God’s Plan for a Canceled Year | Spark Talks Week 2

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We've all been forced to pause, reset

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and reclaim our futures in light of the chaos of 2020.

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There's always darkness and adventure

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when you're not sure where you're going.

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Join us for Crossroads Weekend Spark Talks

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and hear from people who will challenge you

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with new ideas to ignite your life.

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- Hey, welcome to Crossroads.

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My name is Brian Tome, Senior Pastor.

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It is great to be with you today.

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This is a series called Spark that we do

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pretty much every year for the last several years.

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We're trying to spark and ignite new thoughts,

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new ideas in you that could take your spiritual life,

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could take your life to a new place.

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Even though I'm kind of the senior guy around here,

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I don't have to speak every week, because guess what?

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I don't have all the best ideas.

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And other people God is working in and through

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have amazing things to tell us.

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You're going to find that today.

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We want to help you.

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We want you to go on the adventure

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that God wants you on, whatever that is.

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And to do that, you're going to need His spark.

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And we're trying to spark you today.

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So let's get started.

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- The lesson I've learned in 2020

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is no matter how fast I run, I can't outrun trouble.

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2020 turns out to be the year of trouble.

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We've got big trouble all across our world.

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We've got a nation deeply divided along political lines.

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We've got the deep trouble of racism and injustice in our country.

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And to top it all off, we have the trouble of a global pandemic,

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which, whether you think it is nothing or the end of the world,

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can we at least all agree it's brought a lot of trouble?

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This is not what I had planned for the year, by the way.

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My name is Kyle, one of the teaching pastors

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here at Crossroads.

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I lead our creative teams.

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And this is not what I had planned for the year.

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This wasn't to be the year of trouble.

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It was to be the year of a great vacation.

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It was going to be amazing.

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I've been planning it since last year:

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an all inclusive no kids trip to the Caribbean

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with my wife and some of our friends.

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It was going to be absolutely incredible.

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Then the pandemic hit and shut the whole thing down,

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can't even go there, and not happening.

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And get this, I don't know if you know this,

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but you can pay for a vacation online in four seconds,

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but the company says it's going to take

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four months to get my money back,

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which means I needed a different vacation plan,

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one that was free.

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So I called my parents, who happen to live near the beach,

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and I said, "Hey, Mom and Dad, can come to your house?"

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They said, yes, which is great.

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Mom and Dad, thank you so much.

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Also, just here's a little thing,

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a week at your parents' house is not quite the same

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as a weekend all inclusive with no kids in the Caribbean.

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It's a little bit different.

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It was not the year of the great vacation.

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Still, my wife and I were like,

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"Not the great vacation.

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Let's make it the year of the pretty OK vacation day."

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My parents said we could have a day alone,

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just the two of us to go out.

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The day comes, we're very excited.

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Get in the car, we drive,

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we go to our favorite restaurant

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on the whole entire island where they live.

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We pull up and there's this handwritten sign on the door.

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It says, "Closed indefinitely

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due to COVID outbreak among employees."

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We're like, "Oh, no, that is bad, but fine."

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You know, we know the verse suffering produces perseverance;

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perseverance, character, hope,we're going to get to hope here.

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We're going to maintain hope.

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And so we go to our second favorite restaurant.

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We get there, same sign's on the door.

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Go to our third favorite restaurant, same sign's on the door.

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Go to our fourth favorite restaurant, same sign's on the door.

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Shake it off, it's fine.

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We'll just go to the beach.

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We'll have a great day at the beach.

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We'll just forget the restaurants.

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We'll have a great day at the beach.

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So we get to the beach. It's crowded.

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We want peace and quiet, so we see a spot way in the distance.

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We start hiking.

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We get all of our crap, the cooler, and the beach chairs

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and the towels and all that stuff.

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We are hiking down the beach.

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I can't even emphasize how far we walk.

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Incredibly far down the beach.

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Sit down, pull out my Kindle, start reading

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and I'm in heaven. It's amazing.

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And what feels like ten minutes later I look up

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and coming across the sea is a great gray storm cloud,

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like an intergalactic star destroyer.

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And it's heading straight towards my chair.

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It starts to whip rain at us before we can even move.

