What I Learned from Watching "Tombstone." 🪦

Welcome to the Friday Field Guide!

The Beauty of Steadiness and slowly looking around- I watched a movie the other day called, "Tombstone." An extreme oversimplification of the story is that it is a fictional story of 3 brothers who try to strike it rich in the West... among other things. Just after arriving in the town, they are all talking about how excited they were and being united after years of separation. While walking toward town, they pass a mirror and truly see the group together. All three of the boys are now grown and have wives. The youngest boy wants to hurry along, but the others stop him and simply say, "Don't talk. Just look."

That stuck with me.

How often do we run through life trying to get on with it and miss what is happening all around us? How many moments of beauty do we miss? How many signs of God's faithfulness do we rush past on our way to something important?

This is one of the main thoughts behind the journey we are on through the book of Matthew as a church. Many times, we are rushing to compete with the pace of "American Life" and forget that God's Word is timeless. We can be so quick to discover 3 ways to do this or 5 steps to conquer that we forget to just enjoy the simple profound beauty of God's Word.

Honestly, that is one of my greatest hopes for this Sunday. As we jump back into our series, my hope is we become okay with taking our time. I cannot think of anything better than studying the life of our King Jesus together. Perhaps, slowing down and stabilizing our pace will overflow into other areas of life. Time will tell.

If you would like to see the slowly building commentary we are creating, check out the King Jesus page on my blog here. I look forward to our stroll through God's Word together.

To all my RLC family...

Thank you to everyone who came to RLC Connect this past Sunday. We welcomed 6 new members to RLC and had many get connected in LifeGroups.
It is an honor to do life together.

Be looking for the official announcement of our first Men's and Women's Events coming in February! So excited!

2023, Stay On!

This week's 📪 Letters to RLC>>>

🖤 My Favorite Things This Week:

🐍 Story Time: I Went to a Snake Handling Church. Yep. I survived. It wasn't on purpose. This is currently live on my YouTube channel.

🤐 Leadership: 4 Questions To Ask Before You Quit Your Job. There was a time when people hoped to work at the same place their entire careers. Now, that seems to be only for those who "fail at life." This is almost always not true, but it is also not that simple. Sometimes you do need to move on. This video helps us think through this issue.

🧎Worship Song of the Week: Jireh- Elevation Worship and Mav City. This song was a game-changer in my life. My favorite line is, "I will be content in every circumstance. Jireh, You are enough." This comes from a Biblical name for God, "Jehovah Jireh." This means "God My Provider."

📚 Book of The Week: Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus. This book is about the personal testimony of a man named Nabeel. He was a Muslim who started a friendly debate with a classmate named David Wood about Christianity. As the conversation grew, Nabeel began studying Christianity to win. You'll have to read the book to find out what happens next.

🤔 For Pastors- Enneagram: A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing. I love personality tests. It is fun to learn about yourself so we can grow and develop. However, are all personality tests created equal? Does it matter where they originate? Is it even wise to do personality tests? I started grappling with this question, especially as it relates to the Enneagram. Diving down the rabbit hole uncovered some startling origins.

🕵 Exodus Dive: This is a Great Interview of Dennis Prager, Jordan Peterson, and others talking through a section of Exodus. Since we are walking through Exodus together, it was interesting to hear their ideas. My favorite statement is, "Miracles don't work to create lasting faith. It can only valid it." (paraphrased)