Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God: this is your true worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. [Romans 12:1–2]
Oh, hey there. It’s Kathy again. Don’t worry—Paul will be back next week!
Have you ever had a bad habit? I know I sure have. When I was a toddler, I sucked my thumb. (True story: I loved my thumb so much that one time, when I was four years old, my mom’s colleague asked me to show her how I had just learned the Pledge of Allegiance. But since there wasn’t an American flag in the room, I pledged allegiance to my thumb instead.) When I got to kindergarten, I put away childish things and started biting my nails. That lasted a long time. My parents tried everything: rewards, bribery, putting that nasty bitter stuff on my nails to deter me from biting—none of it worked. I’d stop for a few days, telling myself that if I tried hard enough, I could stop for good…and then I’d go right back to biting my nails. I couldn’t will my way out of the habit.
These days, the habits have changed (mindless snacking in front of the TV, anyone?), but the problem remains the same: sheer willpower isn’t enough. While habits like thumb-sucking or nail-biting or midnight-snacking might seem relatively innocuous, we all deal with the harder, tougher, more sinful habits as well. And those are the kind of habits that need more than just a tough-love self-talk: they need God.
We all know we need to change the things or actions or problems in our lives that don’t honor God. But we can’t do it ourselves. And we can’t do it without first realizing that we actually can’t do it at all—but we know the One who can. Willpower isn’t enough. But a willingness to rely on God to give us a new mind and a new thought pattern about the sins that plague us…now that’s something to consider. We can’t discern the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God without a shift of mindset that takes us out of our reliance on habit, comfort, and self and into total surrender to what God wants for us.
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way”—except here, the “will” is short for willingness, and the way is found in Christ.
Root, root for the home team…
…except when it’s REALLY HARD because the home team went 1–10 in their last 11 games (after an eventual win on Sunday) and the All-Star break is just around the corner. We have two Guardians on the American League All-Star team this year: José Ramírez is back as our starting third baseman, and Steven Kwan was just named as a reserve outfielder. Two bright spots so far in an otherwise dismal-feeling season.
Those 10 losses in row were a sad kind of streak. Not the nice, happy, exciting kind of streak like when we won 22 games in a row during the 2017 season and set the American League record, or when José Mesa set the then-record for consecutive saves in 1995. (Un-fun fact: We were at the game where he blew a save and the streak ended. I swear, you could hear a pin drop at Jacobs Field.) But hey, this is Cleveland, and anything can happen. Including, maybe, a few more wins.
It’s a bird, it’s a plane…
July 11 is an exciting date for two reasons (more to come on that below). The first is that it’s the release date for the new Superman movie, much of which was filmed right here in Cleveland! I can remember hearing from friends who wanted to visit Headlands Beach and were turned away because filming was happening right there. And if you watch the movie trailer, you might catch sight of some familiar locales around downtown. I’ll be honest: I’m a sucker for Cleveland appearances in film, which is why The Avengers and Captain America: The Winter Soldier are my favorite MCU films, solely because I liked seeing places like Public Square and Tower City on screen. Also, they filmed one scene of Winter Soldier right outside my dad’s office building at Euclid and E. 30th, and it was super exciting until he mentioned that Chris Evans wasn’t actually on set that day and that it was a stunt guy instead. How disappointing.
Floods in Texas
The news about the recent flooding in Texas is devastating. My heart breaks for the parents of all those children at the girls’ summer camp who were lost in the floods or (at the time of this writing) are still missing. My husband and boys are at Scout camp this week in Pennsylvania and events like this just make you pray even harder for safety in any circumstance.
It’s hard to feel powerless in times of crisis. We sit here and watch from hundreds of miles away as so many families struggle to put their lives back together after the destruction and loss. For those who feel led, Trinity supports Disaster Relief, which is accepting donations for those affected by the Texas floods.
And the second reason…
I’m looking forward to July 11 for another great reason: It’s our first-ever Starry Night 5K and 1-Mile Fun Run to support Ivy Women’s Center! After six years of running a benefit race to support Hannah’s Home, we took a year off, but we’re back this year with a new date, new time, and new beneficiary. This Friday, we’ll have hundreds of runners, walkers, and volunteers here on campus to support the work that Ivy is doing in our Lake County community: helping women who find themselves dealing with an unexpected pregnancy find emotional and medical support as they navigate their options. We’ve had many great local sponsors come alongside us to lend their resources to this event, and I can’t wait to watch our church family start a new tradition of encouraging local outreach partners who are doing amazing Kingdom work.
And hey, if you’re local, and you’re not busy on Friday evening—stop by! Every penny of our proceeds go directly to Ivy, so you can even sign up to run or walk that night if you want to. I can’t imagine a better way to enjoy a beautiful summer evening.
On this date in history…
Two hundred and eighty-four years ago on July 8, one of the most famous sermons to ever be preached happened in Enfield, Connecticut. Jonathan Edwards delivered his “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” to a rapt crowd and set off a chain of events that resulted in the First Great Awakening in that area. His application of biblical theology within the sermon had a profound impact not only on the listening ears who received it all those years ago but on the many scholars and believers throughout the years that have examined the call to turn from sin and return to Christ.
My husband has had another Edwards quote on his office wall for as long as I’ve known him. This one is less fire-and-brimstone and more quiet encouragement to lead a life of purpose and devotion—a fitting reminder that while our strength comes from Christ, our perspective must remain eternal:
“I resolve to live with all my might while I do live. I resolve never to lose one moment of time and to improve my use of time in the most profitable way I possibly can. I resolve never to do anything I wouldn’t do, if it were the last hour of my life.”
[Jonathan Edwards]
Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. [Proverbs 16:3 NIV]
