2024

Top 3 2024 Word of the Year Songs

/ johngregoryjr / Leave a comment

The first year I chose a word for the year was 2020. It’s an exercise I’ve grown to appreciate. If you have yet to consider it, here are a few blog posts about it:

https://mountainmodernlife.com/word-of-the-year/

https://www.fillingthejars.com/word-for-the-year/

My 2024 word was “courage” for which I created a playlist. At one time the playlist had over 20 songs. Last month as we edged closer to year end, I began deleting songs as a way of keeping focus. And in a fun way, unintentionally, I got down to the top three songs on the list that spoke the most to me along this theme. So I thought I’d share them with you.

To share them, here’s the playlist and videos of each song. Take Courage!

2024 Library

/ johngregoryjr / Leave a comment

For a seventh year I have followed a self-developed reading strategy with the objective to read broader. The goal: read books falling under diverse headings. This strategy is still working for me, another rich year of reading.

For the curious, here is the library of 19 books including avenue of reading:

  • A Trip Around the Sun by Mark Batterson and Richard Foth (hoopla)
  • Against Empathy by Paul Bloom (hoopla)
  • And There Was Light by Jacques Lusseyran (hoopla audio)…most thought-provoking book on the list
  • Attached to God by Krispin Mayfield (hoopla)…my favorite book on the list
  • Awe by Paul David Tripp (hoopla)…9th annual read
  • The Complete Guide to the Prayers of Jesus by Janet Holm McHenry (hard copy)…most compelling book on the list
  • Creation Regained by Albert M. Wolters (hoopla)
  • From the Mouth of Dogs by B.J. Hollars (hard copy)…most engaging book on the list
  • Greetings from Duluth by B.J. Hollars (hoopla)
  • Humble Inquiry by Edgar Schein (hoopla)
  • The Last Exchange by Charles Martin (hoopla)
  • Life of the Beloved by Henri Nouwen (hoopla)
  • The Pleasure of His Company by Dutch Sheets (hard copy)
  • Sacred Scars by Michelle Bengtson (hoopla)
  • Say All the Unspoken Things by John Sowers (hard copy)…the best big idea book on the list
  • The Shift by Colby Martin (hoopla)
  • Think Ahead by Craig Groeschel (hoopla)…most helpful book on the list, under consideration as an annual read
  • Unclobbered by Colby Martin (hoopla)
  • What Aging Men Want by John C. Robinson (hoopla)…most practical book on the list

NOTE: If you’re not familiar with hoopla, check it out: https://www.hoopladigital.com/

Photo by Maël BALLAND on Unsplash

Huddle Up, Planners!

/ johngregoryjr / Leave a comment

Hey Planners! Huddle Up!

You’ve been on my mind this week. 2024 has not been kind to you. I feel it with you. In this huddle, let’s acknowledge a few things.

First of all, we’re not alone. We all get it. That trip you had planned for the second week of October turned out to be a totally different trip. And not only that, the work event two weeks prior that had been on the calendar since January had to be cancelled. That event was supposed to help you feel like you weren’t losing your mind due to Debby’s rudeness. Seriously, three’s enough.

Second, whatever happened to the answer to not failing is having a plan. That’s what they tell us. “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” You had a plan to retire in that house. You had a plan to grow your business. You had a plan to provide for generations in your family. You thought it was The Plan. Were you wrong?

Driving home from church this morning I wondered, “What character in the biblical narrative could planners relate to? Someone who probably felt like they were doing everything right, had lived as surrendered as possible, and yet felt like their foundation crumbled.”

I can’t say for certain she was a planner, but the person that made me stop rolling through the profiles was Mary, Jesus’ mother. It’s mind blowing to consider the change of plans she navigated, how many times she felt the earth shake.

  • The pregnancy and marriage phase
  • The parenting phase
  • The empty nest phase
  • The losing a child not once but twice phase

I can’t imagine anything about her life felt normal.

Normal. That’s the word I said to God this morning on my drive to church. Which made me laugh and spew, “Why do I get caught up in expecting normal? Who am I to demand whatever that means?”

