Words from Pastor ANdrew
Thanksgiving Advice
I’ve only been pulled over by the police a handful of times, and almost all of them have been while traveling for Thanksgiving. I’ll spare you every detail…but once in college I got pulled over after I had already pulled over because there was no rest stop for many, many miles. Turns out you can’t use the side of the road as a “comfort station,” even in the middle of nowhere, Texas.
While they had us pulled over, they became suspicious that my brother and I had stolen our car…because we had driver’s licenses from one state and plates from another.
Listen, I’ve never stolen a car, but if I did, it definitely wouldn’t be a salmon-colored 1994 Ford Escort Station Wagon.
My friends called it the Salmon Wagon.
My dad called its color “Tucson Bronze.”
Pro-Tips
When I was a kid, I was super into David Copperfield. In case you don’t know who he is, he was the illusionist of the 80s and early 90s. My family would gather around the TV to watch him make the Statue of Liberty disappear, levitate over the Grand Canyon, escape Alcatraz, all with dramatic music and flowy 80s shirts.
He’s the reason my brothers and I got into magic when we were kids. We’d buy magic kits, learn card tricks, and even take illusion classes at the community college. But here’s what I discovered: once you pull back the curtain and see how the trick works, you realize it’s not actually “magic”, it’s just a series of thoughtful steps to achieve an outcome. Knowing how it works doesn’t ruin the wonder; it just deepens your appreciation.
That’s kind of how studying Scripture works.
A Rom-Com Adventure
When I was a kid, I remember putting on a pair of khaki pants and a green button-up, looking in the mirror, and thinking, I look like Jack Colton from Romancing the Stone.
Now, if you don’t remember that 1984 Rom-Com adventure classic with Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner… that’s okay. You’ll be just fine.
I loved that movie, and others like it, Indiana Jones and The Goonies. Over the years, that love for adventure films has carried through to National Treasure, Uncharted, and Fountain of Youth.
There’s just something about the idea that ordinary people can get swept up into something extraordinary. One minute they’re doing normal life; the next, they’re exploring ancient mysteries, uncovering hidden truths. Don’t we all want to be swept up in something exciting? And by “swept up in something exciting,” of course I mean watching other people be swept up while we’re comfortably at home.
Building Something and Pumpkin Risotto
The other day I came home from work, and one of my sons was outside with wood and a drill.
I asked, “What are you building?”
He said, “I don’t know, but I need to build something.”
I went inside and told Sarah, “Did you see he’s building something outside? Where did that come from?”
She said, “He was watching videos of people building stuff and didn’t want to just watch other people do it; he wanted to build something himself.”
At The Chapel, we firmly believe that Jesus is God’s Son who showed us how to live and love, and then laid down His life so we could experience true life. He is our Lord and Savior, God and King, High Priest and Friend, and our Rabbi.
Now, in the Christian tradition, we don’t talk too much about Rabbis. But the idea is that a Rabbi is a teacher, someone who helps you wrestle with the Scriptures and grow in your faith and knowledge of God. To be a disciple means to be a student or apprentice under a Rabbi.
That doesn’t mean you show up to class on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, listen to a 50-minute lecture, write a few papers, take a test, and call it a day. In Jesus’ time, you followed your Rabbi. You learned their ways. You wanted to be like them.
As I’ve said before, you want to follow so closely you’re covered in the dust of your Rabbi.
Busy People
Recently, we were driving to drop our kids off at school in the morning, and out of nowhere—totally disconnected from what everyone else in the car was talking about—one of our kids said, “What if there were 3-D t-shirts?”
Well…technically, t-shirts are already 3-D…but I get the question.
This is completely normal in our home, and I’m guessing in most of our lives. One of the people in our family will just throw out a completely off-the-wall or bizarre thought that doesn’t seem to be rooted in anything the rest of us are talking about. I’m likely the most guilty of this in our home…Sarah can attest. I am sure you don’t do this…but you likely know someone who does, right?
Regularly, most of us are in our own thoughts instead of being fully present. We’re thinking something and, for some reason, we assume everyone else is thinking about the same thing or at least on the same page of curiosity as us or cares deeply about that seemingly random thing.
We are busy people with busy minds. And this scattered way of living isn’t just in our brains. We have busy and tired lives. We are constantly getting hit with an onslaught of information and misinformation, opinions and responses, push notifications, alerts, posts—the list goes on—that keep us from ever slowing our bodies and our minds down.
How in the world, will we ever be able to hear from Jesus if we never stop?
Following
Recently, my youngest son lost one of his last baby teeth at school. On the drive home, we started talking about what happens to all those teeth the tooth fairy collects. Let me just say, the variety of suggestions on that ride ranged from, “The tooth fairy uses them in her own mouth, like a shark tooth situation,” to “Santa moonlights as the tooth fairy to help pay the bills in the off-season.”
Of course, you’re asking, But wouldn’t that cost Santa money instead of making money?
Well, naturally, he then profits by selling the teeth on the black market.
I have never laughed so hard at such a ridiculous conversation.
In that moment, I realized: our kids are becoming like us, and even adopting our humor.
They’re taking on our ways as they grow into adulthood.
Faithfulness
When May hits, Sarah and I find ourselves absolutely wiped out. Life, work, church, a dog… I feel like I’m forgetting something… oh yeah, raising our kids. It’s like running a marathon where every step is good, every step matters, but every step also drains you. You’re further down the road, but something’s been poured out. Even elite ultra-runners eventually hit a wall where they just can’t keep putting one foot in front of the other.
