The Holy Pause

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  1. 8h ago

    From Comparison to Celebration

    These posts will always be free, however, if you find them meaningful and would like to consider supporting our online outreach, you can donate using this link. Scripture: The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. Consider: My kids are in a phase where they are, quite literally, measuring themselves against one another. Perhaps it’s inevitable in a family of three children to look at one another with both love and an edge of competitiveness - and in our family, the competitiveness has currently turned to who is the tallest and the strongest. Right now, that is our oldest simply because she is the oldest, but I believe she is beginning to acknowledge the reality of her situation, which is that she is the oldest but she’s also a girl which means, most likely, she will eventually lose both the title strongest and tallest. Though in my family of origin I am the tallest and my brother is the shortest, so anything is possible I guess. This act of comparison has leaked over onto the parents too. This morning at breakfast, my youngest made me stand back to back with him to see who was the tallest. I won. This act of comparison comes out exactly as you’d expect, with one child despondent because they “lost” the comparison while the other is resplendent in their victory until they find something else to compete about so someone else has a chance to win. Isn’t that what our adult lives are like? I’d like to say we’ve grown out of height contests, but we really haven’t. We sometimes still do stand next to one another and look at our heights or weight or strength. Other times, those comparisons are metaphorical contests of height using our bank accounts, house size, and vacation destinations. We spend so much of our time trying to win. In 1 Peter, the author warns us about this approach to life. Instead, he reminds us, our first job is to speak the words of God to one another. This sounds like a daunting task which requires us to spend 3 years in seminary and wander up a mountain path to speak with a reclusive sage, but speaking the words of God is so much simpler than that benchmark because those words come from a much easier place in our hearts - that of love and kindness to one another. Maybe, if we have to feel like we’ve won a contest, we should win the one where the winner is the one who loved best. Respond: What kind of words do you use on a daily basis? Do you lead with love or do you use your words and mind to try to win? Pray: Moving God, Sometimes in life we feel out of control and want to make a change. We buy new gadgets, try new systems, and rearrange our schedules in an effort to force the change into our hearts. Help just us to do the hard, inner work of change which comes from within first. Give us the blessing of the inward inspection where we seek, with honesty, the reorienting of our next steps. Amen. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wfpc.substack.com

    From Comparison to Celebration
  2. 3d ago

    An All-Knowing God

    These posts will always be free, however, if you find them meaningful and would like to consider supporting our online outreach, you can donate using this link. Scripture: O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it. Consider: The idea of anyone, even God, knowing us completely is terrifying! Think about instances in our lives when, in a moment of weakness, we have made a terrible decision. There are instances in my own life, which continue to haunt me in my thoughts, even 40 and 50 years after. There was a time in the summer of 1978, the year that my family moved to the United States, and my brother and I had befriended some young people in our neighborhood. One of the older kids organized a friendly game of baseball, and I miraculously hit the ball (I say miraculously, because I wasn’t particularly athletic and baseball was “foreign’ to me). As I ran to first base the ball was thrown to the baseman who caught it just as I was getting to base. It was a close call, but I knew that I had not made it there on time. But the organizer kid left it up to me to make the call because “why would I lie?” Well, I did. I lied. I called it safe, and the first baseman looked at me in the eye knowingly and said nothing. I never came clean, and the truth is that I had never revealed my sad little secret. This haunts me! Two different Bible characters that come to mind when I think about this Psalm. One is Adam, who in Genesis Chapter 3 committed the big “Oops!” (in a moment of weakness). And when God, whom Adam knew face to face, came around looking for him, Adam hid. How silly is this? Yet don’t we have the same reaction to our own sins? Don’t we try to hide them from the all-knowing God? David, however, takes a very different approach. David knows that same all-knowing God, and in this Psalm, David himself prayerfully calls out God’s knowledge of him. David knows that God knows absolutely everything about him, when I sit or when I rise - meaning always. Before I say what I say, He knows. There is no need to hide in the bushes! David, by verbalizing God’s omniscience puts himself in the right place when approaching God, and praises God for his knowledge. He calls it out in praise, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.” Yes, God knowing us completely is terrifying but only until we realize that God knows us thoroughly, yet He loves us thoroughly. This is too wonderful. God knows that silly kid who hoping to be accepted, he wanted to make base so badly, that he was willing to lie about it. Respond: Have we come to terms with the idea of an all-knowing God? Let’s use this psalm to verbalize it. Let’s stop trying to hide in the bushes because He already knows. He knows and yet He invites us to communion with Him. Pray: Father God, You ARE all knowing, and this is not an easy concept for us to grasp. Give us the wisdom to seek you instead of hiding from you, especially when we sin against you. We praise you for your omniscience, help us to remove the obstacles we have put in the way of fully surrendering to you, our Rock and our Redeemer. In the name of Jesus, we pray. AMEN. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wfpc.substack.com

