I used to be really good at resting.

I rock climbed, mountain biked, went running.  I went to movies, read books, relaxed at home.  Then I got a job!  It became a lot harder when I was no longer a student.

Add to that that pressures of family life – marriage and children – and it’s even harder to rest at all, much less daily, weekly, yearly and beyond.

So how do you carve that out and protect it?

We asked Jerry, a friend of RTC and a business owner, how he does it.

Be sure to catch his interview on video or audio.

For Jerry, maintaining daily, weekly and less frequent rhythms of rest is a witness to others – they know when your store is closed, and it says something about the values of the family behind the business.   It also teaches his family what’s important to him and his wife.  They are not just about money, there is much more to their life.

Challenge: Find at least four other people in your line of work, and ask them how they handle their need for rest, leisure and restoration.  Ask them how that looks on a weekly basis, and throughout the year.  Then ask them to keep you accountable.

Ryan Sim - May 14, 2014

Wednesday - Change It - Pioneer Spirit

What was the meaning of all this about Jesus’ followers speaking different languages or “tongues”? It was a sign that the impossible mission they’d been sent to accomplish was actually possible. I love to rock climb, and I used to pride myself on never needing chalk. I considered myself a good climber with just my hands, and sweat never seemed to make me slip off holds. One day, as I struggled on what felt like an impossible climb, a friend insisted I put some chalk on my fingers. I immediately realize what I’d been missing – I could actually do what seemed impossible if I put down my pride and got a little extra help from some chalk. If Jesus’ followers try to spread the good news on their own, they will flail about like me on a difficult climb. They simply don’t have the skills, the numbers, the power to reach the entire world with this message. Think of the number of languages spoken, the various cultural norms to learn, the geography to consider. But with the Spirit of Jesus living in them, speaking through them, acting through them, they could and they did. There are 2 billion people in the world now claiming to be Christians. One web site offers a film about Jesus in 1200 languages. This was all evident in how the disciples began to speak in other languages, they never even knew. People remarked that this was unlikely, since they were Galileans – not considered refined and educated people - with an accent that made it difficult to speak other languages. One of those big barriers, language, was already being dismantled by the Spirit of God speaking through them. In a world with lots of barriers, how refreshing is it to see the Spirit of God taking some down? His good news about Jesus is for everyone, who speaks every language, from every nation. Christianity is not meant to divide people, but rather it’s good news God uses to transform each and every culture, each and every nation, each and every individual. Question: Luke never says what the people were saying as they spoke these other languages – what do you think the Holy Spirit would have said through them?

From Series: "Pioneer Story"

We read through the Book of Acts as a Pioneer Story for the church.

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