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It's like bullets coming.

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It's like Aroldis Chapman fastballs

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just rain and wind whipping up the sand

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and stinging places you didn't know sand could even sting.

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It was horrible and it was awful.

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Umbrellas are flying across the beach

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where I assume they went to the ocean

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and probably stabbed dolphins to death

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because that's what happens in 2020.

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It's the year of trouble.

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The question is: what do you do when trouble comes your way?

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There's really only three options how to handle trouble

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and you probably default to one of them.

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The first option is the ignore option.

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Option A, you ignore the trouble.

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You diminish it, you dismiss it.

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You pretend it's not real.

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You're going to shove it aside.

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I did this once in my life with my teeth.

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See, I'm a logical, educated person.

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I understand that dental hygiene is important.

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Still, I decided to ignore the trouble of teeth

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that kind of hurt and gums that were a little sore.

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And I didn't go to the dentist for ten years.

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Children do not be like me, it's a bad idea. Bad idea.

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As it turns out, when you ignore a problem,

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it does not magically disappear; it methodically gets worse.

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By the time I got to the dentist,

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I had a little thing called periodontal disease,

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which is basically bacteria that eats away your jaw bone

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until you have no more jaw bone and no more teeth.

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Horrible.

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Which is all for I had to sit in a dentist chair

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for an hour while they literally peeled my gums off my teeth

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and power washed underneath of them.

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Like you, like what you did last Saturday.

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You rented that thing at Home Depot,

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you power washed your deck,

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it was just like that just for an hour, twice.

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It was terrible.

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When you ignore a problem, it doesn't get better.

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Still, some of us fall into this trap

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when we experience trouble in our lives.

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We go with the ignore it route.

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Maybe this is where you are.

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Maybe you've been ignoring the trouble

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of your stalled out career.

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of your weight gain over the course

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of the last four months in quarantine.

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Maybe you've been ignoring the trouble in your marriage.

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Or you've been ignoring the trouble in your finances,

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in your debt.

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of your addiction, of your anger.

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Friends, it will not magically disappear;

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it will methodically get worse.

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Now there's a second option for what to do

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when trouble comes your way.

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Option B in many ways, is the opposite of option A.

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In option B, you don't ignore the trouble.

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Instead, you obsess over the trouble.

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You just look at the trouble.

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You read every article, every news story, every everything.

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You think about all day long.

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You bring it so close

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that it completely blocks your field of view.

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The problem here is you lose all sense of scale.

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Take your fingers like this, just pinch them like this.

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Remember this game used to play in elementary school,

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Just do that right now, turn to the person next to you

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and go, "I crush your head, I crush you, I crush you."

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Now, what looks in your field of view

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is that your fingers are so large,

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they are so powerfully devastating

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that nothing can possibly stop them.

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Is that true?

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No, of course not. It's not true.

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The same is true of trouble.

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If you pull trouble so close to you

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that it completely blocks your field of view,

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you will lose all sense of scale

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and you will think that trouble is bigger

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and more indestructible than it actually is.

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You focus all your attention on trouble,

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you'll do the only logical thing.

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If you see it this big and this mighty

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and this inconquerable, you'll do the only logical thing,

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you'll give up. You'll give up.

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You'll lose all hope, not just for right now,

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but for the future.

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You'll believe that the trouble isn't just for right now.

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The trouble isn't just is, it is and always will be.

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You'll give up.

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I wonder if this is what you've done with the trouble in your life.

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I wonder if you've pulled the trouble so close to you

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that you can't see anything else and you've given up.

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Maybe you've pulled the trouble of your physical health

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so close to you that you've given up hope

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of ever living pain and medication free.

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Maybe you've pulled the trouble of your stalled out career

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so close to your face. It's so painful.

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And you just decided, "I'm never going to catch a break.

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Never going to happen for me. It's over."

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Maybe you've pulled the trouble and the disappointment

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of the loss of your loved ones so close to you

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that it's blocked your view from ever seeing

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that there could be a good God.

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Now there's a third option for how to deal with trouble.

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It's the Jesus option.

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Surprise! You're in church, there's a Jesus option.

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Yes, it's the very best one.

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It's a two part process.

