Posts by Josh
The radical life of a godly mom, pt 2
This is the second part in a 6 week series about Biblical motherhood. See part 1 here.
Jennifer Williams: quiet time in the midst of loud chaos
Jennifer Williams: mom of 2
Quiet time is rare at my house. From early morning to late night, it is bustling with activity. Quiet – the stillness and calm marked by little or no activity or noise- happens only when we are all sleeping. So, how does a busy mom carve out quiet, uninterrupted time to spend with the Lord daily?
- Make an appointment. With so many things screaming for our attention, moms must set a specific time daily to spend in prayer and Bible study. It may mean getting up early or staying up late, using naptime or lunch breaks. It also requires putting the to-do list on hold.
- Find a place. Jesus set the example. Luke 5:16 says, “Jesus would often go to some place where he could be alone and pray”. Admittedly, I have thought about locking myself in the closet some days! However, my space is a small desk near a big window in my bedroom. It has just enough room for Bibles, my journal and a cup of coffee.
- Share your commitment. Tell your spouse and children your plans for a daily quiet time. Ask your kids to interrupt only in an emergency and give them quiet activities to keep them busy for a short time. Audio books (like Adventures in Odyssey) work well.
- Keep it simple. Read one chapter a day and journal your thoughts. Take time to pray and listen. Use a good study Bible or www.biblegateway.com for clarity.
- Stay on track. Of course, there will be days when the alarm didn’t work or the baby doesn’t nap. Life happens and that’s okay. Don’t let the exception become the rule. Get back on track the next day.
The demands of motherhood are great; therefore, nurturing your spiritual life is essential. “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:16
Check out this great resource for finding intimacy with God in the busyness of life: Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World by Joanna Weaver.
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Re: Yesterday’s sermon on singleness
I asked Christy Ridings, a founding staff member of The Bridge who is single, if she would followup yesterday’s sermon on singleness with a Monday morning post. As is the case with anything that comes from Christy, it’s awesome…
Moving our question marks
In my 14+ years of working with college students, I spend a great deal of time talking about relationships and I watch a large percentage of my students meet and marry during their time in college. Inevitably, those who don’t find themselves in a dating relationship come to me with this question: “What has God called me to do while I am single?”
While the question lends itself to a wonderful availability and openness to God, I wonder if there isn’t a larger consideration.
Is it possible that we have put the question mark in the wrong place here?
My experiences, both personal and ministerial, have allowed me to make some observations regarding our question marks…
First, there is no future start date on the spiritual gifts we have been given. When we choose to follow Jesus, we become responsible for figuring out what part we play in the Body of Christ. Starting now! Go! There is a reason that Paul doesn’t say “Married people: you get the gifts of wisdom, faith and healing. Single people: you get prophecy, miraculous powers and speaking in tongues”. I think this is because in regards to the mission of the church, our marital status is irrelevant to God (I know-students love it when I say this part too!).
Secondly, we are built for community…not homogeny. Now, this is where I typically differ from the rest of my single friends. The beauty of the Body of Christ is reflected in our differences, not our ‘sameness’. I know, I know – we like to be around those who are like us and ‘understand us’…are in the same season as us…share similar experiences as us. But I wonder if the ‘sameness’ that we are called to share is the mission of God in the world…not what marital status box we check on our tax return? For me, homogeny seems to cater to the egocentric portion of our nature while community pushes us to live out the wonderfully messy nature of the Gospel. To hurt and be hurt, to learn to forgive, to gain insight into the lives of others and to give up the understanding that the ‘only things that are important in the life of the church are the things that apply to me.’ Come on, get out there, mix it up…you might like it!
Finally, moving our question mark up those four little words forces us to perhaps relinquish an idea that culture tells us is ‘an ideal’. I think the ‘while I am single’ portion of the question can just as easily be replaced with ‘until I have children’ or ‘now that I’m retired’. Moving our question mark reminds us that our lives are not our own. It reminds us that our purpose and calling is not found in our circumstances, but in our Creator.
Read MoreESV Bible App
Crossway just released an ESV BIble App. Some features…
- works with or without internet connection
- has four font sizes including large print
- lets you highlight verses, save favorites, and write notes
- looks amazing
- it’s free!
Get it here
Read MoreThe Bridge’s secret weapon
Licking people as a sign of spiritual affection.
Kidding. This is Mitch Comstock. For the last couple months Mitch and his (awesome) wife Misti have been cooking enough food for 4 families every Sunday not knowing who will be eating it. Why? Almost every Sunday Mitch and Misti invite one family from their small group, one Bridge family they want to get to know, and one family who’s just started visiting our worship gatherings.
I thought this was so cool, I email-interviewed Mitch about it:
Read MoreDescribe what you and Misti have been doing for the last 3-4 months?
We’ve been inviting people to our house for lunch or dinner after church on Sunday afternoons. The basic idea is to find people to come hang out and eat with us and play with our kids. I think this would fit into the Relational and Missional wings of the Bridges ministry focus.
What made you guys start this ministry?
Well we’ve always prayed to have our home a place of refuge and rest for others and Misti truly has been blessed with the gift of hospitality, but this is about something different.
We have found it hard to connect with people at churches in the past and would try to invite people over so we could get to know them or go out to a restaurant when we knew others were going out. We found it hard to socialize at restaurants with our kids running around and we found it harder in this economy to think about eating out every weekend just to get to know people better.
So after having a discussion in small group about how important it is to be more inclusive and intentional in reaching out to others, Misti and I decided to try something simple, but different. Not every week, but about 3 out of 5 weeks we have people over for a mini-potluck. Misti usually cooks a main course and then has other families bring dessert or sides.
There are no real rules to it, but we’ve been trying to get to know new people and people who’ve been at the church for a while. So we invite a family that’s brand new to the church, a family from another small group and then usually a family from our own small group. We don’t get offended if someone says no, but keep them on the list to keep inviting back and we try to keep inviting others until we have enough yes’es to have a good time. We try not to invite more people than we have chairs, but have also had a couple weeks where we found having the kids play while the parents eat was much easier and then let us have a bit more room too.
How has it effected the people you’ve connected with?
That is hard for us to say, we think they’d say they’ve enjoyed good company and good food and that they’ve connected with people they might not have otherwise. Hopefully somehow they’re something spiritual in that too.
What has been fun about it for your family?
Everything, except the saying goodbyes. My kids are always a good bit more tired when people leave (this makes for good naps and/or early bedtimes.
and a bit sadder too.
What would you say to someone who’s thinking about trying something like this themselves?
Just do it. It’s easy and if anyone breaks your furniture I think that comes out of Josh’s salary.
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