Jamey's Newsletter: Sunday, February 5, 2023
Jamey's Newsletter: Sunday, February 5, 2023
Bad things happen in a broken world. Our hope is not dependent on finding a reason to explain why bad things happen. Instead, our hope rests on believing God is with us in the suffering.
And this is what the apostle Paul is getting at when he says, “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
Paul is not saying that whatever happens is part of God’s plan. Instead, he says God can take whatever happens, no matter how bad, and make good out of it.
When we trust God with our suffering, God has a way of making good come from it.
Indeed, pain and suffering in and of themselves cannot make the world a better place or make us better people. Unfortunately, some people walk away from the faith due to the suffering they see in the world. But consider this, if God can take the greatest evil imaginable - the cross of Jesus - and transform it into the greatest good, what can God do with the pain and suffering in your life?
Jamey
Everything Happens for a Reason (click here to watch and share)
(Pre-recorded online worship from Gainesville First UMC, Gainesville, Georgia)
“God doesn’t wound us with empty statements.” - Abby Burle
Our hope is not dependent on finding a reason to explain why bad things happen. Our hope rests on believing that God is with us in the suffering.
When we trust God with our suffering, God has a way of making good come from it.
“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil, for you are with me.” - Psalm 23: 4.
Weekly Prayer
Gracious God, forgive us for our cliche sayings and superficial responses to those around us who suffer. Lead us away from untruth so that what we offer is the way, truth, and life of Jesus to all we meet. Amen.
Meme of the Week
Dad Jokes
What do you call a fake noodle? An impasta.
Why don’t they play poker in the jungle? Too many Cheetahs.
I Have Been Thinking……………
"Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm." - Publilius Syrus.
What happens when the weather turns sour? When things go wrong? What do you do when the wind blows against you?
That's when it matters who you are as a leader. That's when it matters how much you know about yourself, your team, and your organization.
Bold leaders will stand up for their values, take a deep breath, and face the rough seas head-on—that's what leaders do.
John Maxwell says, "A leader is one who knows the way goes the way and shows the way."
The current season calls for courageous leaders to take up the helm of their organizations and lead humbly yet with confidence and determination.
And it also means that it might be time for some who are best suited to navigate through calm waters to make way for those who have proven experience through rough waters to take the lead.
Leadership wisdom is recognizing if it is your gifts and abilities to navigate the current season your organization is facing or if it is time to step aside and let someone else lead. Either way requires courage and wisdom to do the right thing.
Jamey
Book I am Reading This Week
Novel Preaching: Tips from Top Writers on Crafting Creative Sermons by Alyce M. McKenzie
INTERESTING ARTICLES, PODCASTS, OR VIDEOS FROM THE WEEK
A Poet for ‘Bruised Evangelicals’
SEVEN LIES ABOUT CHRISTIANITY -- WHICH CHRISTIANS BELIEVE
What churches could learn from the Pub Choir phenomenon
The anti-social network: These teens are ditching Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok
Congress takes reins of prayer breakfast from secretive Christian evangelical group
Not all who harm the church are wolves. Some are renegade sheep.
10 Heavenly Repurposed Churches Across The South
How to Disentangle a Forty-Foot Right Whale
Youtube: Kate Bowler: People with chronic illness are not problems to be solved. We’re people to be loved.
Top Ten (This is a little brain exercise I do - since I don’t do Wordle). I have a notebook where I make a list of ten things that serve as sort of a brain dump for me. It is random but fun. I plan on sharing it with you in 2023.
What is the dumbest thing you made your parents buy for you as a kid?
Ninja Stars (I think we bought them at a flea market)
Rambo knife (inside had matches, a little string saw, and something else I can’t remember)
Michael Jackson glove (remember the one shiny glove he would wear)
Cologne (and then I found out I was allergic to scents)
Skateboard (I lived on a gravel road and had a gravel driveway)
Wooden train horn (We got it at the Georgia Mountain Fair - actually, that was pretty cool)
A fishing game that you play while on the toilet (don’t ask)
Sugar candy cigarettes
Rock tumbler machine (did anyone really make smooth rocks in those things?)
Plastic Freddy Krueger gloves (I am starting to think I really liked sharp objects)
What about you?
Gift Idea for Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day is coming. Below is a gift suggestion. You can thank me later.
Happening at Gainesville First United Methodist Church in Gainesville, Georgia
Wednesday, February 22 / 12pm Chapel & 6pm Sanctuary & livestreaming
Join us on Ash Wednesday to mark the beginning of this Lenten journey through scripture, prayer, and song. You will have an opportunity to receive the imposition of ashes as a reminder of our mortality and the hope for new life.
Marked by the ashes of repentance, we start Lent with a renewed focus on Jesus and on being intentional about faithfully living as Christ would have us live.
Ash Wednesday service times:
12pm in the Chapel
6pm in the Sanctuary & livestreaming
MAKE A DIFFERENCE
The Daycare and Diaper Bank of Family Promise of Hall County are currently in need of baby wipes.
3606 McEver Road Oakwood, GA 30566 770-535-0786 info@familypromisehall.org
Weekly Blessing and/or Quotes
Writer Jeanette Winterson on the process of life:
"We live in a society that peddles solutions, whether it's solutions to those extra pounds you're carrying, or to your thinning hair, or to your loss of appetite, loss of love. We are always looking for solutions, but actually what we are engaged in is a process throughout life during which you never get it right. You have to keep being open, you have to keep moving forward. You have to keep finding out who you are and how you are changing, and only that makes life tolerable."
Source: Women at Work, Volume II
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