After a summer break, please enjoy this week’s Monday Mentions!

A Book I’m Reading – Emotionally Healthy Spirituality

I am re-reading this incredible book and will lead a Zoom study through it later this month. The subtitle is compelling:

It’s impossible to be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature.

The day I started learning how to grow emotionally was the day my life started changing radically for the better. Most people are unaware or don’t care about their emotional health.

Most people avoid conflict in the name of Christianity. They ignore their anger, sadness, and fear. They use God to run from God. They live without boundaries.

This book (and Zoom study) provides seven biblical, reality-tested ways to break through to the revolutionary life Christ meant for us.

Great K-Cup Pods – Tim Hortons Original Blend

While I really enjoy great local coffee, the convenience of a K-cup at home is hard to beat! We’ve been enjoying Tim Hortons for the past two months. It’s a nice medium blend, which is suitable for most people. My simple requirement for at-home coffees is that it have plenty of caffeine. 🙂

A Recent Message I’d Love for You to Watch (and share?) – Citizens of Heaven

A Quote from I’m Thinking About

Ignoring our emotions is turning our back on reality. Listening to our emotions ushers us into reality. And reality is where we meet God. . . . Emotions are the language of the soul. They are the cry that gives the heart a voice. . .” ― Peter Scazzero

A Message that Helped Me – The Bible Put to Memory

My friend Bethany Allen is an incredible Bible teacher. It’s obvious that she loves God and others fiercely.  She serves both the local church and the global church really well. She inspires me!

The link above is to an older message that I found really helpful. There’s no doubt the scripture played a central and essential role in both Jesus’ life and ministry. For Jesus, scripture was not as much a tool, instrument, or weapon, as it was part of how he viewed and interacted with both God and the world. As apprentices of Jesus, if we want to live into the fullness of the Kingdom and what God is doing in and around us – we too must be people who know and have the scriptures in us.

A Fantastic Women’s Devotional – To Know Him and Make Him Known

My friend Debbi McGrath has an incredible devotional based on the Gospel of John. Jump into the journey! You will walk with John the Baptist, Peter, Andrew, Nicodemus, the Samaritan Woman, Lazarus, Martha, and many more. From them, you will gain wisdom from studying their interactions with Jesus. As you spend 15-20 minutes each day in the Gospel of John, you will have a true understanding of God’s character and God will give you a hunger for the Word like never before.

A Recent Message I’d Love for You to Watch (and share?) – Glimpses of Heaven

A Quote from I’m Thinking About

I believe we can change the world if we start listening to one another again. Simple, honest, human conversation.” — Margaret J. Wheatley

A Book I’m Reading – The Secret Society of Success

This is a brand new book that has just been on the shelves for less than a week. I am listening to the audio version and really enjoying it! Tim, the author, reads it himself and does a phenomenal job. His enthusiasm is catching! If you’ve ever thought our definition of success might be flawed, I encourage you to check out this book! It is currently the #1 new release on Amazon in Workplace Culture.

From Amazon:

It’s time to redefine success.

“The book you’re about to read is an absolute game changer, life changer, and outlook changer. . . . You will never view success the same way again. And that’s a very good thing.”

— ERNIE JOHNSON JR., Emmy Award winner and host of TNT’s Inside the NBA

There’s a message getting a lot of airtime these days. It says to be successful, you have to step into the spotlight, climb the ladder, become the boss, or chase whatever version of success that’s been dangled in front of you.

But what if there’s another way? What if fame, money, and power aren’t all that we should be chasing?

In The Secret Society of Success, Tim Schurrer invites you to reevaluate your definition of success and learn a new, freer way to go about achieving it. How do you learn this approach? With the Secret Society as your guide—a community of people who know how to make an impact, whether they have the spotlight or not. The Secret Society will teach you to

• define success for yourself;
• contribute to your team without minding who gets the credit;
• make an impact that spans far beyond yourself, regardless of the size of your platform;
• navigate living in the tension between contentment and striving;
• go from feeling anxious, overwhelmed, and restless in your job to being confident in the value you bring to the team; and
• discover meaning and fulfillment in the work that you do.

Through powerful stories of people like the CEO of Apple Tim Cook, NBA all-star LeBron James, Fred Rogers of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, and people whose names you’ve never heard of, you will discover that the success you’re looking for is within your reach, wherever you are and whatever your role.

“The Secret Society of Success is an important book that everyone should read. It is not only insightful; it’s inspirational. This book captures what it really means to be successful. I am for one ready to up my  game! Thank you, Tim, for giving me this gift!”

— DAVID NOVAK, cofounder and former chairman and CEO of Yum! Brands (KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut)

Chicago Style Pizza Recommendation – Rachetti’s Cafe and Pizzeria

Laura and I recently tried Rachetti’s Chicago deep-dish pizza. I was pleasantly surprised! It seems a lot of places advertise Chicago deep-dish but then it turns out to be the normal deep dish you can get anywhere. Not so here! Laura said it’s one of the best pizzas she’s had!

A Recent Message I’d Love for You to Watch (and share?) – Re-thinking Monday

It’s been said that there is a spike in heart attacks on Mondays. Apparently, starting the workweek increases the stress in many people’s lives. Work is often seen as a curse. What if there’s a different way to think about the 90,000 hours we spend at work?

This message is one that I’ve wrestled with writing for a couple of months. It seemed to strike a chord with a lot of people. I hope it encourages you!

A Quote from I’m Thinking About

God cares not only about redeeming souls but also about restoring his creation. He calls us to be agents not only of his saving grace but also of his common grace. Our job is not only to build up the church but also to build a society to the glory of God. As agents of God’s common grace, we are called to help sustain and renew his creation, to uphold the created institutions of family and society, to pursue science and scholarship, to create works of art and beauty, and to heal and help those suffering from the results of the Fall.” — David Bruce Hedgeman