Music, prayer, and ministry

It's so interesting to me how much emotion music can evoke. I was sitting at Starbucks last night with Toby (really, this doesn't happen often at all haha) and Thelonius Monk was playing. Now I love this kind of jazz, and it just makes me feel all these warm feelings from senior year of high school. And I'm thinking of all the other music I've listened to recently - Sufjan Stephens and the wonderful glow of Lubbock and Chutney-roommate-awesomeness I feel, Justin Timberlake and the taste of Panera in Hilary's car, Ramsie Schick and the smell of JD and Chrissy's apartment in Carrollton simultaneous with the anxiety of post-GFA transitioning. The list goes on. Every song is either reliving or creating a memory so vivid it's impossible to escape.

Be praying for us here in Mexico, and I'm not just talking about my team. A lot of awesome things are happening, but I'm getting this air of discouragement from a lot of people here at the church. There are a million unique reasons for this, but all the same, things have been hard lately for people I care about. Like I've said before, I know that's life everywhere, but since you're reading this, I know you care too.

And to leave, here's an excerpt from this week's brownbag*:

Last night when I was getting ready for this week’s lessons (she’s way too advanced for the LST book), I was thinking about how it’s not my job to make her believe anything. It’s just my job to make her think about the important things. This is super important to remember when you’re going into ministry – help people think about God. If they’re not thinking, they’ll either end up like the hard soil or the plants that spring up without deep roots. Either way ends up bad. And when the two of us are thinking together, it’s a whole lot less intimidating for both parties. I love this passage in Colossians 4 – “…Pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ… that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom towards outsiders… so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” I could go on and on about Colossians, but I’ll just say pray for our team as we build these relationships and serve people, and don’t underestimate your role in God’s kingdom.

*(In case you didn't know, brownbag refers to the letter I sent to the Lubbock AIMers to read during their lunchtime - it's AIM tradition to pray for each other especially on Wednesdays, so all over the world we eat lunch together and pray for each other.)