Something Other Than God? | Lent & Forgiveness w/ Fr. Tolton

 

Fr. Augustus Tolton Mosaic at St. Bede, Williamsburg, VA

Every time Fr. Augustus Tolton chose

forgiveness instead of bitterness,

it was a moment of chipping away

at his own ego –

and it's only when our egos

are out of the way that

we're truly able to love.

+ Jennifer Fulwiler,

Something Other Than God

During this season of Lent, I am reading through Jennifer Fulwiler's compelling autobiography, Something Other Than God. It's a thoughtful recollection of her journey as an atheist wrestling with whether there is a God and if the God revealed in Jesus is worth her faith, trust, and surrender.

Along the way of researching the history of Christianity and engaging its historic claims and catechisms, Jennifer comes across the story of Fr. Augustus Tolton, the first African-American priest, right after the chapter where she makes some intriguing comparisons between the philosophy of Tupac and C.S. Lewis. I immediately thought Tolton's story would have made a fine addition to Our Church Speaks (OCS), the book Emmaus City Church read during the season of Advent, which would also make a great read for the season of Lent for anyone who hasn't picked up OCS yet.

Jennifer introduced me to Fr. Tolton, a saint born in my home state no less, and so I thought I would return the favor with featuring this excerpt from her book for any reader who has never encountered the life of this American saint.

I'm grateful that Tolton's voice continues to cry out to me during this Lenten season to let my ego be refined and my pride turn to ash, especially as Emmaus City and I consider the question, "What Is Incarnational?", as he provides a glimpse of what the Word made flesh looks like in the U.S. while also reminding me that receiving longsuffering and releasing forgiveness are part of the Way of life I get to walk in when I choose to follow Jesus until my dying breath. 

Something Other than God Excerpt

Chapter 22: Fr. Augustus Tolton

I was finding that reading about the lives of the saints – as well as saintly people who might not have been canonized yet, like Father Augustus – was far more helpful in my quest to seek goodness than reading the Catechism alone. The Catechism might tell me to put others before myself, and I'd make a mental note to try to do that at some point. Then I would read of Maximilian Kolbe volunteering to die in place of a young father when they were both prisoners at Auschwitz, and I would realize just how feeble my recent efforts at selfless love had been. My heart would be aflame with a desire to serve others, in a deeper and more vibrant way than when I was simply reading theology. Instead of an intellectual decision, it would be more of a movement of the soul, something powerful within me yearning for more of the pure goodness that had touched me through Maximilian's story.

St. Maximilian Kolbe in Our Church Speaks

Father Augustus Tolton was freed from slavery when he was a child and then attended a Catholic school in Illinois at the invitation of a priest. This was the 1860s, and some parishioners became apoplectic when they saw a black child in their school, but the priest didn't back down. After high school, Augustine was not allowed to attend his local American seminary, so he went to Rome, where he became fluent in Italian, studied Latin and Greek, and earned respect among the hierarchy. After he was ordained a priest in Rome, he went back to the United States to begin his ministry. 

He was returning to the place 

where he'd been enslaved, 

the country where he had been listed 

among another man's possessions, 

alongside furniture and cattle. ... 

In addition to the virulent racism

that was part of his daily life,

Father Augustus also faced

anti-Catholic prejudices.

And yet he never reacted with anger.

He never expressed hatred for his enemies,

or even condemned them at all. ... 

Every time Fr. Augustus Tolton 

chose forgiveness instead of bitterness,

it was a moment of chipping away

at his own ego –

and it's only when our egos 

are out of the way

that we're truly able to love.

What I saw in Father Augustus's eyes

was a glow –

a glow of something supernatural,

the source of goodness itself –

which can only come through

when our egos don't get in the way.

Gazing at his picture,

it occurred to me that 

the secret to being good is to be humble.