    An All-Knowing God
  3. 4d ago

    Absorb vs. Harbor

    These posts will always be free, however, if you find them meaningful and would like to consider supporting our online outreach, you can donate using this link. Scripture: Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. Consider: It’s hard to say, “Be careful what media you consume” without sounding like a prude. We all know the villian in Footloose is the crotchety old pastor, played by John Lithgow, who forbids dancing in his small Kansas town because it might cause the youths to get unruly. Every pastor I know does their level best trying not to sound like the minister in almost every teen movie, because they never come off looking good. But that doesn’t change the reality of the situation which is that our influences, whether media, songs, people, life circumstances, magazines, or flyers in the mailbox, shape how we view and see the world. I could quote an endless number of studies, but this one from Penn State found more than half of U.S. adults are receiving their news from outlets that filter information through algorithms designed to increase engagement. Another 30% get their news from channels and written sources who utilize the power of agenda setting and framing to filter the news they share. While the media did not tell you what to think specifically, it did influence what you thought about and how the information is framed does impact and influence your judgment of the topic. When you have a conversation with a friend on any given topic, it’s more likely than not you both have not only different opinions, but completely different sets of information. What we put in our minds does change how we experience the world and it shapes everything else too, from grocery shopping to friendships to politics. This means we have to be intentional about the windows through which we view the world and how the things we consume shift that window. If you find yourself moving farther and farther away from the way Paul asks us to experience God’s creation, then maybe it is time to evaluate where and how you interact with it. If you find yourself most days more angry than appreciative, maybe take a break from the tv. If you find yourself less certain of what is true and righteous, maybe it’s time to intentionally recenter yourself in the reality of your lived experience. If you find yourself more exhausted than pleased, maybe it’s time to change the music station. You have control of your experience and you have the power to choose different influences to help shape it. It’s your choice. But I would suggest, on either path, that you don’t give up dancing. It’s one of life’s purest joys. Respond: What are the major influences on your worldview? Sit down and make a list of what media you consume on a daily basis - and notice how you feel and experience the world differently after you consume it. Is there one particular influence which you might change in order to shift your outlook closer to what Paul asked you to appreciate? Pray: Moving God, Sometimes in life we feel out of control and want to make a change. We buy new gadgets, try new systems, and rearrange our schedules in an effort to force the change into our hearts. Help just us to do the hard, inner work of change which comes from within first. Give us the blessing of the inward inspection where we seek, with honesty, the reorienting of our next steps. Amen. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wfpc.substack.com

