It's a Full Week

This is a very full week and here is where I am at...

Dear Chris Paul’s Shoulder,
You’ve got to be kidding me! You’ve worked well every day of his life, and now you’re going to give out? Not cool! Please get it together soon.

Dear 100-Degree Weather,
Thank you for not coming to visit in the month of May. When you do come in June, can you bring some rain with you?

Dear America,
Can you please stop being so crazy? This weekend we are supposed to remind ourselves of the men and women of all different walks of life who have died to protect us, our freedoms, and our union. As we do, let’s thank God for His favor and blessing. Let’s pray for our leaders and our military who are serving well. (Let’s pray also that Jesus would remove those who are not serving well.)   Let’s use all our opportunities and resources to lift each other up. Let’s breathe in a deep breath of gratefulness because we get to live in such a wonderful country, and breathe out a great breathe of kindness upon our fellow Americans.

Dear Black Community in Phoenix,
I am sorry for all the legitimate pain you’ve been carrying, that the killing of George Floyd ignited in your souls. I am sorry for all those who have been made to feel that black lives don’t matter. And I promise you that, as Living Streams church listens and learns about the true sources of the pain, as well as finds and acts upon true solutions to the pain, we won’t forget to acknowledge and lament with you in the pain. We have been honored to be able to stand in solidarity with you, process what is good and what is false with you, give financially to support those who have already been doing well by you, and chart our course into things that will be a huge boost to you.

And, finally…

Dear Living Streams Church,
I love you and thank you for the opportunity to devote myself to the Word of God and prayer. And I thank you for the trust you give me to lead, preach and serve. With Covid-19 pandemic fatigue, ideological weariness, and the longstanding spiritual war we live in, many of us are on the brink of caving in. There will be many who fall away, as the Scriptures say. There will be many who will experience failure of heart and failure of nerve, as Edwin Friedman says.

But as for us, let’s hang in there together. Let’s call on each other and be available for each other when we feel like giving up. Let’s remember to get alone and quiet and still with Jesus, who promises to give us anapouō, which is the kind of rest that causes, or permits, one to cease from any movement or striving in order to recover and collect his/her strength.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father,

David

P.S. This Sunday we will be addressing the part of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus teaches about lust. We decided to go forward with this, as we believe the teaching will be beneficial and applicable to families and youth. We will dismiss the K-5th grade kids to a fun class before the message. Even though we believe the teaching will be good for 6th grade and older, we want to let you, the parent, decide what is best.