+ Something Other than God excerpts,

pgs. 147-151

More Our Church Speaks + Lent Posts:

+ Paul Miki, "God's Samurai" 

+ Absalom Jones, "Free" 

+ Agnes Tsao Kou Ying, "Stand" 

+ Óscar Romero, "Courageous"

+ Pandita Mary Ramabai, "Just"

+ Julian, "All Shall Be Well"

+ Martyrs of Sudan, "Longsuffering"

+ Joan of Arc, "I Am Not Afraid"

+ Sundar Singh, "No Quit" 

+ Moses the Black, "Holiness"

+ Lucian Tapiedi, "Stay Put"

+ Spot of Scorched Earth

+ We Died Before We Came Here 

+ A Memento Mori 

+ Am I Dying? 

+ I Wrestle & I Hope to Lose 

+ Facing Death w/ Gravity

Christ is all,

Rev. Mike "Sully" Sullivan

Email Pastor Mike | Website | Visit Us | Support Us | Facebook Us

Tangible Kingdom Primer Week 4 | What Is Community?

 

The Tangible Kingdom Primer 

Incarnational Community:

a group of people

with the posture, tone, motives, and

heart of Jesus;

those who physically represent

Him in a particular location

As Emmaus City Church steps into Spring 2025 with a focus on prayer, holiness, courage, and faith (i.e. good risk and trust), we're revisiting a map for a 2-month journey that helped shape us for our first decade as the first congregation of missional communities (MCs) in Worcester, Massachusetts.

The Tangible Kingdom Primer: An Eight-Week Guide to Incarnational Community helped our first City Group (MC) lean into apprenticeship with Jesus together. And the memories, lessons, and formative experiences have continued to shape people among Emmaus City in fruitful ways to this day. You can read more here:

TKP: Apprenticeship in Jesus' Way

TKP Week 1: What Is Missional?
TKP Week 2: What Is Incarnational?

TKP Week 3: What Is the Gospel?

While one brief post can never replace what day-by-day meditations, practices, steps of faith, and reflections provide, this adapted excerpt from Week 4 (Tuesday, March 25 — Monday, March 31, 2025) of The TK Primer is provided as a review of content to come back to and to provide food for thought for when City Groups connect for our Sabbath gathering on the 5th day (Saturday, March 29 in this case).

What Is Community?

Day 1: Exploration

When we think of community, a number of words come to mind: unified, joint, participate, love, common, cooperate, connect, sharing ... "Community" is a word with many meanings and contexts.

Community is

an ideal,
a hope, and 

a need.

Community
cannot be created in isolation,
nor does it happen without action.
It requires people to navigate
the tensions of interpersonal relationships.

Creating community doesn't come easily,

but when it happens,

the rewards are worth the effort.

Examples of Discovering Community:

People intentionally moving to other parts

of the city to be closer to those

in their community.

Communities going through

the good pain of sending out

close friends to start another community

simply because they wanted

to bring mission to 2 or 3 sojourners.

When a member 

was having financial problems,

the whole community taking money

out of their wallets on the spot

to help her with her car payment.

Communities growing deeper

through hard discussions,

confrontations, and

interpersonal challenges.

Key Exploration Question

What are your biggest hopes and fears as you think about the potential of being involved in a Christian community?

Day 2: Meditation

Community is talked about all through scripture. Whether it's Abraham and Sarah's huge family, King David's band of misfits and mighty men, Paul's reference to the women and men in each town at the end of his letters, or the passages where Jesus is together with the disciples (ex. Peter, James, John, Mary, Martha, Lazarus), the context in many scriptures includes a deep sense of community.

Christian community is unique

in that it must be based on

three primary themes:

(1)

personal devotion to Jesus,

(2) 

the common call or

mission of the Gospel

(3) 

the inclusion of all people,

especially those who don't fit in

Read 

Acts 2:42-47

1 Peter 4:8-10

2 Corinthians 5:14-16

Philippians 1:3

Key Meditation Questions

What would you need to change to incorporate more opportunities for intentional, Gospel-centered community to take place in your life? In your heart? With your time? With your possessions?