    Absorb vs. Harbor
  4. 5d ago

    Covenant vs. Contract

    These posts will always be free, however, if you find them meaningful and would like to consider supporting our online outreach, you can donate using this link. Scripture: As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.” Consider: We live in a world governed by contracts. From cell phone plans to apartment leases, a contract is built on a simple premise: mutual distrust. It establishes strict boundaries, outlines what you owe me and what I owe you, and includes a quick exit strategy if either party fails to deliver. Ultimately, a contract protects an asset or an interest. But God doesn’t do business with us through contracts, but instead invites us into a covenant - a promise based on relationships. And relationships are built on trust. A contract says, “I will perform if you perform.”A covenant says, “I am yours, and you are mine, even if it costs me everything.” This distinction changes how we view God’s justice. If we treat our faith like an institutional contract, we start viewing God’s justice as purely mechanical—like a celestial courtroom or a corporate compliance department. We assume sin is just a broken rule, and justice is simply a penalty to be collected. But God’s justice is fundamentally relational, not institutional. When humanity fractures a covenant, God’s anger isn’t the cold irritation of a bureaucrat enforcing policy; it is the deep, grieving sorrow of a betrayed family member. God’s grief is displayed most clearly in the Bible through the words of the minor prophets, the ones towards the end of the Old Testament. In Ezekiel and Hosea, God uses the language of a broken marriage, not a broken legal agreement to describe how sin hurts God. God’s heart breaks - and the anger we sometimes see God display - is because our sinful hearts break the bond of love and destroys relationships. Therefore, God’s justice isn’t satisfied by merely checking a legal box or balancing a spreadsheet of debt. Divine Justice is driven by a passionate desire to restore what was broken. The ultimate proof of this relational justice is the cross. In a contract, if one side defaults, the contract is nullified and the parties walk away. But when we defaulted on our covenant, God didn’t walk away. Instead, God willingly stepped into the brokeness through an act of love, not to punish, but to restore. Jesus didn’t die just to satisfy an institutional technicality. He died to reset the relational fallout of our betrayal and to seal a New Covenant through his willing sacrifice. Today, remember you are not a client keeping a contract with a distant institution. You are a child in a covenant with a loving Father. God’s justice doesn’t look for reasons to disqualify you; it is actively working to restore, protect, and hold fast to you. Respond: How does the understanding of the difference between a contract and covenant change how you experience God - both the blessings and the needed corrections? What is one relationship which you might be able to restore through mutual sacrifice? Pray: Lord, free us from the belief that our worth is measured by what we accomplish. Teach us to stop believing that our importance and value are attached to how tired or overly busy we are. Help us create spaces where we can rest. May our rhythms reflect the freedom You have given us, and may our lives bear witness to Your kingdom of grace rather than the demands of endless production. Amen. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wfpc.substack.com

    Covenant vs. Contract
  5. 6d ago

    The Litmus Test

    These posts will always be free, however, if you find them meaningful and would like to consider supporting our online outreach, you can donate using this link. Scripture: Then the word of the Lord Almighty came to me: “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? Are these not the words the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills were settled?’” And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: “This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’ Consider: In my college ethics class, my professor really enjoyed setting dilemmas in front of us and then asking us to solve these impossible situations to teach us there often is no absolute “right answer”, just the one which fits mostly completely within our ethical framework. It’s fair to say everyone hated these exercises because they were REALLY HARD! One such framework we were taught is the “front-page test”. In this scenario, you imagine the outcome of your one optional decision, all the way down to the details of what is most likely to happen. Then, after you’ve written that story, you ask yourself the question: “Would I be comfortable seeing this action described on the front page of the local newspaper tomorrow morning?” It forces you to imagine the reaction of loved ones to your decision. If the thought of your family, neighbors, or boss reading about your choice makes you cringe, it fails the test. It uses public transparency as a proxy for moral rightness. But what if other people’s opinions aren’t necessarily the best way to set up your ethical system? For Christians, there is a different question we must ask: “Would I be comfortable seeing this action described to God in the morning?”. This brings up a different litmus test by which we measure each decision using God’s ruler, which somehow seems to make finding a solution even harder because we think we don’t know what God would want us to do. But we really do. And it turns out God’s litmus test is really simple, because the Bible tells us of a divine who is always on the side of the most vulnerable in any situation. The answer, then, to the question of “what should I do?” is always answered by another question - Am I standing with the people who have the least power in this situation? That, friends, is a much easier question to answer, but a much harder one to live out. Respond: How have you seen yourself stand with someone who is vulnerable in the last week? Did you show them kindness, a listening ear, or offer a helping hand? Pray: Lord, free us from the belief that our worth is measured by what we accomplish. Teach us to stop believing that our importance and value are attached to how tired or overly busy we are. Help us create spaces where we can rest. May our rhythms reflect the freedom You have given us, and may our lives bear witness to Your kingdom of grace rather than the demands of endless production. Amen. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wfpc.substack.com