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Part one of the process is that you acknowledge the trouble.

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You don't diminish the trouble,

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you don't ignore the trouble,

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and you also don't inflate the trouble.

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You don't obsess over the trouble.

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You look it honestly in the eye for what it is,

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sober mindedly, candidly.

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You say, "This is trouble. This is not good.

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This is unlikely to change quickly."

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There's a part two, you also acknowledge

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and believe in the power of a good God

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who promises victory in your life.

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You say, "This trouble is real, but this trouble is not forever."

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Jesus put it this way in John 16:33. He said:

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"In this world, you will have trouble."

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That's part one.

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"But take heart," part two, "I have overcome the world."

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Yes, there will be trouble,

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but ultimate victory is coming your way.

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It may not be exactly the way you want it.

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It may not be exactly when you want it.

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But the story isn't over.

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The story does not end here. It doesn't end now.

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The story extends into eternity

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and you can hope for redemption and victory.

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Now, I believe for Crossroads there is trouble.

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Just look at the global pandemic we're in.

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Can we just all understand and agree

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it's not great for a church to close its doors

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for as long as we have to?

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We think it's the right decision.

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We think it's a good decision.

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We think it's a responsible decision.

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And also, it's not great. It's trouble.

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And it would be wrong of us to diminish it

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or ignore it or pretend it doesn't exist.

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It would be wrong of us also to say

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that this is going to completely destroy us,

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because that's not true, either one.

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The trouble is real and the victory is real too.

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See, I wholeheartedly believe the trouble

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we're experiencing right now as a church, as a community

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is not the end of the story.

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In fact, I believe there's a day coming

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when future generations will look back on right now

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and the way that we pivoted, the way that we innovated,

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the way that we continue to care for each other

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through crisis, and they'll say, "That's it.

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That was the moment.

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That was the moment the tide turned

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and our nation started to go back to God."

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That's what I believe.

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I think about my personal life.

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I've got trouble in my personal life the same as you do.

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I've got a child who we're pretty sure has ADHD.

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My wife and I Sarah, we're choosing not to ignore the trouble

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and we're also not bringing it so close it obscures our view.

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Rather, we're believing what Jesus said,

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"We'll have trouble, but take heart,I've overcome the world."

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So we're learning. We're learning about the trouble.

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We're embracing the challenges,

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but we're not believing this is doomsday for our son.

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We're believing this is simply a step on the path

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to his destiny, the good one that God has created for him.

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You know, personally, in my marriage, we have trouble.

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We had three kids in three years.

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Listen, if you ever think to yourself,

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"How could I take my married sex life?"

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Do that, have three kids in three years.

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Because you know what you won't have time for?

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Yeah, exactly.

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But rather than give up, rather than go,

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"This is never going to get good,"

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or that this is never going to change.

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Rather than ignore the problem,

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ignoring the uncomfortable, difficult conversations,

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Sarah and I are saying, "No, let's step into it.

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Let's acknowledge there's trouble,

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but let's believe that the best intimacy in our marriage

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isn't what happened before kids.

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It's what to happen after kids,

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Don't knock on the door, kids, by the way,

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just leave us alone.

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What about you?

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What if you took the third option when trouble came your way?

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So this trouble is real,

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this trouble is not small

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and this trouble will not win.

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There is victory for me.

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What if years from now your family could look back

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on what you did right now in this season

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and they could say, "That was it. That was the moment.

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That was the moment our family went

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from completely dysfunctional to amazingly dependable.

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That was the moment our family went from languishing

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to loving."

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What if you could look back years from now in your own life

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and you could say, "That was the moment right there.

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That was the moment my career started to turn around."

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What if you could look back right now on this moment

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and the way that you interact with God

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and you could say, "That was the moment,

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the moment I confronted the real trouble

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of my pain, my grief, my disappointment,

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of the loss of my loved one,

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but I chose to believe the story wasn't over,

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that there was a good God."

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And that while it may not come today, victory is on the way.

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John 16:33; "In this world, you will have trouble,

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but take heart, I have overcome the world."

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- I hope something is sparking inside of you so far today.

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Generosity is one of the things that God sparks

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inside of us who want to be more like Him and be generous.