Day 3: Change

In Acts 2 and 5 we see that the Christian community "found favor with all the people" and that they were held in high regard by all who watched their lives together. So often we think that the conversion process is dependent upon our individual witness, but the scriptures are clear ... it was about them together.

For the local church in Thessalonica, people heard about their joy, their faith, and how they collectively turned from idols to serve the living God. Paul tells them that their common story actually "echoed" throughout the entire region. Likewise, Paul reminded the Corinthian communities that God "always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved ... " (2 Corinthians 2:14-15).

Their common struggle was evident to all:

They shared their food,
their homes, and
spontaneous life experiences together.

They shared God's mission.

Because of their common commitment

to prioritize God's mission to the world,

these communities were 

determined, 

consistent,

hospitable, and

gave priority to the community

over their individual needs.

Here's the rub ...

we all live out of individualistic values

instead of communal values.

We protect our time,

prioritize our agendas.

We deal with our struggles in isolation

and get sucked into a pace of life

which leaves no time for

spontaneous or intentional community.

Key Change Consideration

Write a prayer expressing your frustrations, struggles, feelings, and hopes about community.

Day 4: Action

A key component of community is hospitality. One of the definitions of hospitality is to show friendship to a visitor. The idea of "brotherly love" as described in the New Testament "to love outsiders as if they were our own brothers or sisters."

Day 5: Community

Talk about what each person thinks is the most important aspects of community.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said:

"He who loves his dream of a community

more than the Christian community itself

becomes a destroyer of the latter,

even though his personal intentions

may be ever so honest and earnest

and sacrificial."

Group Discussion:

Which community ingredients are you most drawn to?

Day 6: Calibration

One of the major barriers that prevents us from moving into community is individualism. Our culture glorifies the pioneer, the lone hero, and the overachiever, but in reality this individualism tends to work against community by prioritizing things done in isolation over things done with others.

Key Calibration Questions

List some of the things that contribute to individualism in your life. At work? At home? With your time? With your faith?

Day 7: ReCreate

Rest and consider:

We never have to earn our adoption;

it is a gift from God

to be a part of the family of God.

Community Worship Songs

+ He Is Among Us

+ Daughters of Zion

Next Post

TKP Wk 5: Living Out Day by Day

Come, Lord, stir us up and call us back.

Kindle and seize us.

Be our fire and our sweetness.

Let us love. Let us run ...

Let us sing a new song,

Not with our lips but with our lives.

+ North African St. Augustine

May God's Kingdom come, His will be done.

Que le Royaume de Dieu vienne, 

que sa volonté soit faite.

愿神的国降临，愿神的旨意成就。

Nguyện xin Nước Chúa đến, ý Ngài được nên.

Jesús nuestra Rey, venga Tu reino! 

🙏💗🍞🍷👑🌅🌇

Rev. Mike "Sully" Sullivan

Email Pastor Mike | Website | Visit Us | Support Us | Facebook Us 

Lent RIP 3/24/1980 | Óscar Romero in Salvador, "Courageous"

 

St. Óscar Romera of El Salvador

"An accommodating Church

that seeks prestige

without the pain of the cross

is not the authentic 

Church of Jesus Christ."

+ Óscar Romero,

Martyr,

1917-1980 A.D.

Emmaus City Church continues to soak in stories of people throughout the past millenia who have followed Jesus, with Our Church Speaks: An Illustrated Devotional of Saints from Every Era and Place as a wonderful treasure trove. As these dear sisters and brothers throughout time and space sought to reflect the humility and holiness of Christ, so do we this year:

"Pursue peace with everyone,

and holiness —

without it no one will see the Lord."

+ Hebrews 12:14

This post features an excerpt on Oscar Romero who was assinated on this day 45 years ago. During this season of Lent, I hope Romero's story encourages you as it has me so that you might also walk this journey with anticipation for how Jesus, the Resurrection and the Life, will overcome darkness and death in your life during this season.