    The Litmus Test
  6. Aug 3

    The Source Code

    These posts will always be free, however, if you find them meaningful and would like to consider supporting our online outreach, you can donate using this link. Scripture: My son, pay attention to my words, bend your ear to my speech. Don’t let them slip from your sight, guard them with your mind. They are life to those who find them, and healing for their entire body. More than anything you guard, protect your mind, for life flows from it. Have nothing to do with a corrupt mouth; keep devious lips far from you. Focus your eyes straight ahead. Keep your gaze on what is in front of you. Watch your feet on the way, and all your paths will be secure. Don’t deviate a bit to the right or the the left, turn your feet away from evil. Consider: My life is busy and chaotic. Even in the summer, when theoretically life is supposed to slow down a bit, everything feels a bit fraught and just slightly out of control. My “decent and in order” side of my heart is trying to learn how to embrace the chaos instead of trying to control it, knowing that the years when life feels this way are vanishingly short, if exhausting in the midst of it. For a lot of years, I’ve attempted to manage the chaos by implementing various systems which claim to be the final fix for the stress and anxiety of raising young children. I once created, printed, cut, and laminated 100 “choice chores” cards which hung from our refrigerator by metal magnetic clips. Then, the kids - just the two at the time - were allowed to choose their 5 chores for the week. Each chore was weighted with a different value, and they had to choose at least one of each number. When they completed the chore, they earned tickets which went into their assigned jar (labeled with a cute picture of them and their name). When the jar was full they got to go and pick out a toy from the store or get a special treat for dessert. It was an ingenious system sold to me by a Youtuber who was bragging about how it changed her family life. It worked for about a month. Unlike that youtuber, I worked full time and my husband worked full time. We had an infant and two dogs, two cats, chickens, three fish, and two kids in activities every night of the week. My husband had just started his teaching career and was going to grad school at the same time as he was creating his lesson plans. And, managing this system turned out to be, on its own, a full-time job. All of which we would have dealt with had the system worked. But it didn’t. The colorful cards, the tickets, the fun prize, might have been motivating enough had either of the parents had the energy to follow through. But it didn’t, because the kids just didn’t like doing chores and waiting until the jar filled up for what seemed - to them - a minor treat at the end wasn’t worth the effort. The system collapsed on itself. And that’s because behavior modification doesn’t happen through external systems. You can’t change the outwards expression of a problem by creating colorful flashcards and giving yourself tickets. If you could, New Year’s Resolutions would work a lot better than they do. Change of behavior comes from changes of the heart. Lasting, meaningful “improvements” don’t come from getting a gym membership or buying better shoes or setting up the tools in your workshop. If you want to do something different, make a new and varied step for your future, it starts from the inside first. You have to want the change for a good and lasting reason. It’s why heart attacks are often the reason people go to the gym. It’s why hearing of a friend’s struggle with cancer often does get people to quit smoking. It’s why weight loss happens after the test results come back. Our behavior changes when our heart does. Respond: What was the last time you made a major change in your life? What motivated you to successfully make the change - and what lessons could you learn from that change to make the next big step towards your future? Pray: Moving God, Sometimes in life we feel out of control and want to make a change. We buy new gadgets, try new systems, and rearrange our schedules in an effort to force the change into our hearts. Help us to do the hard, inner work of change which comes from within first. Give us the blessing of the inward inspection where we seek, with honesty, the reorienting of our next steps. Amen. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wfpc.substack.com

    The Source Code
  7. Jun 25

    The Freedom of Consistency

    These posts will always be free, however, if you find them meaningful and would like to consider supporting our online outreach, you can donate using this link. Scripture: Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out. Whoever winks maliciously causes grief, and a chattering fool comes to ruin. The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence. Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs. Wisdom is found on the lips of the discerning, but a rod is for the back of one who has no sense. The wise store up knowledge, but the mouth of a fool invites ruin. Consider: My dad used to work with a guy named Dave who was, without a doubt, a master juggler. Not with bowling pins, but with stories. If he was talking to the boss, he was a hyper-polished corporate ladder-climber. If he was grabbing a drink with the entry-level staff, he was a cynical rebel who hated the system. He had a different version of himself for every room he walked into, and honestly, it sounds exhausting just hearing about him. Can’t you practically see the gears turning in his head: “Wait, what did I tell them last week? Which mask am I wearing right now?” He must have lived in perpetual fear of getting caught in his own web. As a child, I assumed this was what it took to be successful in any career - being the person the other person expected to see. And I tried it for awhile, but it turns out that is not a sustainable way to live. About the time the identity crisis fully took hold, I met Sarah. Sarah was just... Sarah. Whether she was talking to the biggest donor in the church, the janitor, or venting over coffee, she was the exact same person. She didn’t have a “work persona” and a “real persona.” She just had one life. And wow, the absolute peace that gave her was contagious. That’s the beauty of walking in integrity. The word integrity actually comes from the math term integer, which means a whole number—not a fraction. When your life is split into fractions, you’re constantly doing mental gymnastics to keep the stories straight. You’re always on guard, terrified a casual comment will expose a contradiction. But when you choose to be a whole number, you get to travel light. * No narrative maintenance required. You don’t have to remember what you said to whom, because you always just tell the truth. * No fear of exposure. If someone peeks behind the curtain of your private life, they’re just going to see the exact same person they saw at the grocery store. Living like this doesn’t mean you’re perfect; it just means you’re honest. It’s like building your house on a solid concrete slab instead of shifting sand. When life gets chaotic and the storms roll in, a fractured life starts to crack under the pressure. But a unified life stays completely steady. There is so much mental freedom in letting go of the act. When your words and your actions finally align, you get to stop managing an image and just start living. Respond: What’s one area of your life where it feels tempting to wear a mask, and how can you bring a little more of your "real self" into that space? Pray: Lord, free us from the belief that our worth is measured by what we accomplish. Teach us to stop believing that our importance and value are attached to how tired or overly busy we are. Help us create spaces where we and can rest. May our rhythms reflect the freedom You have given us, and may our lives bear witness to Your kingdom of grace rather than the demands of endless production. Amen. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wfpc.substack.com

