Tyler Perry’s acceptance speech resonated with me because his story and language align with an affirmation God gave me last week.
Not everyone is called to be in the middle. One could argue that, so maybe a better way to put it is not everyone is ready to come to the middle.
If you are in the middle, know that your hope isn’t in victories. Your hope can’t be but in one person, the One who put you in the middle. He has lifted you up. Keep pointing people to the One that can lift them up.
My ongoing search to find podcasts that interest me has recently delivered a gem. The podcast is Being Known Podcast with Curt Thompson and Pepper Sweeney. Here’s their description of their podcast’s purpose:
In a world in which we experience such deep desire and such great grief, we find coursing through all of it our unquenchable longing to be known. But we don’t want to stop there, for we know in our bones and blood that we desire to be known in order for us to create and curate beauty and goodness in the world — together with our friends and, in our best moments, even our enemies — in every domain of life that we occupy.
I just finished listening to episode #4: Story. So many good thoughts-some new and some reminders-about what story is, how we tell ours, and why we need to.
A lot of what I’m doing in life in my storytelling is I’m looking for ways to find joy in a world that I know is not easy to live in. -Curt Thompson
This week I’ve had to find joy in a world not easy to live in. The story told about me, that I told myself, and that I shared with others led me to renewed joy. Thank you, Curt and Pepper, for conversation affirming my joy.
Photo by Dmitry Ratushny on Unsplash
On my drive home from visiting family last month for Thanksgiving, I realized something. All my nine nieces and nephews are in their 20’s and 30’s. Had to shake my head at that a little. Four of them are married, and three have children. Double head shake.
Thinking about them and the difference in my world during my 20’s and their current world, a thought for a blog series came to mind. The series, entitled God of My 20’s that will post every Monday beginning next week, is a chance for friends of mine to share their story of who God was to them in their 20’s. I invited a slew of men and ladies. Twelve accepted. So this will be fun.
These writers represent every age groups from their 30’s to theirs 70’s. So that means from Millennials to Baby Boomers, born anywhere from the 40’s to the 80’s. That’s a lot of living through a world of change. So the question, and there could be many, that I’m curious about is how does God show up over the decades in people’s lives. On a side note, those living today in their 20’s could be classified as Millennial or Generation Z. If these generation labels are another language or like me you need a refresher, follow this link: Generation Z.
An interesting note from that link is that Generation Z is the largest generation in American history. The God question is therefore a good question to be asking. What if we helped them answer it by telling our own story? I hope you’ll follow along. And maybe even share your own story here or in person. Who was God in your 20’s?
Good News #1: Goal Met
http://myevent.com/Runningforstorytellers
The link above is to a fundraising page created in support of a church in Detroit. As you read the cover page on this site, you’ll read they’ve been in a campaign to raise $20,000 by Memorial Day. Good News: they’ve reached their goal…two weeks ahead of schedule. This was phase one of a year-end goal to raise $50,000.
Bad News #1: Sidelined
My right calf has been giving me fits for almost two months. I finally saw a doctor yesterday and running the race this Sunday is out of the question. Nothing longterm, just have to work out some scar tissue through therapy (follow this link about graston technique) and rebuild. But, that means the dollars donated for this cause and this race seem unresolved. Nothing more frustrating to me than not being able to run a race that is paid and trained for with a goal of helping others attached.
Good News #2: Transferable
It hit me that through the Race 13.1 series, they might have a transfer policy in place to allow you to move your registration from one race to another. Sure enough, checked the website, and that was an option. So Good News: I can train for another race this year without losing the registration, and not only should I be able to honor the intent of the funds already raised, now we can further assist Storytellers as they move into their next fundraising phase by raising more funds before my rescheduled race.
Stay tuned to find out the rescheduling and how you can support this next phase for Storytellers.
John Gregory 