That Thing I Do Now - Vol 58

Happy Weekend, ya'll!  I can't believe that we are already nearing the end of August... the end of Summer... (which, if you are somewhat new around here you may not know this - but Fall... #Swoon! Fall is my favorite!)

There have been a lot of great things going around the interwebs this week but I have to admit, I have tried to stay a bit more unplugged lately. I've been on a semi-bloggy break all summer, yet still reading all the things both in book form and in screen form... this week I am unplugging a bit more and connecting face to face, heart to heart... plus - I just joined a gym so... Priorities, people! Still, you know I wouldn't leave ya hanging! Here are some of my favorite finds this week!



Happy Reading!

Enjoy! (Ya'll know to click on the authors' names to read their whole posts, yes?)

* This one by Lysa Terkeust over at InCourage with What We Miss When We Rush...
"A few years ago, I had the amazing privilege to meet BJ. He was sitting in the row in front of me on a flight and made sure to welcome us the minute we took our seats. It didn’t take long for BJ to make everyone around us aware of how excited he was to be on this plane.

His voice was loud, his exclamations seemed a bit child-like for a man his age, and his stuttered words made it difficult to completely understand him.

But one thing was unmistakable to me – his passionate embrace of the magnificent.

As we rose into the sky he clapped and bounced in his seat. His eyes were wide as he turned to the man sitting next to him and exclaimed, “The clouds are huge!”

That’s when the nudging on my heart started. This gentle prodding to ignore the task oriented part of me wanting to get my work done. A rush-like whisper tripped over those boundaries I’d erected to keep my thoughts focused and orderly.

Embrace this moment, Lysa. Notice him. Notice Me. This is a better use of this time. This is a Best Yes."


* This one by Darlene Collazo over at {In Pursuit} with When God Becomes Enough...
"It’s been a year of living with eyes wide open. A year of learning what it means to allow God to complete us. We’ve watched in amazement as God has answered prayer after prayer after prayer.
Which takes me back to the silence. I’ve struggled to put into words months worth of my journey. I’ve struggled to put words to what God is doing. I mean, how can one as simple as I begin to articulate the wonders and depths of God. Though I’ve tried, I’ve found myself with that dreaded blinking cursor staring back at me.

And yet, I’ve closed the laptop and walked away with peace. Because experiencing the moment, experiencing the grace of God has been enough. He has been enough."


* This post by Lisa Jo Baker with A prayer for when the whole world feels like an upside down Monday...

"Our Father, who art in heaven,

Who sees the world from the perspective of His own divine eternity – the now and the tomorrow lens of Divine Love that always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres – with eternal eyes and Kingdom mind and purpose.

Hallowed be thy Name,

Holy, holy, holy. We kneel before you in our broken humanity and remember that you are God and we are not. You are God and our fears, our social media feeds, our prejudices, our memories, our assumptions, our desperate desires to be right and liked and vindicated are not.

Thy kingdom come,

Thy kingdom of peace and righteousness. Thy kingdom of hope and healing here in the midst of our aching today..." 

* This post by Jen Hatmaker over at Proverbs31 Ministries with Raising the Kids We Have, Not the Kids We Were...
"Since postmodern kids respond best to authentic and honest parenting, it’s important to avoid any hint of a controlling, appearance-based approach. I must lead with my life, not just my lips.

Let’s tell our kids, “It’s okay to mess up. I don’t expect you to be a perfect kid, as I’m certainly not a perfect parent.” With the Lord’s help we can create a house of grace. To model what to do with failure: to apologize, try again, try a different way, learn from it, and don’t regret every mistake. 

...I believe our kids will be less likely to get lost in culture if they have experienced the dynamic, loving, radical Jesus. When they know Him in a life-changing way, they learn to engage culture as a change agent and advocate without getting tainted by its influence. This is how God designed the Kingdom."

(There is also a chance to win Jen's new book Interrupted through this link... and just in case I haven't talked about it enough, just hang on and keep reading!)
* This post by John Pavlovitz with Church, Here's Why People Are Leaving You. Part 1...
"Being on the other side of the Exodus sucks, don’t it?