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Crossroads a tithing church.

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If you want to be a giver or grow to that,

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you can go to Crossroads.net/give.

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You know, a few weeks ago we had another giving opportunity,

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which I'm really excited about.

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I want to make sure that you're in on

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or at least you're aware of it.

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We are partners with Compassion International.

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We've had thousands of people come alongside

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and have a direct one to one relationship

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with a child in a third world country to feed

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and educate them for their entire childhood for $38 a month.

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If you missed out on that or you're still considering it,

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hey, come on, chop chop. You can still do that.

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Spark something in your life.

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Spark something in somebody else's life.

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You can go to Crossroads.net/compassion.

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It's good to be used by God.

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And here's some examples of what's happening with us and Compassion.

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- The Crossroads community partners

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with Compassion International in Nicaragua and Bolivia.

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Compassion has been working for more than 65 years

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to provide impoverished children

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with a strong opportunity to overcome poverty.

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For $38 a month children are given a real chance to succeed.

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Not only does that money go towards a child's food

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and educational needs, but it also leads to lifelong

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relationships between the children and their sponsors.

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- Hello. God bless you, esteemed sponsor Bill Vasquez.

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- Hello, and God bless you. How are you?

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I'm really glad to write this letter.

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- I'm grateful to God for putting in your heart

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the desire of sponsoring me.

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- I want to tell you about my promotion to preschool.

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- My school teachers name is Nyla,

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and she has taught me to read, to write and to pronounce words.

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- I participated in a parade in September at my school.

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- I'm on vacation this week and I'll soon start preschool.

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- I'm happy because I passed my school year.

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I got good grades and I'm on vacation.

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- Last week I had an exam in my school

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and I got a 60 out of 60.

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With God's help, we can do everything.

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- I am learning to pray and drawing the project.

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- I like to see the photos of your grandchildren

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that you enclosed.

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- I also like the letters that you sent me.

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- I ask you to pray for God to guide my family.

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- I ask you to pray for my grandmother because she is sick.

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- And I ask that you pray for my mother.

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- You are always in my prayers.

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- And I will be praying for you and your family.

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- I will always remember the beautiful moment when I met you.

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- Goodbye with love and affection, Irvin.

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- God bless you, Alexander and family.

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- With much love, Maykes.

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- Goodbye with a strong hug.

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- I sponsor Lydia. She is six years old.

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She reminds me of my daughter, they're around the same age.

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And they're just so happy.

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It just brings joy to my life.

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- She was just a beautiful little girl.

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I just can't imagine somebody not being able to help her.

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And I'm just so thankful that it's Laurie and I.

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- My name is Ciara Elisse Harris.

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And I have not sat down and lived in one place for two years.

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I'm an actor on the first national tour of Dear Evan Hanson.

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And for the past two years,

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I have been traveling the country performing with the show.

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So you can imagine how this new way of life felt for me.

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I couldn't believe that finally, after all this time,

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I was going to get to unpack.

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I wasn't thinking about not being able to go to work

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or not seeing my friends

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or the fact that I'd be moving back in with my parents.

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All I was thinking about was

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how I finally got the chance to rest.

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So it didn't hit me until week three

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when I realized what I was actually asking for.

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Now I am a routine person.

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I spent the past two years of my life with the mindset

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of what can I do today

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before I have to be at the theater tonight?

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Which meant a lot of planning

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and making use of my time every single day.

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But with quarantine, the question became,

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how many things can I do today

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before I end up on the couch and it feels justifiable?

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Before this, I had a plan.

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I was going to finish the tour, move to New York,

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finally have a designated grocery store

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and audition for Broadway.

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But since there was no plan to work towards,

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I felt purposeless.

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I didn't know what God wanted me to do

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and I felt like everything I was supposed to do

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had been taken from me.

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Then on top of all of this, everything shuts down:

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live events, concerts, sports games,

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everything until further notice.

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So while I'm stuck at home trying to make Zoom my new normal

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and find something positive on the news,

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I come across this article that says:

00:19:55

the arts are not essential.

00:19:58

But listen, this is nothing new.

00:20:01

I went to college and got my BFA degree

00:20:03

at the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music.