Óscar Romero in Our Church Speaks

 Óscar Romero

Peacemaking Rooted in Love

Óscar Romero served Christ amid the clashing agendas of the Cold War. He was archbishop of El Salvador during a violent civil war between the military-led government and revolutionary guerrillas. Rival Cold War powers funded each side of the war and intensified its fury.

Romero was once known for his cautious and conservative approach to ministry, but this changed with the outbreak of widespread violence. Thousands of impoverished people cried out against both the government and the guerrillas and were subsequently imprisoned or murdered. Seeing these evils, Romero was compelled to speak boldly for human rights and the poor. "Let's say to everyone," said Romero, "we must take the cause of the poor seriously, as if it were our own cause, or even more, for it is indeed the very cause of Jesus Christ."

Romero's courageous defense of the poor earned him many powerful enemies on all sides of the conflict. His critiques of Marxism challenged many revolutionaries. "If one understands by 'Marxism' a materialistic, atheistic ideology that is taken to explain the whole of human existence and gives a false interpretation of religion," Romero said, "then it is completely untenable by a Christian."

Allies of the government opposed Romero for his forceful preaching against the status quo.

"A Church that doesn't provoke any crises,

a Gospel that doesn't unsettle,

a Word of God that doesn't get

under anyone's skin,

a Word of God that doesn't touch

the real sin of the society in which

it is being proclaimed — 

what Gospel is that?"

Government allies were also threatened by Romero's stand against injustice in the government and military. After a military slaughter of men, women, and children in March 1980, Romero preached a powerful sermon calling on soldiers to abandon their posts. "No soldier is obliged to obey an order contrary to the law of God. No one has to obey an immoral law. ...  I implore, I beg you, I order you in the name of God: stop the repression." The next day, Romero was in a hospital chapel to celebrate Mass. As he stood at the altar, a government agent entered the room and shot Romero to death. Chaos and violence continued, even at Romero's funeral, where smoke bombs went off and gunfire broke out amid the ceremony of over 250,000 attendees. A delegate from Pope John Paul II eulogized Romero during the ceremony. Despite the chaos in El Salvador still evident at the funeral, the eulogist's message was one of hope, calling Romero a "beloved, peacemaking man of God ... (whose) blood will give fruit to brotherhood, love and peace."

Scripture

"Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they shall be called

sons and daughters of God."

+ Matthew 5:9

The Óscar Romero Prayer

It helps, now and then,
to step back and take the long view ...
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water the seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need
further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects
far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything
and there is a sense of liberation
in realizing that.
This enables us to do something
and to do it well.
It may be incomplete,
but it is a beginning,
a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord’s grace
to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results,
but that is the difference between
the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders;
ministers, not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future

not our own.

Meditation: 

Peacemaking Rooted in Love

Thomas Hobbes, a seventeenth-century English philosopher, wrote, "Bellum omnium contra omnes," a Latin phrase meaning, "the war of all against all" or "the war of everyone against everyone." Hobbes describes this as the natural state of humanity — a state of continual fear. 

Fear is underneath all conflict. Fear of not being enough, fear of being left out, fear of being taken advantage of, fear of being the wrong kind of person, fear of being victimized, fear of losing your cherished way of life.

Our news media outlets are fear factories. The way to get clicks and sell ad space is to prey on people's fear. There's a lot of money to be made in making people afraid. If you're willing to stoke people's fear, you can get candidates elected and sell people things they don't want or need.

All conflict is rooted in fear, 

and since perfect love is 

the antidote to fear (1 John 4:8),

all peacemaking must be rooted in love.

In other words, true peacemaking

in the Way of Jesus must not be rooted

in fear of conflict.

To be a peacemaker is actually

not a very peace-ful vocation.

Peacemakers move toward conflict,

but they do so motivated by

the love of Christ.

Therein lies the crucial difference

between peacekeeping and peacemaking.

