Who is My Mission? (Walking and Talking Spirituality #7)

This is episode #7 of Walking and Talking Spirituality with Dr. Brian Russell.

Mission is always about people...

Don't ask "What is my mission?" Asking what creates an abstraction.

Instead, ask/pray: "Who is my mission?"

Avoid the danger of answering "everyone." The deeper answer isn't "everyone" but "someone".

Become an ambassador of God's abundance by living as the hands, feet, and mouthpiece of Jesus to the people in your proximity.

Are You Playing the Long Game?

Are you playing the long game? Or are you going for a quick fix?


Our flesh longs for instantaneous and on demand, but our soul longs for a real meal of depth and abundance.


Here the story about one of Brian's friends whose committed long term to digging deeply in the Psalms. He reads one psalm each day for a week. This includes reading the psalm each day and then reading a different commentary on it daily. He is in year 4 which means he just began his second run through the Psalter.


Imagine the person you'll become by doing a similar deep dive into some practice in your own life.

To what formative practices have you committed deeply?

Living Life Forward But Understanding It Backwards (Walking and Talking ...

Soren Kierkegaard wrote: “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”

Do you ever feel trapped between ambition and fulfillment?

This happens even to pastors and other spiritually minded leaders. The critical need is for a compelling goal that we can grow towards. In other one that pulls us along.

This is where Kiekegaard’s quotation comes in. 

Have you found a compelling goal toward which you can grow?

Thoughts/Questions? I’d love to hear what you think.

Work Harder on Yourself than You Do On Your Job

"Learn to work harder on yourself than you do on your job. If you work hard on your job you can make a living, but if you work hard on yourself you'll make a fortune.” – Jim Rohn

Another way to think about Rohn's quotation is to look to
the medieval monk Bernard of Clairvaux. Bernard used a metaphor of living as a reservoir rather than as a canal.

In other words, do we live out of the overflow of abundance that comes from our ongoing growth and learning, or do we merely struggle by living and serving out of a static and dwindling level of energy and resources?

What skills, mindsets, insights, and practices are you learning to keep growing?

Does Scripture Read Me? (Walking and Talking Spirituality #5)

Dr. Brian Russell reflects on reading Scripture for transformation. 


Do I read Scripture, or does Scripture read me? What is the difference? 


Learn to ask questions that allow the text to transform our head, heart, and hands: insight, attitude and action. 


Ask:
What kind of person does this text assume that I am? What kind of person do I need to become to allow this passage to manifest in me for others? 


Head: How does this text challenge my thinking? What are the key insights? 


Heart: What does this text call me to care about? 


Hands: What precisely do I need to do now to live out this text?

Reservoir or Canal? Walking and Talking Spirituality #4