00:20:07

Here's the difference between

00:20:08

telling someone you're going to school for theater

00:20:10

and telling someone you're going to school to be a doctor.

00:20:12

If you tell someone you're going to school to be a doctor,

00:20:15

the response is usually like, "Wow, that's incredible.

00:20:18

You're going to be so successful and set for life."

00:20:22

But if you tell someone you're going to school for theater,

00:20:25

the response is usually like,

00:20:27

"Oh, what's your survival job going to be?

00:20:31

Do you have a backup plan?

00:20:33

Will you be able to eat?"

00:20:36

In our culture, being an artist is perceived

00:20:38

as this struggling, broke, hanging by a thread person

00:20:41

who's been making all these sacrifices to pursue a career,

00:20:45

which I can't imagine is that much different

00:20:47

than going to med school.

00:20:48

But regardless of getting an education,

00:20:51

regardless of talent, people are more concerned

00:20:54

with whether or not you'll make money.

00:20:56

And so they end up devaluing what you do.

00:20:58

So when people binge things on Netflix

00:21:01

or download their favorite singer's new album

00:21:04

or hang a beautiful piece of art in their home,

00:21:06

they forget that there is a living, breathing human

00:21:09

behind that piece of art they are consuming

00:21:11

who is incredibly passionate about what they do

00:21:14

and clearly successful too,

00:21:16

regardless of how often you find them talking to themselves.

00:21:20

And when you go to the theater and you see a piece on stage

00:21:23

that has characters that look like you,

00:21:25

have the same anxiety as you

00:21:27

or fell in love with someone who didn't love them back

00:21:30

just like you, there is a healing that takes place.

00:21:34

It's important to see stories written

00:21:36

about the human experience because that makes us realize

00:21:38

we are a lot more alike than we think we are.

00:21:41

This detour 2020 has taken us on has proven

00:21:46

that the arts have been the most consumed thing

00:21:49

getting us through this time.

00:21:50

Benefit concert streamed online,

00:21:52

theater companies hosting play readings,

00:21:54

and of course, the surprise release of Hamilton on Disney+

00:21:59

so that all of us who have been trying to see the show

00:22:01

for the last two years can finally watch it

00:22:04

from the comfort of our own home.

00:22:06

I mean, can you imagine how much happiness

00:22:09

was spread around the world that night

00:22:10

brought to you by the very people pursuing a career in theater?

00:22:16

These moments have been monumental to people

00:22:19

trying to find a bit of light in this very difficult time.

00:22:23

With everything going on in this world,

00:22:25

it's easy to feel lost when you've lost your job

00:22:28

or your ability to do what you love

00:22:30

and feel passionate about, it can take a toll on you.

00:22:34

When I lost my job, I felt like I didn't know how to contribute.

00:22:38

I kept waiting for God to tell me how to take action,

00:22:41

how to move forward, how to find my purpose.

00:22:45

But what I was really doing was fighting His attempt

00:22:47

to tell me to just be where I was.

00:22:51

God was saying, "I know it looks like

00:22:53

you're even further away from what you really wanted,

00:22:55

but just be here and see what you can find."

00:23:00

If you have faith that God has you here for a reason,

00:23:04

then you can have hope in His plan for you.

00:23:07

And if I've learned anything during this time,

00:23:09

it's this: God's plan never looks the way you think it will,

00:23:13

and it never arrives in the time you think it will.

00:23:16

But it is always exactly what you never knew you needed.

00:23:21

Artists all around the world have been doing what they can

00:23:23

from where they are to bring people together,

00:23:26

hosting panels about the racial injustice in our country,

00:23:30

creating new songs about world peace,

00:23:33

collaborating with people from different backgrounds.

00:23:35

I thank God every day, that even without my job,

00:23:38

I can still use my voice as an artist

00:23:40

to talk about mental health, to encourage positivity,

00:23:44

and to spread healing to the world

00:23:46

by letting people know that they are not alone.

00:23:50

If I can do all of that from behind my computer screen,

00:23:53

there is nothing you can't set your mind to.

