I liked Carey Nieuwhof’s interview with Rich Villodas. I thought Rich Villodas shared a number of good insights on why we’re witnessing so many scandals among evangelical leaders.
I liked—loved!—this line from Spurgeon’s August 3rd devotional:
The Lord Jesus is not limited in His power or restricted in His mission. He is so prolific in grace that, like the sun that shines as it rolls onward in its orbit, His path is radiant with loving-kindness. He is a swift arrow of love that not only reaches its ordained target but perfumes the air through which it flies. Virtue is always going out of Jesus, just as sweet fragrance exudes from flowers; and it will always be emanating from Him, like water from a sparkling fountain.
I liked this line from Mary Oliver’s poem “Just Lying on the Grass at Blackwater”:
I have not done a thousand things
or a hundred things but, perhaps, a few.
May the Lord help me accept my own limitations!
Dear Pastor Joe, Thank you for sharing Carey Nieuwhof’s interview with Pastor Rich Villodas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiQynb9PWY4&t=1851s
Some of the interview referenced what was written in Pastor Rich’s first book, The Deeply Formed Life, and also his newest book, Good And Beautiful And Kind – Becoming Whole in A Fractured World.
If you have the opportunity to read Pastor Rich’s new book, please pause after reading the first two parts and watch his sermon from the Deeply Formed Life on the Deeply Formed Practices of Contemplative Rhythms that aligns to what is in his newest book. In this sermon he references Luke 5:15-16:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcbyEM51CXw
It’s even worthwhile to watch if you don’t read the books. Although Pastor Rich Villodas states in his new book that “For those trying to establish a life of contemplative prayer, I laid our several guidelines in The Deeply Formed Life. I wrote about the importance of befriending silence, reframing distractions, and remembering that God is always waiting for us with open arms.”