• Wow, two weeks in a row with a mind dump — I wonder how long I can keep it up?!

• Yesterday was a fun and important Sunday.

• Preached a one-off message explaining how Redemption Church works and why we’re “Still Better Together” (watch here)

• Always hard to gauge on a message like that how much different people resonate or are even concerned about it, but I was encouraged to hear from a number of folks who found it helpful.

• I enjoyed the rest of the service too.

• The financial update that Seth shared was massively encouraging (watch here), and I’m so thankful for God’s provision through his generous people.

• And, holy smokes, the electric guitar on “Graves Into Gardens” sounded to me like the reason an electric guitar was invented in the first place.

• Then I heard that we had about 50 people at our Rooted class who are wanting to get more engaged and put down roots in our church.

• I love that!

• Then went home and watched both teams I was rooting for to get to the Super Bowl lose.

• As much as I can’t stand Tom Brady, the guy is flat-out impressive.

• Kind of the same for Patrick Mahomes — I hate the Chiefs, but it’s so hard not to end up pulling for that guy.

• Then I made breakfast-for-dinner last night and we had a sweet time as a family.

• I miss the 5pm service, but I don’t mind being home for the evening.

• Rest of the weekend was good too — filled with soccer games and old Tom Cruise movies.

• All four of my kids are playing soccer right now and three of them had games Saturday.

• It’s fun to watch them play.

• Then Friday night was A Few Good Men and Saturday night was Top Gun with the older girls.

• I’m surprised how engaged my kids are in older movies.

• But I guess a good movie is a good movie — I could probably watch A Few Good Men every week and not get tired of it.

• Also been kind of following the new presidential administration as well as the impeachment shenanigans (I mean trial).

• It’s interesting to me that Biden calls for unity, but then makes a bunch of executive orders that are strongly leftward.

• Can’t blame the guy — it’s his agenda and perspective — but it does make me wonder what politicians think can bring unity.

• As for the impeachment, I’m struggling to see why it’s still relevant.

• My two older girls kind of summed it up well when they overheard a news story about it and they each asked, “Wait… why are they doing an impeachment trial if he’s already out of office?”

• That’s a good question.

• I think the most frustrated person would be Biden — if I were him, I sure wouldn’t want the Senate mucked up in an impeachment trial instead of working on stuff that mattered to me.

• So there’s my political punditry for the day — boy, didn’t I add a lot?

• Maybe I’ll stick to my day job.

• We have meetings this week for Covenant Members of Gateway, which I’m looking forward to.

• Will be good to hear some of our most committed folks share about how God has been working in their lives, as well as have a chance to pray together, and answer questions.

• I love how many people are invested in God’s mission at Gateway, and I look forward to seeing the fruit that will come from it over time.

• We’re going to stay focused on the mission, stick together with our fellow Redemption congregations, and push into this crazy world as faithful witnesses of Jesus.

• Now is not the time to get inward-focused or to start dividing with other Christians over secondary issues — we need to rally together, love our neighbors, and tell them about the Lord.

• Seek Jesus, follow him, and trust him wherever he leads you.

• Have a great week!