn’t want to turn “Eat This Book [Eugene Peterson’s book on Bible reading] into Eat This, Not That, picking and choosing only the loveliest passages that fit with my existing understanding of faith.”
Hope you find some good reminder from God in one of these and have a delightful weekend!