    The Freedom of Consistency
  8. Jun 24

    If no one is watching, what would we do?

    These posts will always be free, however, if you find them meaningful and would like to consider supporting our online outreach, you can donate using this link. Scripture: Jesus also said to the disciples, “A certain rich man heard that his household manager was wasting his estate. He called the manager in and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give me a report of your administration because you can no longer serve as my manager.’ “The household manager said to himself, What will I do now that my master is firing me as his manager? I’m not strong enough to dig and too proud to beg. I know what I’ll do so that, when I am removed from my management position, people will welcome me into their houses. “One by one, the manager sent for each person who owed his master money. He said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He said, ‘Nine hundred gallons of olive oil.’ The manager said to him, ‘Take your contract, sit down quickly, and write four hundred fifty gallons.’ Then the manager said to another, ‘How much do you owe?’ He said, ‘One thousand bushels of wheat.’ He said, ‘Take your contract and write eight hundred.’ “The master commended the dishonest manager because he acted cleverly. People who belong to this world are more clever in dealing with their peers than are people who belong to the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to make friends for yourselves so that when it’s gone, you will be welcomed into the eternal homes. “Whoever is faithful with little is also faithful with much, and the one who is dishonest with little is also dishonest with much. Consider: “Character is what you do when no one is watching.” - John Wooden In a world where “bigger is better” seems to be the primary messaging of choice, this passage turns a few things on their heads. Those with power and authority are directly called out for grand gestures of attention seeking and transactional public living, while those on the outside, those with nothing, become the focus of exaltation. Jesus shifts the focus away from the grand to the granular… Integrity is not proven in the spotlight; it is revealed in the quiet choices we make everyday. The ones nobody applauds, but are done anyway because they are needed. The way we answer an email, keep a promise, handle money, speak about someone who is absent, or respond to inconvenience says far more about our character than the occasional public display of virtue. The world often assumes that character will appear when the big moment arrives. Jesus teaches the opposite. The big moment simply exposes what has already been formed in the small moments. A million small moments shape and form the bigger character of a person…and what we do in all those small moments truly matters. The parable of the rich man and Lazarus at the end of the chapter reinforces this truth. The rich man’s failure was not merely what he did publicly but what he ignored daily. Every day he passed by a suffering man at his gate. The tragedy was not a single catastrophic decision but a pattern of unnoticed choices, repeated over time. Compassion was available to him in ordinary encounters, yet he continually looked away. So some questions come to mind here: How do we treat people who cannot advance our careers? How do we speak to family members when we are tired? How do we handle responsibilities when there is no accountability? These day to day, hour to hour little decisions build the shape and form of our true character, not just that one big check written once, or that beautiful prayer spoken loudly. Luke 16 invites us to stop waiting for a great opportunity to prove our faithfulness. Today’s small choices are already doing that. Every interaction, every responsibility, every unseen act of obedience is forming a life of integrity before God. Respond: For today, consider this question: What small responsibility has God placed in front of me that I may be tempted to overlook? Consider WHY you may be tempted to overlook it…does it feel too small to matter? Does it not provide the social capital you would want? Pray: God help me to be faithful in the small things. Form integrity within me when no one is watching. Give me eyes to notice those around me, a heart that serves without seeking recognition, and a spirit that remains faithful in every responsibility You entrust to me. May my private character honor You as much as my public life. Amen. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wfpc.substack.com

    If no one is watching, what would we do?

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