top3 for May 24, 2019

Here is a weekly “table of contents” of three things that I have been thinking about, reading through, or have made an unusual impact on me this week.

#1
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/05/14/style/generation-xers.html

As a gen-Xer myself, this long form piece in the New York Times struck a chord. As a child of boomer parents and a parent of a millennial and whatever the other generation is called, I am interested in how the time we are born impacts how we perceive the world and act in it.
The same can be said for our faith development. Do you know the most effective way to build Christianity? Through our children. Statistics hold true that if a child doesn’t make a commitment to follow Jesus prior to age 18, the likely they do decreases dramatically. That is why the most important people in a person’s faith journey is overwhelmly most often parents. If you are born into a family of Christians, guess what, there is a high likelihood you will follow suit.

#2

https://medium.com/better-humans/how-to-use-writing-to-amplify-your-leadership-impact-c690501431cf
I love when I find a piece that confirms a hunch or practice that I am already doing! For the past few weeks, I have made a conscious effort to write more. In particular, putting thoughts on “paper” after a meeting or conversation has been my focus. And just like that…I find the above article that makes a great case, and gives examples, about why and how writing extends leadership.

#3

Ruth 4:17(NRSV)17 The women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed; he became the father of Jesse, the father of David.


The move toward Jesus continues in the book of Ruth. This time God uses an outsider names Ruth, who is a Moabite woman, to be the mother of King David’s grandfather Obed. Just about the time we fall for the lie that we aren’t enough, we don’t come from the right place, that the circumstances are too far against us, God reminds us in the gentlest of ways that “nothing is impossible” for God. I wonder how many people, circumstances, and hopes we have given up on because they don’t seem to fit with what we believe is possible?