00:23:56

So if you are an actor who was just about to start your career

00:24:00

or a mom who was planning to use this time

00:24:02

to finally find yourself after your kids left the house

00:24:06

or someone who is about to take that trip

00:24:08

you've always dreamed of

00:24:10

or anyone who feels uncertain of their future,

00:24:14

just know this: you are still valuable.

00:24:18

And all this means is that God has other plans

00:24:21

to use you and bless you in your life.

00:24:26

So don't be afraid to start where you are

00:24:28

and do something right here, no matter how big,

00:24:31

no matter how small, no matter how essential.

00:24:48

- In a world that is often disconnected,

00:24:52

negative, and stifling, my team and I

00:24:55

have been on a mission to bring people together

00:24:58

where they can grow inside of a positive

00:25:00

and encouraging environment.

00:25:02

And on the afternoon of March 16th, 2020,

00:25:05

I received news that would make

00:25:07

an already challenging mission nearly impossible.

00:25:11

My name is Alex Harbin and I'm the founder

00:25:13

and operator of a gym in Cincinnati, Ohio,

00:25:16

called Iron Sharpens Iron.

00:25:18

And I get it, I get it.

00:25:19

When you hear me say gym, you already have an idea

00:25:21

of what it's like, a bunch of muscle bound bro

00:25:23

sitting around drinking protein shakes,

00:25:26

talking about hitting their macros and bench press PRs.

00:25:29

But I promise that's not us at all.

00:25:32

You see, we are a community of diverse individuals

00:25:35

from different racial, economical, occupational backgrounds.

00:25:39

We're all different ages, genders, races, shapes and sizes.

00:25:44

We don't all think the same. We don't look the same.

00:25:46

We don't even believe the same.

00:25:47

But we do all know that you can come as you are,

00:25:51

but you don't have to stay as you are.

00:25:54

You see the gym for many people

00:25:56

beyond Iron Sharpens Iron is a place of peace,

00:25:59

a place of stress relief.

00:26:00

For some, it's therapy.

00:26:02

For some it's an escape.

00:26:03

But for all of us, it's a place

00:26:05

where we can choose challenge and create change in our lives.

00:26:09

But what happens when challenge chooses you?

00:26:14

That's exactly the question I was faced with on March 16th

00:26:18

when I received orders that I had to shut my business down

00:26:21

with no return dating sight.

00:26:24

And I knew when I turned the lights off that day

00:26:27

at Iron Sharpens Iron, it may have been for the last time.

00:26:31

I, like many of us, upon receiving news of a shutdown,

00:26:36

began to experience a wide range of emotion.

00:26:40

I went from angry and confused

00:26:42

to moments of happiness and clarity.

00:26:44

I went from moments of discouragement

00:26:47

to moments of encouragement from doubt

00:26:49

to full certainty of what was to come.

00:26:52

If there was an emotion to be had, I was having it

00:26:56

all within about five minutes.

00:26:59

I felt like life was just happening to me,

00:27:01

like I was having this outer body experience.

00:27:04

It was like I was watching eight years of hard work

00:27:08

and building trust and rapport with the community,

00:27:11

thousands of lives impacted in a positive way

00:27:15

was all brought to a halt with no sign

00:27:18

of when it was going to be able to come back, if ever.

00:27:21

I felt helpless, I felt like I was at the mercy

00:27:24

of things completely out of my control.

00:27:27

But it was in that moment that I heard an invitation from God.

00:27:31

He said, "Commit to expansion."

00:27:35

Commit to expansion?

00:27:37

How am I supposed to do that? Everything is closed.

00:27:40

People aren't coming in, revenue's not coming in.

00:27:43

I've got a seven month old daughter

00:27:45

and a wife that are depending on me.

00:27:47

I have people that come to the gym.

00:27:48

I have people that work at the gym that are depending on that.

00:27:51

How do you expand when everything is being chopped down?

00:27:55

I didn't know how expansion would happen.

00:27:59

I just knew that that invitation from God

00:28:02

was a reminder that I still had a choice.

00:28:07

No matter what was happening in the world around me

00:28:10

or to me, God reminded me that I still had a choice

00:28:14

on how to respond and reacted to those things,

00:28:18

and I still had a mission.

00:28:20

And going back to that mission

00:28:22

brought me clarity on how to move forward.

