We are beginning a new series on “Becoming Like Family” as our online community begin to share the daily challenges with friends, and we begin to gather our larger community together.
We want to have five main characteristics, and the first is to be bound together by some common learning experiences.
In October I attended my university’s homecoming reunion, and reconnected with a lot of friends. Our friendships were forged through four years in a common learning experience.
The same weekend, I went to a church where I’d done a student placement. There was personality, familiarity, and comfort there, too. We were gathered around a common purpose, to learn about and grow as followers of Jesus.
We want to be that kind of community. It’s hard in suburbia, especially if you are commuting, but we have our own unique way of pursuing a common learning experience through mobile apps, social media, and our web site.
Our next step is to become a network of groups, where we build strong relationships with existing friends and family members, where one of the things that binds us together is we are all learning the same things through discussion, challenge, encouragement and prayer.
Question: Who was your best learning group or team? What made it so?
Coffee Hours this Week:
Have questions about the challenges, do you want to meet others exploring the same content, or connect with Ryan?
Join us for our coffee shop drop-in this Wednesay, October 30th from 7:30pm-9:00pm at the Starbucks in the Ajax Chapters. Look for Ryan Sim in the drink line, or a Redeem the Commute postcard on a table.
If you know in advance that you’re coming, please RSVP here http://bit.ly/1aHVTy2
Loading Content...
Share a Link to this Message
The link has been copied to your clipboard; paste it anywhere you would like to share it.
So far this week, we’ve looked at rhythms for rest, but what should one actually do with that time? One author, Tim Keller, has suggested two main categories of rest.
1) Doing nothing at all. Kick your feet up.
2) Do something different from your usual work.
If you work in a bank, volunteering to help launch our church is a form of rest. But if you work in a church, then it isn't rest...but doing the books for your favourite charity could be.
If you’re a fisherman, then fishing isn’t rest. But if you’re a videographer, it is.
If you’re a landscaper, then cutting the grass at home isn’t rest. But for many people, it’s therapeutic!
Not sure what that might look like?
It could be contemplative – spend some time praying, reading something spiritually focused, watching a sunrise.
It could be recreational - playing soccer, rock climbing, hitting the beach, learning a new skill, reading something just for fun.
It could be aesthetic - going to an art gallery, climbing the CN tower to look over the city, watching an outdoor movie like we're hosting this September.
Rest is going to vary depending on your work and your personality.
For me - rest is reading, or outdoors. Hiking, rock climbing, camping, all use muscles, parts of my brain and energies that writing these challenges and standing here in front of a camera talking to you does not!
Question: List your favourite way to find rest in each of these categories:
Doing Nothing:
Contemplative:
Recreational:
Aesthetic:
Then put down when you'll plan to do that next.
We meet for coffee this Wednesday night at Starbucks in the Chapters Store in Ajax, in Durham Region just East of Toronto. Maybe we'll see you there?
