Taking a brief break from the Lenten devotions to publish my Top3 for the week. These are a few of the ideas that I’ve read and/or been thinking about recently. I submit them to this space for me mostly. I have found that it helps to write about what I’m reading and thinking about. I also give them to you in hopes that maybe something here will spur you as well. Enjoy!

#1 – Genesis 12 is the well-known call story of Abram (who will be known as Abraham in due time). But I want to back up to Genesis 11 where Terah, Abram’s father, actually begins the journey from Ur to Canaan. It’s Terah who initiates the movement toward the Promise Land that Abram receives the word to follow. We know that Terah died before ever getting to the Canaan but Abram made it and become the father of a people who were blessed to be a blessing.

What I begin, even though I may not see the fruit, is important. Being faithful without ever receiving the end results may be the true test of faith. Okay…I’ll stop preaching!

#2 – Simon Sinek in his book The Infinite Game details five things an organization needs in order to have an infinite mindset. An infinite mindset being an orientation toward the really long run. A long time spending yourselves on a goal which may never be achieved for generations and yet is so compelling that you give your life chasing it anyway.

I could not help that he is describing the church without using those words!

Just cause

Trusting teams

Worthy rivals

Existential flexibility

Courage to lead

Add these to the following from E. O. Wilson, author of Sociobiology, the three essential characteristics for an enduring society are cooperation, cohesiveness, and altruism (the practice of selfless concern for others) and you’ll get a glimpse at what has been capturing me this week from a leadership perspective.

#3 – God is not a God of the emotions but the God of truth.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer from Life Together

It is not how we feel but that we feel that is most important. Truth, in the person of Christ, establishes our true north in relationships as well as our circumstances. Do we have feelings? Absolutely. Jesus did too. But these feelings aren’t the basis of our faith but rather signposts of something deeper. The deeper is bound up in our relationship with Christ. So may we view our emotions as an invitation to dig deeper into what Christ is doing in and through us.