Tag: andy stanley

Soul Food For Singles and Friends of Singles

August 22, 2019 /

Fridays are for sharing some of the resources I’ve come across that I think might encourage you. Happy weekending!

I have so many amazing friends who are single. Never married, divorced, widowed… Some have full, meaningful lives and vibrant community. Others feel stuck in waiting mode, longing for something different.

The two things I hear the most often from my friends who are single are:

  1. Sermons major too much on illustrations using couples or families, and not enough on singles.
  2. People who are single long to be included in groups and social gatherings with couples and families. They don’t like to be put in a box with all other singles.

A few years ago, my lovely and talented friend Claire Wyatt answered 5 Questions about Singleness for me on a blog post. You can check it out here.

North Point Community Church recently started a sermon series called, Love, Dates, and Heartbreaks. You can check it out here.

I passed this, from Bianca Althoff, along to some of my single friends:

Loneliness is not just a phenomena for singles. Maybe you need this reminder today.

Some favorites from Instagram:

Never doubt that single or married, divorced or widowed, you are fearfully and wonderfully made. You have unique gifts and are called not to find someone, but to be becoming someone who looks more like Jesus.

Nourishing Soul Food Friday During a Distasteful Election

November 4, 2016 /

Monday Nathan Hamm tweeted, “Halloween could never be as scary as Election Day.”

Instagram joked,

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(In case you don’t have enough to worry about, read about Creepy Clown Sitings here)

But in addition to jokes, there are thoughtful Christians trying to bring salt and light and love to a dark, contentious time.

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Willow Creek Community Church has mounted a campaign during this time of anger and divisiveness that has taken off. Read about it here. 

There are some excellent sermons being preached that bring a biblical perspective to this season. This is one of the best I’ve heard – by John Ortberg. He looks at several elections in the Bible and then offers some takeaways. Take a listen.

House of Cards – How Not to be Anxious During an Election

  1. Be Involved. Get information from people we agree with and disagree with. Vote.
  2. Be Civil.
  3. Be Confident (in God). God is not worried about November 8th.

And two minutes of gold from Andy Stanley!

Many people feel like they don’t have any good choice for president this election. I get that. But I’m distressed when people tell me they are not going to vote. This is a hard won privilege we have in the U.S. Please don’t take it lightly. John and I have already voted absentee – easy peasy! Cue the West Wing theme song!

Lastly, if you want some deliciousness to pass around while you’re watching the election returns (or a football game!) I want to share a great recipe from my friend Ally.

Cheesy Party Burgers

1 lb. lean ground beef

1 ts. salt

1 ts. pepper

1 ts. mustard powder

1/2 ts. smoked paprika

2 cups diced onion (that’s about 1 whole onion)

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

1 10 oz. can Ro-tel Diced Tomatoes & Green Chiles, drained (I used mild)

12 slices cheddar cheese

12 dinner rolls (I used Pepperidge Farm slider buns)

Glaze:

1/2 cup butter

2 TB brown sugar

1 TB Worcestershire sauce

1 TB mustard

1 TB sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 350 and coat 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray.

Brown the ground beef, onions, and add rest of ingredients.

Put half of buns in bottom of 9×13 pan.

Top with ground beef and cheese slices. Finish off with top half of buns.

Mix the ingredients for the glaze in a pan on the stove and pour over buns. Can let sit for awhile.

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

 

 

Soul Food When You’re Thirsty

November 6, 2015 /

This is my favorite Instagram of the week, posted by my son-in-law. It’s possible John may have gotten a similar text from me at some point.

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So, what are you thirsty for this weekend?  A prayer walk where you can truly breathe and be present to God? Story reading with kids? A date night? Worship? Conversations with good friends who are refreshing to your soul?

For me, this week has been full of people showing up with delightful “cups of water” I’d love to share with you…

The mailman showed up with this that I’m devouring.

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Here’s a quote from the first chapter:

“It’s about the beautiful things we might reclaim and the stuff we may decide to kick to the curb. It’s a book about making peace with unanswered questions and being content to live into the answers as they come. It’s about being comfortable with where we land for now, while holding our hands open for where the Spirit leads us next… Really, it’s a book about not being afraid.” Sarah Bessey

Isn’t that hopeful and lovely? More later on this book…

I posted Wednesday how we got to go to the Catalyst One Day and fill up. I was left thinking about the questions, “What would a great leader do?” and “What would a great wife do?”

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That’s a Great Question

November 4, 2015 /

Yesterday John and I and a few staff from our church attended the Catalyst One Day in Minneapolis.

This is a day-long conference where there’s worship and Andy Stanley and Craig Goeschel take turns sharing leadership lessons.

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They are both amazing leaders we admire, so we were ready to learn more about the secret sauce that makes them that way.

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Don’t you love days when you sit back in a workshop, and take ALL THE NOTES, and are “fed” til you feel like it’s Thanksgiving evening and you’re in a turkey coma?

You feel like you’ve done AN IMPORTANT THING when you take home your little notebook crammed with GREAT IDEAS. You’re sure it will make you a better leader just by holding it close. Am I right?

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So yesterday my favorite session, the one I was sure was going to transform me into “AMAZING ANDY LEADER” was his first talk, entitled “That’s a Great Question”.

The big idea was that great leaders ask great questions and one of the most powerful, clarifying and disturbing questions a leader can ask is:

What would a great leader do?

Andy fleshed it out with a lot more, but that was the basic idea. At the end, he added, “If you’re married, what if, when you go home and are going through your day and come to a decision point, you ask yourself, ‘What would a great husband do?’ or ‘What would a great wife do?'” Continue reading

Checking Jesus off my List

April 27, 2013 /

Yesterday morning I tried to check Jesus off my to-do list.

This happens in seasons of stress and busyness (are there any seasons of not-stress-and-busyness??).  I check him off by giving Him a nod (Read: glance at a paragraph of a devotional or toss up a “bless so-and-so”).  Check.  Done.  Moving on to important stuff.

The thing is, when I do that, it’s kind of like being in the “fun” house at the circus.  Deadlines, people, circumstances become distorted like in those crazy mirrors – scarier than they really are.  My perspective is skewed.

I feel the fear of failure.

I feel the pressure of performance, not the presence of Jesus.

I miss the sacred moments.  I miss the small mercies to be thankful for.

But yesterday Jesus didn’t seem to want to remain as just a checkmark.  He graciously kept showing up in my day, reminding me that He goes before me and behind me (Isaiah 52:12b).

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A Blog, a Bomb, and a Book

February 17, 2012 /

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!

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