Playing the Long Game

Don't give up. Why? Because faithfulness is not measured in immediate results. Faithfulness is measured in endurance. We will reap at harvest time if we do not give up. Harvest language is pretty important and we as Hoosiers, we tend to understand harvest language ourselves. Harvest is never instant. It depends on seasons. Harvest depends on patience. It depends on weather that we cannot control, and it depends on trusting that what we planted today will matter later down the road. [00:57:27] (44 seconds)  #FaithThroughSeasons

It's so simple and yet so complex. Whenever you have the opportunity, do good. Faithfulness shows up in the smallest of moments. Sometimes that moment looks like advocating for justice. Sometimes it looks like naming sin clearly when harm is done, and sometimes beautifully, humbly, it looks like a big pile of toilet paper. [01:01:38] (40 seconds)  #SmallActsBigFaith

You see, the church is meant to be a place where we practice the love that the world desperately needs, a place where encouragement outpaces exhaustion, a place where we absolutely will not deny that pain exists, but we also never abandon hope. [01:04:40] (24 seconds)  #ChurchOfHope

This week, a racist posting from the president of The United States caused real pain, real harm, and real fear. And it must be said clearly and without qualification, racism is wrong. It is beneath the dignity of any human being, and it is sinful. The gospel of Jesus Christ does not leave room for language or systems that dehumanize. End stop, period. [00:53:31] (36 seconds)  #EndRacismNow

Playing the long game, it gives us resilience, helping us to stay rooted when things feel a little uncertain. Playing the long game gives us joy, not because everything is easy, because it's not. Playing the long game gives us meaning, meaning that runs deep, purpose that runs deep in our lives. We are serving god together. Just as IU did not win a championship in just one single game or the Olympic athletes don't train for one single moment. The church doesn't become who it is overnight. Faith is formed over time. [01:05:29] (48 seconds)  #LongGameFaith

We decide that we are going to love boldly. We choose to continue to show love and to share love and to spread love. We keep trusting that god is still at work right here among us and all throughout our mission field. This is what it means to play the long game living out our faith together. [01:06:40] (34 seconds)  #LoveBoldly

He doesn't say, hey, you've gotta solve everything. You've gotta figure it all out right now. He doesn't say, we've gotta fix all of this right now. You've gotta fix the world. Well, I'd I'd like to, but I know that I can't. So here's what he says. Whenever you have the opportunity, do good. [01:01:09] (24 seconds)  #DoGoodWhenYouCan

That means generations of people have been showing up when they didn't know how things would turn out. People planted seeds that they knew they would never get to see fully grow or blossom. People stayed faithful through wars, depression, cultural shifts, and seasons of deep change, staying committed to the mission of Jesus Christ. [00:59:31] (33 seconds)  #GenerationsOfFaith