Peacekeeping fears conflict and seeks

to maintain the status quo,

often at the expense of truth-telling

and justice.

Peacemaking does not fear conflict

and therefore does not fear

to tell the truth and seek justice.

Peacekeeping is surface-level homeostasis.

Peacemaking is more like surgery

to remove a malignant tumor

 — invasive and often painful.

The gospel paradox of peace is that the cross

 — a historic symbol of conflict,

war, torture, and violence — 

is now, for us, a symbol of peace.

To make peace in the Way of Jesus is,

therefore, always for the good of the other

at a cost to the self.

Peacemaking requires sacrifice.

It did for Jesus; it does for us too.

Óscar Romero was a peacemaker in the Way of Jesus, and thus his life was filled with conflict and ended in violence.

Peacemaking is now part of the vocation of all Christians. Peacemaking is living out the shalom of the new creation, starting now. Frederick Bauerschmidt, professor of Loyola University, has written, "If Thomas Hobbes is wrong and the book of Genesis is right, then human reconciliation with God, our return to the natural state of things, is inseparable from our reconciliation with each other. To end the war of humanity against God is to end the war of everyone against everyone."

What conflict is disrupting

your corner of the world?

Where might you, motivated by love

(and not fear), enter that conflict

as a peacemaker in the 

Way of Jesus?

Prayer

Almighty and everlasting God, You created us in Your own image. Grant us, inspired by the witness of Your servant Óscar Romero, grace to contend fearlessly against evil and to make no peace with oppression; and to help us to use our freedom rightly in the establishment of justice in our communities and among the nations, to the glory of Your holy name, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

+ Our Church Speaks,

pgs. 59-61

The Celebrity & The Saint

The celebrity demands,

"Look at me!"

The saint whispers,

"Look at God."

The celebrity says,

"Try to be like me,

but you'll never be like me."

The saint says,

"Why would anyone want to be like me?

Who has God made you?"

The celebrity is ever ascending,

climbing the tower of Babel

to the double-platinum throne.

The saint is ever descending,

saying, "Please have my seat, I insist."

The celebrity offers you everything

you want but can never have.

The saint offers you the thing you fear

but will redeem your soul.

The celebrity is a Ferrari

screaming down the highway

with music blaring.

The saint is the freshwater creek

beside the highway

that almost nobody ever notices

and is nearly impossible to hear

over the roar of traffic.

Yet the water murmurs

as it wanders over stones

and around oak roots.

It is not silent.

+ Ben Lansing & D.J. Marotta,
Our Church Speaks

Bonus Reflection:

With Christ,
God has injected Himself 

into history.

With the birth of Christ,
God's reign is now inaugurated
in human time.

On this night,
as every year for twenty centuries,
we recall that God's reign is now
in this world and that
Christ has inaugurated 

the fullness of time.
His birth attests that God
is now marching with us in history,
that we do not go alone.

Humans long for peace, for justice,
for a reign of divine law,
for something holy,
for what is far from earth's realities.
We can have such a hope,
not because we ourselves
are able to construct the realm of
happiness that God's holy words proclaim,
but because the builder of a reign
of justice, of love, and of peace
is already in the midst of us.

+ Óscar Romero,

December 25, 1977

More Our Church Speaks Highlights:

+ Mary Slessor, "Mother of All" 

+ Paul Miki, "God's Samurai" 

+ Josephine Bakhita, "Beloved"

+ Absalom Jones, "Free" 

+ Agnes Tsao Kou Ying, "Stand" 

+ Harriet Tubman, "Visionary"

Many blessings of peace and presence,

Rev. Mike “Sully” Sullivan

Email Pastor Mike | Website | Visit Us | Support Us

Lenten Cruciform Discipling | We Died Before We Came Here

 

You know that phrase
"God will never give you
more than you can handle?"
It's not true.
But do you know what is true?
God will never give you more
than He can handle.

