Worth-a-look Wednesday

 

It's that time again! Below are 10 things that will widen your perspective, challenge your views, laugh, cry, and mostly importantly--- make you think! 


1. Why People Think Christians Are Fake- Jon Acuff nails why the church often isn't a safe place for honesty and vulnerability...

You can't share your whole life with somebody when the expectation is that you don't fail.

2. In Which I Disagree About Cameron Bure About "Biblical Marriage" - I'm not saying I agree with either side on this issue. What works for one marriage, often doesn't for another, however I love Sarah Bessey and the way she writes about her marriage. It's everything that I strive for in mine...

My marriage has instead brought out the best in me. I am stronger and more courageous. I am bolder. I am more loving. I am more of who I was meant to be because of the way that tall Nebraskan has loved me well.....don’t get me wrong: I believe in submission.
I just don’t believe that our call to submission in marriage is restricted to me. I submit to my husband. And he submits to me, too. And together, we submit to Jesus.

3. Questions: The Doorway To Right Coversations - Oh, how needed this is! If we could always drop our assumptions and accusations, real communication could happen and miscommunication, hurt feelings, and misunderstandings would be a thing of the past!

If we are going to begin to engage right conversations, healthy and helpful conversations, we must begin with questions.

Not the kind of questions that are accusations in disguise.

Not the kind of questions that we use to set up my “real agenda”.

Not the kind of questions that start with assumptions and are just trying to validate what I already think.

I mean real questions, the invitations to know and be known, based on the assumption that we do not know yet.

Never underestimate the power of good questions.

4. Great Leaders Aren't Afraid To Love Their Teams- Donald Miller, my good man, YOU get it. You get what motivates people. It's a bit cheesy but the Beatles, they knew it too. Love really is all you need.

How do we capture the hearts of our team members? Well, we can’t fake it. We actually have to love them. I say have to like it’s a tough thing. The truth is we get to love them. A team is nothing more than a community.

5. Hookers, Heathens, and Me- My heart, oh. Sometimes help and hope can come from the most unlikely places.

Some days we can only make one good choice in the midst of a dozen awful ones. Some days we can’t rescue someone else. Some days we can not even rescue ourselves. Instead redemption comes from the most unlikely of sources.

 6. Thrashing About With God- I know I usually stick to articles, but this book. This is a game-changer. Like Jacob wrestling with God, sometimes we wrestle with our own faith, and it's healing to hear that it's okay. Mandy invites us into the deep places of our own hearts by sharing her  journey into the unknown depths of doubt. The honesty here alone will capture your heart, and who knows? You may find yourself walking right beside her.

What if Jesus didn’t die so our lives could look perfect? What if He died so we could stop feeling like our lives have to be perfect to mean something? What if we simply live out our own story, even if it doesn’t look as others say it should? Mandy Steward set out in pursuit of these what-ifs. She didn’t find answers so much as she discovered a messy grace that knows no limits and a God that was and is willing to thrash about with her no matter her questions or struggles or doubts. What she found was abundant life, but it didn’t look like she thought it was going to. It was far different, and much deeper. This is a book without “easy” answers that lets those struggling with faith and searching for more know they are not alone.

7. Empowering Women Empowers Us All- I love that this article was written by a man, and that he communicates his points so calmly and rationally. The Proverbs 31 women had duties both in the home and the marketplace.

It's time to move on from philosophical debates over whether a woman's place is in the home or the workplace -- women have long been in both. The public conversation we must have now should be about how we can empower women to find their way into economic stability.

8.  After 10 Years Of Marriage, I Do Not Know Romance...I Know Love -

On our third date we were going to a nice restaurant. While driving my wife did not feel well. She was trying to hold it in but could not. She screamed for me to pull the car over and she ran out and started to throw up.
I ran after her and held her hair back...
“Get back in the car!”
“No. You do not need throw up in your hair. We need to get you to the hospital.”
We went to the hospital that night. I stayed with her the whole time. I took off work the next day and made she was okay.
None of that was romantic. All of it was love.

9.  I Mustache You A Question...Am I cute? - Because animals and mustaches...some days you just need the cuteness.

10. The Uvogel House- Can I live here?  Pretty please?  Of course I'd want someone to cook and keep it that clean for me, and I'd probably need to learn to ski, but really, is that too much to ask?