left home to go home

[javonsl]

It's as if God yawned.....

Not too many phrases in Scripture so quickly capture the overwhelming enormity of God like “…and He made the stars also”

God is Big.

[javonsl]

One year ago today. 💍 🌹 🍾 God has been good to us! (at The Club Continental) https://www.instagram.com/p/CA5BeWBH5v5/?igshid=1xyyvkn32f8lf

[javonsl]

Was given another opportunity to write again, very thankful @holyculture - hope you enjoy! Link to article: https://holyculture.net/read-pardontheinterruption-weareasportsnation/ (at Atlanta, Georgia)

[javonsl]

These are the books I read in 2019; the ones in bold & underlined were especially helpful and formative for me this year and I would recommend without reservation! (at Atlanta, Georgia) https://www.instagram.com/p/B6oFEe_HVF5/?igshid=l90e5a3lqt5b

[javonsl]

It’s actually found in Zechariah (that’s in the Bible)

“Do not despise the day of small beginnings” - this is advice well taken but often hated among our culture. I’ve spent some time thinking about this recently and it’s crazy how much I agree with this but also sincerely can’t stand when this advice is forced upon me. I think most of us, like me, tend to think that if it’s not BIG, HUGE, or GRANDIOSE then you haven’t really done anything at all. Life has a way of proving the Word of God true that without fail points to how in control of all of this God really is. 

Often, we neglect the second half of the verse/statement above that makes the first half true - it goes “Do not despise the day of small beginnings because the Lord rejoices to see the work begin”. God just wants us to get started. If we show ourselves faithful with the small beginning and a bigger future is in God’s plan then you’ll likely see it if you just start. 

Lastly, for those of us who are worried about starting small because we fear the embarrassment of what our critics might think; I feel that it’s important to remember that no one is really thinking about you like that. No one thinks about you as much as you think about you. In my own life, I have discovered that it is not insecurity I struggle with, it is my massive ego that must be defeated. The ego that thinks that people are checking for me enough to track my every move, a small beginning, or unfortunate misstep. 

That’s enough for now. 

Win the day, my friends. 

[javonsl]

How bout that?

As it turns out, you stay away from secret sins and what you do in public feels purer and has more power. 

You’ll also like people more. A thief thinks everyone else is a thief. A forgiven man understands the joy in forgiving others. 

[javonsl]

Where.....?

I’ve found it very interesting the frequency at which God asks “where” questions. Of the first 10 questions that God asks men in the Bible - 4 of them are based around “where”: “Adam, where are you?”, “Cain, where is your brother Abel?”, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where did you come from and where are you going?”. For a God that knows everything and sees everything in a way that only One who is intimately aware of His own creation can, surely He knows where everyone is - but as always God is setting up the response (both His and ours). 

In considering these questions by God to men, it was important for me to center my thoughts around the fact that a God that knows every intricate detail of creation and our lives has no use for questions if not for the benefit of the person being questioned. Think about it from the perspective of your human view of a dollhouse - imagine an animatronic version a “Ken” doll that could walk and talk and move around on its own but only within the confines of this 2-story dollhouse with 5 rooms. Imagine that you spent the majority of your days and night watching this Ken doll move around and interact with the pieces inside of the house, your only time taking your eyes off it it were when you blinked. Imagine that this Ken doll then decided to hide from you while inside of the limits of the house in full view of your very expansive field of vision. If you were to ask this Ken doll, “where are you?”, it would likely be for a multitude of reasons, least of which have anything to do with your having misplaced your Ken. This scenario also brings into perspective how silly it would be for this Ken doll, that lives and moves inside of the dollhouse that you created for him, to try to hide from you in the first place. 

As God asked “Where are you?”, I began to think through how it is perhaps the most important (surely one of the most important) questions that anyone can answer when considering to take action on their situation. Without knowing and acknowledging where you are, you can only misjudge where you are going. This question seems to be first for a reason. Accurate appraisal of yourself leads to accurate navigation towards an intentional destination. As I seek God for His perfect will for my life, I am often met with “Where are you?” and from answering that question openly and honestly I can then be a better place to encounter all that God intends to say next. 

Beyond this, I had an immediate fascination with the questions that God asked Hagar upon initially interacting with her as she fled from the mistreatment of Sarai (sidenote: it’s really cool how “routinely” God would directly speak to people as if this was just a thing that commonly happened in several parts of the Old Testament. We have the Holy Spirit living within us today if we have accepted Christ as Savior and I am convinced that he speaks just as “routinely” today if we would just quiet ourselves to listen). God asked her very directly “Where did you come from? and Where are you going?”. Within that line of questioning, I believe that God was giving an indication of the valuable role of our past in preparing for our future. My thought is that without accepting our past, for whatever it is, and submitting it as redeemable to God - we will allows try and fail to lead ourselves to a preferred future. A future, that without God’s intervention, will find us like Hagar, desperate and starving in a desert to the risk of ourselves and the generations to follow. 