+ Emily Foreman
We Died Before We Came Here

A few years ago, as I got ready to enter my 40th year of life, God knew I needed to read We Died Before We Came Here. And now, as I look ahead to 2025 and all the curiosities, unknowns, and potential callings to hear Jesus say again, "Come, follow Me," I have returned to this book and this story to learn again.

Here is a little background
to this heart-piercing true tale:

If not you, who? 

If not now, when?

This was the challenge answered by "Stephen Foreman" and his wife, "Emily," when they chose with their four children to go live among newfound neighbors and friends in the deserts of North Africa. 

Stephen had given Emily a well-read copy of Foxe’s Book of Martyrs on their first date, a telling foreshadowing of the ultimate cost he would pay when, at 39, he was shot and killed. His life and death planted a seed in the hearts of neighbors and friends in North Africa, and this seed would grow and multiply efforts to help reach the very goal that Stephen was willing to give his life for―glorifying God and seeing His Kingdom come among the people he loved. In this memoir, "Emily," left with their four kids and an undying calling to continue to love and walk alongside their Muslim friends and neighbors while introducing them to Isa's (Yeshua's or Jesus's) words and Way, recounts their story. Stephen did not die in vain, and you will see why when you read We Died Before We Came Here (Because of security issues and the need to protect others in the North African country where the "Foremans" live, the book employs pseudonyms for all major characters, including the authors.)

Allowing the Lord to Mend and Heal
and Bring Everything Together

Each time we felt we were making progress, we'd be tempted to look over our shoulder to where we'd just sowed, anxiously searching for signs of fruit ... but the results seemed too few. One week a friend would seem interested in Jesus, and the next she would be completely against even discussing spiritual things. Some days the battle against discouragement was overwhelming. 

Are we doing this right? 

Are we doing enough? 

During those times of questioning I struggled to really love the people, and many times I simply lost the desire to even be there ... Some nights I would lie awake, too frustrated and discouraged to sleep. At times like these, it wasn't particularly easy to "love my neighbor as myself" ... Then it dawned on me. I needed to ask God for His love for them. He had promised to supply all our needs, and I was in major need of a good dose of love to share.

So I prayed,

Lord, You know how annoyed
I get by things ... You know I'm tired
and I'll have to force a smile.
I know I should go and see them
because I need to be a good friend,
but I just can't do it ...
Please, give me a love for them.
Give me Your love for them.
Just wash over me
what You feel for them. ... 
God, I'm so sorry.
I've been leaning 

on my own understanding,
and on my own strength.
It's not enough, 

I need Yours. 

As I collected my whirlwind thoughts, I sensed a floodlight come on in my clouded mind. I could do nothing in my own strength. And God didn't expect me to. I had been trying to live out my faith through my flesh instead of His Spirit. 

Like a needle with no thread, all I can do alone is poke holes through the fabric of others' lives – but with the divine thread securely attached, I can weave God's love and power in and out of the lives of others, allowing the Lord to mend and heal and bring everything together for His glory. I just simply need to submit, stitch by stitch, until the grand tapestry of His design is complete.

This realization wasn't a one-time thing. I had to keep submitting, keep asking, keep dying daily to myself and my flesh and allowing God's Spirit to live and work through me. Many times when I went to visit someone, I'd start off feeling aloof and unconcerned, and I had to ask the Lord again to set the tone for His Holy Spirit to work through me, to keep breaking my heart for these people and helping me fall in love with their country.

Trust me: Submission like this isn't always easy, bu the more we invite God to love through us, the more He answers our prayers. He certainly continued to answer mine, to the point where my heart wanted to burst with my love for the people.

It can be so tempting to strive to achieve the transformation we hope to see in others. Stephen and I were wearing down, overcomplicating the simplicity of the message of the Kingdom and in the process losing our joy in God's call. Then the Lord gave us a simple solution:

Stop striving. All you need to do is love them. How had we lost sight of that simple guideline? All we needed to do was follow God's two basic commands: Love the Lord your God will all your heart, soul, mind, and strength―and love your neighbor as yourself. It didn't matter if we had the right points, the right arguments, the right "evangelism style." There was no perfect formula. Christ had brought us here so we could be agents of His love and blessing to these people.