00:28:25

I had to decide, were we still on mission

00:28:28

or was it time to abandon ship?

00:28:30

Could we still bring people together?

00:28:32

Could we still help them grow?

00:28:34

Could we create a positive and encouraging environment

00:28:37

even though we didn't have a physical space to do it in?

00:28:40

I chose to say yes to God's inviting

00:28:43

and within just a few short days,

00:28:46

we created a YouTube page where we uploaded workouts

00:28:48

for people to perform at home.

00:28:50

We began to lead live workouts through Zoom.

00:28:53

We even led one for Crossroads on Instagram live.

00:28:57

One night a week, people would show up

00:28:58

from all over the city of Cincinnati, the country,

00:29:01

and even the world to hear a few encouraging words

00:29:04

and to break a sweat together.

00:29:06

This was still a business,

00:29:08

remember we still had to generate income.

00:29:11

But another bold decision we made

00:29:14

was to give away all of these services.

00:29:16

Now I get it, giving away your services

00:29:19

isn't the best business plan.

00:29:20

But we were on a mission and we wanted

00:29:22

to increase positivity and we thought we could

00:29:24

do that more effectively through generosity.

00:29:27

And wouldn't you know it, people were generous right back

00:29:29

and still found a way to support us financially,

00:29:32

even though we didn't ask for it.

00:29:35

God invited me to commit to expansion

00:29:38

in a time where everything was shrinking back.

00:29:41

I didn't know how He would do it,

00:29:43

I just knew that His invite was the first reminder

00:29:46

that I still had a choice.

00:29:49

Even though it felt like life was happening to me

00:29:51

and things were happening all around me,

00:29:53

God reminded me that I still had a choice

00:29:57

on how I responded and reacted to those things.

00:30:00

Over the past few months, I've never been more aware

00:30:03

of the sadness and the despair

00:30:06

that we experience in our world.

00:30:08

And yet at the same time, I've never been more aware

00:30:12

of the hope and the peace that we have in God.

00:30:16

And we have weathered the storm so far as a business.

00:30:19

And and I say so far, because the reality is

00:30:23

this is still a story that's unfolding.

00:30:26

Things seem to be changing by the minute.

00:30:28

But you know what's not changing is God.

00:30:32

God is still growing.

00:30:33

He's still expanding His kingdom

00:30:36

and He's still sending that invitation to all of us

00:30:40

that when we commit to God, we commit to expansion,

00:30:45

expansion of our faith, expansion of His grace,

00:30:50

expansion of His presence in our lives,

00:30:53

expansion of our reality that He is our ultimate provider

00:30:56

and not anything that we have in this world.

00:31:00

I don't know where you are in this whole thing,

00:31:02

but I do know this:

00:31:03

God is calling you to expand in something.

00:31:11

- Even though we don't always understand what God is doing,

00:31:14

we can choose to trust Him and engage in worship.

00:31:17

We can declare that we believe

00:31:19

that what He wants for us is good.

00:41:16

- I hope you were encouraged today or helped with something.

00:41:19

And if you want to interact with somebody more on this,

00:41:22

you can go to Crossroads.net

00:41:23

and we'll have somebody chat with you.

00:41:25

It's a real live person who would love to interact with you.

00:41:28

And if you'd like to get some more things

00:41:30

that could spark something inside of you,

00:41:32

you can go to sparktalks.net and look at our archive.

00:41:37

Thanks for being with us today.

00:41:38

We'll see you next week.

00:41:40

- Crossroads is a church that is about

00:41:42

more than just a video a week,

00:41:44

but we actually want to help you take the next step

00:41:47

in your spiritual adventure from anywhere you are right now.

00:41:50

I'm Lena and I'd love to get you connected to community.

00:41:52

And one of the ways to do that is

00:41:54

if you chat with us on the Crossroads website.

00:41:56

Just head to Crossroads.net

00:41:58

and click on the chat button and we'll chat with you soon.

	Kyle Ranson: “The Year of Trouble”	1:02
	Ciara Harris: “Essential & Unemployed”	17:56
	Alex Harbin: “Commit to Expansion”	24:38
	Worship: God Moves In Mysterious Ways	31:22
	Worship: Graves Into Gardens	36:15

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