Using the backdrop of these 3 questions specifically as a baseline for mentoring and discipleship, I am excited for what God through His Holy Spirit intend to do in and through my life: 

1) Where are you? (accurate appraisal of your present situation)

2) Where did you come from? (understanding the value of your past and submitting it as redeemable to God)

3) Where are you going? (allowing the open and honest assessment of your present and past in light of God’s direction set the course for your preferred future)

100,000 Heads of Households (both current & future) effectively mentored and discipled - this is the mission that I have chosen to accept. 

[javonsl]

Husband to @ealeggo_22 (at The Club Continental) https://www.instagram.com/p/BzQ_8MJAJkm/?igshid=1unet923x29aj

[javonsl]

My bride (@eawilly_22) & I were beyond blessed to experience June 1st together as we walked into the covenant bond of marriage and became One surrounded by family and friends. Thanks again for all those that are praying for & with us as we continue to grow together. Here is a quick video recap of our wonderful day that we hope you enjoy. Many thanks for this wonderful gift to the shooter 📽: @djrrane (at The Club Continental) https://www.instagram.com/p/BypmXHzAyS7/?igshid=8i1gxj2dkjza

[javonsl]

Yesterday was such a beautiful moment - I was able to publicly confess my love and devotion to my bride @eawilly_22 Very grateful for everyone that came from far and near in order to celebrate such a God-blessed occasion with us. (at Jacksonville, Florida) https://www.instagram.com/p/ByNTSoLAjWW/?igshid=gvn0odz6b0oa

[javonsl]

Explain Your Tweets!!! - “It’s Finally Spring” Edition

Time to play America’s favorite game - it’s time to play EXPLAIN. YOUR. TWEETS!!!!

“Avengers Endgame could be 4 hours and 2 minutes for all I care and I’m still going to think they could have included more...”

I mean, this is just true - I don’t think there is a potential runtime length they could have told me where I would have been like “wait a minute, now that’s just way too much movie”. Seriously, you tell me that the movie is 10 hours and 2 minutes and I’m still buying the Blu-Ray hoping that their were deleted scenes and a Director’s Cut. 

“Certain compliments are for certain people I certain roles in your life. You ever had someone say ‘hey man, I'm proud of you’ and all you could think was ‘......man, shut up!!!’”

One of my biggest pet peeves with people is when they behave a little too familiar with me when the depth of our relationship has never really been established. Call it cynicism all you want but I think that many peer to peer relationships are built primarily on posturing with one another. There is almost a sense of “sonning” someone that goes into a peer or acquaintance saying “really proud of you” - it’s a subtle attempt at dominance at times. In my head and sometimes out loud the worst I’ll respond with is “but you don’t know me like that and I definitely don’t know you like that” and at best I’ll just provide a very standard yet dismissive “ok thanks for that” 

“They dislike us because they aren’t us”

They hate us cuz they ain’t us. 

“I’m convinced that most of Leadership is getting people to stop sweating the wrong small things and start focusing on the Big Thing. The Big Thing will determine which small things are worth obsessing over.” 

I was trying to write this in a way that applied to most organizational environments from ministry to industry. Either way, it’s true. The reason you are the leader is because you have shown capacity in the past to (or are now being asked to) see the big picture. Being able to effectively share the vision of the big picture with those that you lead is a necessary game-changer. Chances are you have hired or inherited people who specialize in the more “minor” details, which is a blessing, but without guidance on how the big picture influences which “minor” details or most important and which aren’t important at all your people might just be rudderless ship moving in all directions simultaneously. 

“Words over pictures. Complete thoughts over catered snapshots.” 

The irony of this tweet is that it is indeed a catered snapshot of a more complete and robust thought. Lately, I have been very interested in how the younger the social media participant the more they favor social media outlets that are based around pictures and video over words. Instagram/Snapchat over Twitter/Tumblr, that kind of thing. I think it is an accurate representation of the growing superficiality and active dumbing down of society. Of course, you can always post captions with your picture on a service like Instagram but studies will show that the average consumer doesn’t even read it and most certainly will form their opinion of it (press the like and love it, don’t press the like and hate it, or press the like and yet still hate it somehow) before even reading the caption (if they read it at all). Whereas on Twitter where the average higher volume tweeters are of a slightly older demographic (Millenials vs. Gen Z’ers) people are more likely to follow an entire train of thought (threads anyone?) to it’s conclusion. People are more likely to post more educational and inspirational content on word-based platforms like Twitter and Tumblr. Conversational discourse, although often held between caricatures of people’s authentic offline identities, is most abundant in these platforms as well per studies of social media trends. More people have reported being more encouraged by positive reinforcement or compliments and even retweets given on Twitter than on Instagram comments under pictures (the primary reason related back to the perceived genuineness of the comments or positive recognition). Of course, Twitter/Tumblr isn’t perfect and is fraught with it’s own brand of superficialities but for this reason it seems to be better FOR people. 

Alright everyone, this concludes another edition of EXPLAIN. YOUR. TWEETS!!! 

[javonsl]

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (or whatever it was called)

I was thinking of the value of remorse and wandered across 2 Corinthians 7:9-10.

I think in the past I’ve ignored the positive aspects of regret and remorse but then I remember that often the human mind & heart disregards the lasting pain of sin because we get so wrapped up in its pleasure. God is gracious to give us these checks of remorse in our Spirit that reminds us that although we are forgiven completely we must not trick ourselves into thinking the tradeoff between pain and pleasure is an equal one.