Of course we didn't ignore strategy altogether―there's wisdom in planning, and we discovered that certain methods seemed to bring more fruit. But like the apostle Paul wrote, we could speak with the tongues of angels, but if we didn't do everything from a starting point of love, we'd be nothing better than clanging cymbals. Embracing this truth brought such peace and freedom. We had to come to terms with the fact that sharing the love of Christ didn't belong in a category or slot on our calendar. It was a lifestyle that summed up our purpose on earth. As long as we were loving God and loving the people around us, we'd stay on track. God was refreshing our eyes to see a little more clearly what He sees. We saw the crowds of people in our city differently now, and we were moved more than ever with compassion.

And we were beginning to understand our mission and what it would cost us. To love our neighbor as ourselves meant opening not only the door of our home to them but also the door to our lives. This would cost us our time and maybe our comfort and security. It seemed too radical, but did Christ in His ministry on earth do any less?

Remembering What Is Worth
Living and Dying For

I'm often drawn back to a message that Stephen gave at a gathering in the US only a few days before returning to North Africa and giving his life only months later:

When James Calvert went out as a missionary to the cannibals of the Fiji islands, the ship captain tried to turn him back, saying, "You'll lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among those savages." To that Calvert replied, "We died before we came here." That's my question for us again tonight. Are you dead yet? Dead to yourself, dead to your own desires, dead to fear? Are we alive in Christ (ex. Romans 6:7-8; Colossians 2:13)? My desire is that when people see your life, when they see my life, they will see Christ, and Christ alone. Let us live our lives as if they weren't our own lives. To truly be strangers in this world. To be aliens in this world. Our citizenship is in heaven (ex. 1 Peter 2:11-12; Philippians 3:20).

Our citizenship is in heaven. Stephen lived those words, and died in those words – and lives in those words again. Although the loss of Stephen is one that will never leave us and has changed us completely, we hold on to the promise that God is glorified and that lives are being eternally changed because Stephen died before he stepped off that plane in the desert. And we have to continually answer the question that Stephen wrote shortly before his death:

Do we have something worth 

dying for, 

living for, 

moving for?

+ The content above includes sections from Chapter 10: Talking About Jesus and the Epilogue: The Rain Continues in We Died Before We Came Here: A True Story of Sacrifice and Hope by "Emily Foreman" (pseudonym for safety). 

Bonus Song:

The Story I'll Tell

Maverick City

2020 A.D.

The hour is dark and it’s hard to see

What You are doing here in the ruins

And where this will lead ...

Oh but I know

that down through the years

I'll look on this moment,

see Your hand on it, 

And know You were here ...

And I’ll testify of 

the battles You’ve won,

How You were my portion 

when there wasn’t enough.

I'll sing a song 

of the seas that we crossed,

The waters You parted, 

the waves that I walked ...

Oh, my God did not fail! 

Oh, it’s the story I’ll tell!

Oh, I know it is well!

Oh, it's the story I’ll tell!

Believing gets hard 

when options are few,

When I can't see how You're moving

I know that You're proving 

You're the God that comes through!

Oh, but I know that over the years,

I’ll look back on this moment 

and see Your hand on it

And know You were here ... 

(Pre-Chorus + Chorus)

All that is left is highest praises,

So sing hallelujah 

to the Rock of Ages ... 

(Chorus)

Bonus Posts

Unfettered in Seemingly Small Things

Yawning at Tigers

He Speaks in the Silence

A Beautiful Disaster

Glorious Weakness

How to Be a Saint in the Darkness

Prayer in the Night

A Time to Heal

Christ is all,

Rev. Mike "Sully" Sullivan

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