I see the panic on your face, Church.
I know the internal terror as you see the statistics and hear the stories and scan the exit polls.
I see you desperately scrambling to do damage control for the fence-sitters, and manufacture passion from the shrinking faithful, and I want to help you.

You may think you know why people are leaving you, but I’m not sure you do.

You think it’s because “the culture” is so lost, so perverse, so beyond help that they are all walking away.
You believe that they’ve turned a deaf ear to the voice of God; chasing money, and sex, and material things.
You think that the gays and the Muslims and the Atheists and the pop stars have so screwed-up the morality of the world, that everyone is abandoning faith in droves.

But those aren’t the reasons people are leaving you.

They aren’t the problem, Church."

(This may not ring true for all of you... honestly, I hope it doesn't! But for some, this sums up the unrest and sometimes it's just nice to know you're not alone!)
* This post by Meredith over at Green Sparrow Literary Services with You don't scare me, Jen Hatmaker. And other thoughts on being Interrupted...
"Well, shoot, Jen Hatmaker. Now you’ve done it. Gone and wriggled inside my head and my heart, plucking out the derelict collection of questions that have been wandering around, bumping into each other, and handing them a warm meal of simple, profound, and life-giving answers.

Fortunately, God has been systematically tearing apart the structure of my old life for years now, pulling down the pretty but structurally unstable roof and walls, tossing out the functional but uninspiring furniture, and generally making a mess of everything. The wrecking had begun, so I wasn’t too put off by the book’s tagline: When Jesus Wrecks Your Comfortable Christianity.

You don’t scare me, Jen Hatmaker. I live amid wreckage.


I may have underestimated how much demolition was still required. Shoot."

(Seriously, ya'll... I had a hard time not linking ALL the Links from Jen's Blog Hop!  This is FULL of amazing posts! I highly recommend you hang out over there for a bit because not only will you see how much you are going to want to get her book, but you will be blessed and challenged and discover all kinds of new bloggers to love! I know I did!)
* This post by Alia Joy over the InCourage with Grasping Eternity in the Everyday...
"My best yes is contentment with my ordinary and a vision for God’s Kingdom at my fingertips. Close enough to touch and taste.  It’s open eyes and removable scales. It’s seeing and cherishing my small in light of His greatness.


It’s my little obedience to the now with a hefty vision for the things to come. It is the choices made each day that add up to eternity."

(As usual, I wanted to just copy and paste the whole thing because - Alia! #Gah! I love her!)
* This post by Jennie Allen where she offers an invitation, a chance to build some bridges with To My White People...
"I won’t claim to know much about the world, especially right now. The news feels like the worst kind of apocalyptic movie. And with almost all of it- there is nothing to do but stare and pray and hold our people tighter.

But Ferguson.

I am white. My son is black. If God wills, my son will soon be a black man. My hands tremble and my eyes are blurry with tears as I type. So today I will use my white self and all my privilege and all my voice to say some things.

Friends- Sometimes we do not hear. We do not listen. We do not understand. We often don’t even try.

I scroll the news feeds and see the black hands lifted high. “Hands up. Don’t shoot.” Their hands are raised in defense, in protest of injustice. But all I hear when I see their hands….

You don’t hear me." 



* This one right HERE where I talk about how Interrupted by Jen Hatmaker and how we can be ...Interrupted to Change the World...
"God had been Interrupting me and my comfortable life for quite some time and to be honest, this book was simply the tipping over point.  It was a glorious undoing... a wake up call to stop waiting and just start digging in to the messy beautiful work of loving people.  Not just people who are already our people... no - we've been doing that for years.  The call is to go out - OUT, ya'll - and love people 'out there'.  Across town, across the pew, across the ocean - wherever He leads you, go - and love."

And lastly... the video... because that is how we wrap this thing up, and because - well, first of all - Jimmy! Secondly, I am back to juicing as well... hmm... maybe... you'll see!

Happy Weekend, ya'll!