I come from a long line of handymen. My grandpa worked with his hands in a steel mill and built or repaired things in his spare time. My dad is an electrician by trade and has taught himself how to do pretty much every other trade; there was nothing he couldn’t build. My older brother is always dreaming up things and building them. The handyman gene didn’t get passed to me, though, but I did get the looks! I am not handy, I can’t build things; at least that’s what I believed for a good chunk of my life.
Have you ever thought about what you believe about yourself or about something else? What we believe shapes the way we live and respond to things in our lives.
For the first ten years of my marriage, Britton would ask me to do various things around the house. I didn’t believe that I was a handy person, so I’d procrastinate and wouldn’t do it. I could paint a wall, hang a picture, mow the lawn, and shovel the walk, but beyond that I didn’t believe I was capable. I was constantly asking my dad for help; by that I meant that I would stand there and hand him the tools while he fixed whatever was broken.
When I was 33, we moved 8 hours away from my dad, and into a house that needed some work. I could delegate or defer; I had to become handy. Over the 8 years we lived in that house I finished the basement, renovated a bathroom, built a fence, put down a laminate floor, and did many other things. When we moved into our next house, I didn’t think twice about taking on the job of finishing the basement and even built a deck, all by myself! (And yes it’s still standing.)
Something changed in me during my thirties. What I believed about my skills and ability changed. It changed the way I looked at myself and the world around me. Suddenly anything seems possible.
Have you ever experienced something like that?
This weekend we are starting a new teaching series called “Creed: What we believe.” In this series we are going to invite you to consider what you believe about faith, God, and life and to consider whether what you say you believe matches the way you live. I hope you’ll join us this Sunday as we kick off the series by asking the question “What do you believe?” We will consider four principles about belief that will help us live our lives based on our beliefs.
See you Sunday,
Pastor Kirk
Reading through the Bible in 2022
Join us in 2022 as we read through the entire Bible in a year. Each week we’ll provide you with 5 readings consisting of 3-4 passages each. Readings are linked to weekdays which allows you the weekend to catch up if you fall behind.
- Jan. 3 – Gen 1–2, Ps 19, Mark 1
- Jan. 4 – Gen 3–5, Mark 2
- Jan. 5 – Gen 6–8, Ps 104, Mark 3
- Jan. 6 – Gen 9–11, Mark 4
- Jan. 7 – Gen 12–15, Ps 148, Mark 5
Download the complete reading plan.