Similar to Gollum killing, scratching, and clawing to hold his “precious” one more time we take hold of habitual sin because we have completely forgotten in the moment that it will leave us a disfigured and wretched mess. There are several cases where it might be prudent to journal or catalog your thoughts and feelings on the other side of the sin that so easily besets you, when the grief hits. I think David proved this to be therapeutic in how he reflected on the agony of sin in Psalms 32 & 51.

For those struggling with habitual sin, don’t worry, in the end God wins and you can indeed overcome because He has overcome. I have been there and I am still there in the midst of an ongoing war no matter how many recent battles I’ve won. However, one thing I have learned during the recent spiritual win streak is that managing the time when you are alone makes all the difference in your relationship with God and the moment by moment decisions are what mark growth and maturity.

[javonsl]

Never Stop Never Stopping

What is the difference between satisfaction and contentment? Can you be content with where God has placed you but not satisfied with where you are? Can this be done without sinning? 

I think this is where I am in ministry. I am unsure how long I can stay in this same place and silently relent my favorite parts of me: the desire to achieve and chase something bigger than what is known. 

[javonsl]

Man Up

This week could have been better. There were so many opportunities for me to excel and allow the events of this week to prove that I have matured beyond many of the spiritual & mental trappings that I have found myself a part of in recent years. Instead I found myself failing yet again in several ways that were just disappointing. When your trust is in you, it’s only a matter of time before you let yourself down. 

One of my life verses has been Jude 24, you know, the one that starts “Now unto Him who is able to keep you from falling...”. Great verse, when you determine to let Him to be the one to keep you from falling. When you are the one keeping you from falling, you trip over your own feet lol. 

[javonsl]

Brothrehood

So my groomsmen took me to Tennessee for our “Bachelor” Weekend and we have a cabin complete with game room, arcade, and full theater. As much as the skiing and time in this lavish cabin is refreshing and a wonderful experience, it is the time with my brothers (in Christ) that is most valuable. We haven’t been united as a large group in about 3 years and we have picked up exactly where we last left off (making fun of each other and cracking jokes about everything imaginable). It’s just amazing to see how God has created brotherhood to reflect who he is. One of the things that God has done for me is to allow me to see Him and His Character in every aspect of life. If we allow ourselves to, God wants to show us as much of Himself as we can handle. 

On another note, we just finished watching Blackkklansman as a group and the only way that this works as a society is if we value each other above ourselves. That is all! 

[javonsl]

Ya’ll Be Good Man, Praise God

Sin, the necessary evil. Hear me out, I’m mainly just saying that there is a purpose to the recognition of your own sinful nature. While I would never promote or argue relishing in your own sin; I have experienced the comfort of repentance deeply enough to realize that God’s forgiveness assures me of at least two things: 

1. There is hope and longing for any gap between God and I to be closed which God desires even more than I do 

2. The realization of sin in one’s heart & actions reveals those gaps - indicator lights that can prompt reconciliation and deepened intimacy

I found myself in a situation recently where I very blatantly sinned against God and my almost immediate reaction was “well, why would God bless me now; we’re not even close anymore”. As I wrestled with that thought, I began to think about how close to God I felt just an hour before that. Did this single act of sin somehow make me lose that closeness and intimacy that I would have assuredly claimed just an hour before my sin of commission? The reality seemed to be that if there was any increased distance between me and God it was self-inflicted - I was the one walking/running away from Him and not vice versa. He still desired to be as close to me as I felt the moments before my sin. If this is true and God did not shun me due to my transgression yet His Spirit caused my heart to feel remorse and repent - it was logical to believe that God actually intended to be closer to me even in the post-sin moment than I was in the pre-sin moment. Beyond this, was it possible that it was not a matter of me now having a greater distance between myself and God in this post-sin reality BUT perhaps I misjudged the level of intimacy or closeness I had with God in the first place. 

What if God was using my sin to say “Javon, this sin can serve as an active reminder that you probably weren’t as close to me as you assumed yourself to be BUT you can be that close and even closer if you stay on guard against it and deal with it!!!”. To say that God is a redeemer is almost an understatement - he is a sovereign redeemer who uses all of life’s realities for his divine purpose. 

Praise God. 

[javonsl]

Long-winded Tangent Talker

Today marked an inevitable yet critical milestone in my life - specifically in my ministry life. I was offered anonymous and intentionally critical feedback of my “performance” at an event for which I was something like a keynote speaker/presenter. The event for which I was speaking went incredibly well and I was roundly praised for my appearance, speaking ability, and engaging presence but nevertheless a critique was found. Fortunately I didn’t have to go to far to find it and I am happy that I did because it reinforced a valuable lesson. No matter how great things are, there will always be one person that will choose to suck on the tart lemon of “I didn’t like it”. Also, in a haystack of “you did so great”; you will have to intentionally train yourself to not notice the obvious needle of “I thought it could have been much better”. If these were performances they would have a right to stick more, but because it is ministry you will need to grapple with it’s rightful place between “necessary” and “best ignored”.