 This week's Friday Five is mainly focused on formative finds, articles that help in our spiritual formation aka growing in our relationship with God and as a follower of Jesus. 1. It's Alright To Just Be PalsThis one is for those looking for a spiritual mentor or who has ever been in the weird place of trying to put a label on a relationship that does not need a label. 2. Why Mentoring Is Better Than Asking AlexaAmazon's Alexa can help us in many ways, but growing in wisdom and grace is not one of them. For help in that realm, we need spiritual mentors and godly older friends. 3. What to Look for in a Spiritual MentorThis post is written by the author of the above one as well - Melissa Kruger. She just released a new book on mentoring (which I am eager to read). However, this is a helpful post on what to look for in a spiritual mentor. 4. Ten Things You Should Know About Christian Hospitality.Rosaria Butterfield wrote this helpful article based off of her most recent book that is focused on biblical hospitality. This article is a helpful primer. 5. Ten Things You Should Know About The New Heavens and New EarthI love reading articles about the New Heavens and New Earth and this one is a great primer for the topic as well! Thanks for joining me for this week's Friday five! I'm going to do something different for the month of August and instead of having a weekly list, I'm going to return to a monthly list. So look out for a fun and formative finds list at the end of August. 
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 Well, for the first time in a while I'm actually writing this Friday Five on Friday! After a few weeks of having various friends visit us, this week was the first week where it was a more normal week, but it was still a full week of learning and growing. Here are five things from this week, some fun and some formative. 1. Bardcore/ Medieval Style Song CoversA friend shared a cover of a song in Bardcore style this week, and I learned that I really love this genre of music! If you're a fan of medieval style music, the youtube account linked has some excellent covers done in Bardcore style. 2. The Ultimate Fixer UpperI'm gearing up to record a podcast with two of my co-workers next week and the topic will be on Heaven. Heaven is something that I've thought a lot about in recent years. This post is actually from the archives from an unfinished series I was working on in regards to heaven. 3. Jen Wilkin - Living Resurrected LifeThis is a main session talk that Jen Wilkin gave for The Gospel Coalitions 2016 Women's Conference. Watching this talk was homework for a Bible teaching class that I am currently taking. She does an excellent job expositing 1 Peter, but this talk also made me laugh uncontrollably at times too. 4. Respectable Sins of the Reformed WorldChallenging and convicting article from Tim Challies, calling Christians to consider sins that we might view as "not that bad" in our current culture. 5. 4 Reasons to Wear a Mask, Even If You Hate ItThe title says it all. Please, wear a mask. Also, I'm sure I'll read this post in a few years and think, "Wow, 2020..."  Well, today is not Friday, but that's okay. Here are a few finds from this week. I hope you find them helpful for you as well. 1. The Bible Explained: Song of SongsI wish everyone would watch Spoken Gospel's videos. One of the things that they create are introduction videos explaining the themes and the connection to Jesus for books of the Bible. This one is a dance performance explaining the themes and connection to Jesus for Song of Songs. 2. HusavikBrandon and I recently watched the new movie Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga on Netflix, and loved it! We're fans of Will Ferrell's humor. After watching it, the songs from the movie have been stuck in my head. This song is a climatic scene from the movie, so if you want to watch the film, don't watch this music video just yet. But otherwise, it's wonderful. As a note, the movie is rated PG-13 and has one unhelpful scene, so if you want to watch it, just look up the parental guide before doing so. 3. Love Is/Love is Not and the Mushy MiddleI appreciated this post by Lore Wilbert and her thoughts about how to love people while you're in the middle in terms of some of the polarizing politics of our day. 4. 6 Things We Never Learned in School (But Should Have)Short but thoughtful essay by Emily P. Freeman. True to the title. 5. No Condemnation by Anthony EvansI've been thinking a lot about this song lately and the Scripture that inspired it. One of my favorite songs.  Today is June 19th otherwise known as Juneteenth. It is a holiday celebrating the emancipation of those that were enslaved in the United States. It is fitting that today is Juneteenth for this week's Friday five. My heart has felt very heavy and grieved for the United States these past two weeks. I feel grieved for my black brothers and sisters and for the instances of hatred that they experience from others. I feel grieved for the American Church that is wrestling with how to be a light in an evil age. I feel grieved for the ways that the American Church has failed our black and brown brothers and sisters in Christ. I feel grieved that so many believers look to political leaders over the Scriptures and negate the suffering of others. I feel grieved, but I'm grieving with hope. I know that God is in control. I know that he is still at work reconciling and redeeming. I know that he is doing something that we cannot see, and that his Word is clear that he works all things out for the good of those that love him (Romans 8:28). I know that God draws near to those who draw near to him (James 4:8). I know that God will thwart the wicked (Proverbs 10:3), and protect the righteous (Proverbs 2:8). There is much hope in the Lord, and I'm trying to remember that when there is so much evil and the world feels hopeless. I don't know how your heart is currently, but I pray that we would put our hope in the Lord, that we would look to him for wisdom, and that we would love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength and love our neighbor as ourselves. One way I've been trying to love my neighbor is by listening, learning, and advocating. This work began before the past three weeks. It's a work that God has been doing in my heart over the past three years as I've sought to better love my black and brown brothers and sisters. I wanted to share a few resources that have been formative for me in learning to better love my neighbor. I hope they help you on the journey as well. 1. Black Lives Do Matter: Understanding Racism Biblically, Historically, & Personally |
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