Planners, hear this. The security and peace you seek in the black and white of the bullet points of your 5-year-plan isn’t permanent. When it turns into gray or is completely erased, the stark reality of eternity is brought back into focus. And it’s good for us.

Don’t hear me dismiss the emotions of confusion and disappointment and frustration and anger. Those are normal. It’s not recorded; but in her humanity, I imagine Mary walked through all of those too.

Fortunately for her, Jesus was with her. Fortunately for us, just like her when he left her the second time, he doesn’t leave us alone when our plans disintegrate.

Did you hear that? He hasn’t left you. He’s with us in this huddle. And as only he can do, he’s simultaneously elsewhere working on our eternity.

Yes, it’s earthshaking to not see what’s next, to be yanked back into considering eternity. It’s disturbing to feel like you messed up so bad that recovery isn’t possible, that what’s in front of you is all there is. So let me remind you.

He sees it all.

He holds the world.

He is in the rebuilding business.

His plan is in tack.

Here’s what I want to offer you. I’m not going to break this huddle. Instead, I invite you to stay here as long as you need. Sit down if you need to. Lie down even. Put your body in a position that best says, “I’m not going to take another step until you show me which direction. I know because you are big enough to work on the eternal that you have what I need in the present. Your plan is mine. It’s enough. I’m with Mary. No matter how many times the earth quakes and my plans shatter, I am blessed that you know me, see me, stay with me, and let me call you mine.”

Photo by Mark Vihtelic on Unsplash

Reset-It’s A New Day

/ johngregoryjr / Leave a comment

Not once, not twice, but three times this week I heard the word or concept of resetting. Interestingly enough, the first time was in my own head.

Wednesday morning I was reflecting on an interaction from the previous day. When I greeted the individual that morning from the previous day’s interaction, their reaction made me think, “They are really great at resetting.”

Here’s what that means to me. Nothing was held over. It was a fresh start-in more ways than one, a new day. You’d have no idea if any frustration, irritation, or bitter seed had been caressed. Odds are it was because they have a practice of resetting.

This was followed by my hearing the latest episode of At the Table on Thursday morning. The topic: Hit the Reset Button. Their team replayed the previous day’s 34-minute meeting where they reinforced clarity on the team as a way to enter 2024. A key principle in that discussion: “People don’t need to be instructed as much as they need to be reminded.” Sounds like another definition for resetting.

So I have two opportunities for you to reset. The first one is to answer some version of this question: “What reminder best keeps me on track?” Whatever it is, print it, post it, memorize it, schedule it, share it, journal it, find all the ways possible to keep it in front of you.

The second opportunity is to check out two songs that are on my 2024 playlist. They both focus on the theme of each day is new. One is by TobyMac; the other by Danny Gokey. Take a listen and reset.

Four Corners Quad Keyah Series Lesson #4

/ johngregoryjr / Leave a comment

The day before I flew to New Mexico I got a massage. Mike keeps me ready to run.

In our conversation I told him I had prepared for this race series better than I had since 2012. That’s how well I knew I had trained. I set goals and met them all. Nothing left to do but run.

Lesson #4: Prepare the best possible. But accept you can’t control everything.

For example, Race #1, starting temperature, 37F. Race #2, starting temperature, 25F. Race #3, starting temperature, 12F. But hey, no precipitation.

Next: At the start of Saturday’s race they announced a change in the course. Not that I really knew the difference, but still. Running down the side of a steep canyon to start the race was not what I had in mind. But hey, the easier course meant I finished 20 minutes faster than Friday.

Then came Sunday. More on that later. Suffice it to say, it was a day I’ll not soon forget. Pretty sure I’ve never been that cold. But hey, the rental car heater was amazing.

This is life. Prepare the best you can for the test and your nerves rattle your memory. Prepare the best you can for your wedding day and people turn out to be unreliable. Prepare the best you can for retirement and a diagnosis changes everything.

Part of the best preparation is accepting there is no way you can control all things. You can control your preparation. You can also control your response to what you can’t control. 

SUGGESTION: Purposefully place yourself in new or uncomfortable situations. Try a new route to work. Try a new recipe with your dinner guests. Go for a run in the rain. Let the kids decide where to go for dinner. 

With some practice, 2024 could be the year you accept it’s impossible to control it all.