Then summer hits.
The first few days of summer feel like stepping into a completely different world. We’re no longer waking up before sunrise, no longer sprinting from school to after-school activities to homework to that never-ending evening routine. No more late night cramming in extra work, replying to emails, prepping for Bible study, and collapsing into bed just so we can do it all again the next day. Suddenly, those days are gone.
For a few brief moments, summer feels like slower mornings, no strict schedule, no hustle.
But then… late July arrives.
21 Years Ago
21 years ago this week, I traveled up to the St. Louis area from my summer job to hang out with Sarah and her family for the Fourth of July. At that point, Sarah and I had only been on one date at the start of the summer… then she promptly left town for four weeks. (She actually went to the Emerald Coast, which felt a bit personal. I didn’t think our date went that badly—but apparently, she needed a month and a coastline to recover.)
13 Years Ago
Thirteen years ago, Sarah was nine months pregnant in a high-risk pregnancy with our son, Foster. We didn’t know the gender and hadn’t picked a name yet, so we just referred to the baby as… well, “Baby.”
Our friends were convinced we should name him “Steven Danger Beard.” (We did not.)
We had been trying to have a child for over five years, and only later discovered that Sarah had some health issues that made pregnancy especially difficult. Doctors told us the baby would undoubtedly come early. So, we were on high alert—weekly appointments, bags packed, life in a holding pattern, anxiously waiting.
Revisionist History
21 years ago, I was helping out this college girl everyone called “Welker” with a music event. She sang. I played guitar and sang badly. After rehearsal, we decided to check out this musician on campus for the May Day celebration.
We wandered over and listened to Howie Day sing Collide. Less than a month later, I awkwardly asked Welker if she wanted to grab coffee. I said, “I’ll pay”—which I figured was obviously code for this is a date…but apparently, she didn’t get the memo.
Thanksgiving Advice
I’ve only been pulled over by the police a handful of times, and almost all of them have been while traveling for Thanksgiving. I’ll spare you every detail…but once in college I got pulled over after I had already pulled over because there was no rest stop for many, many miles. Turns out you can’t use the side of the road as a “comfort station,” even in the middle of nowhere, Texas.
While they had us pulled over, they became suspicious that my brother and I had stolen our car…because we had driver’s licenses from one state and plates from another.
Listen, I’ve never stolen a car, but if I did, it definitely wouldn’t be a salmon-colored 1994 Ford Escort Station Wagon.
My friends called it the Salmon Wagon.
My dad called its color “Tucson Bronze.”
Pro-Tips
When I was a kid, I was super into David Copperfield. In case you don’t know who he is, he was the illusionist of the 80s and early 90s. My family would gather around the TV to watch him make the Statue of Liberty disappear, levitate over the Grand Canyon, escape Alcatraz, all with dramatic music and flowy 80s shirts.
He’s the reason my brothers and I got into magic when we were kids. We’d buy magic kits, learn card tricks, and even take illusion classes at the community college. But here’s what I discovered: once you pull back the curtain and see how the trick works, you realize it’s not actually “magic”, it’s just a series of thoughtful steps to achieve an outcome. Knowing how it works doesn’t ruin the wonder; it just deepens your appreciation.
That’s kind of how studying Scripture works.
A Rom-Com Adventure
When I was a kid, I remember putting on a pair of khaki pants and a green button-up, looking in the mirror, and thinking, I look like Jack Colton from Romancing the Stone.
Now, if you don’t remember that 1984 Rom-Com adventure classic with Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner… that’s okay. You’ll be just fine.
I loved that movie, and others like it, Indiana Jones and The Goonies. Over the years, that love for adventure films has carried through to National Treasure, Uncharted, and Fountain of Youth.
There’s just something about the idea that ordinary people can get swept up into something extraordinary. One minute they’re doing normal life; the next, they’re exploring ancient mysteries, uncovering hidden truths. Don’t we all want to be swept up in something exciting? And by “swept up in something exciting,” of course I mean watching other people be swept up while we’re comfortably at home.
Building Something and Pumpkin Risotto
The other day I came home from work, and one of my sons was outside with wood and a drill.
I asked, “What are you building?”
He said, “I don’t know, but I need to build something.”
I went inside and told Sarah, “Did you see he’s building something outside? Where did that come from?”
She said, “He was watching videos of people building stuff and didn’t want to just watch other people do it; he wanted to build something himself.”
At The Chapel, we firmly believe that Jesus is God’s Son who showed us how to live and love, and then laid down His life so we could experience true life. He is our Lord and Savior, God and King, High Priest and Friend, and our Rabbi.
Now, in the Christian tradition, we don’t talk too much about Rabbis. But the idea is that a Rabbi is a teacher, someone who helps you wrestle with the Scriptures and grow in your faith and knowledge of God. To be a disciple means to be a student or apprentice under a Rabbi.
That doesn’t mean you show up to class on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, listen to a 50-minute lecture, write a few papers, take a test, and call it a day. In Jesus’ time, you followed your Rabbi. You learned their ways. You wanted to be like them.
As I’ve said before, you want to follow so closely you’re covered in the dust of your Rabbi.
Busy People
Recently, we were driving to drop our kids off at school in the morning, and out of nowhere—totally disconnected from what everyone else in the car was talking about—one of our kids said, “What if there were 3-D t-shirts?”
Well…technically, t-shirts are already 3-D…but I get the question.
This is completely normal in our home, and I’m guessing in most of our lives. One of the people in our family will just throw out a completely off-the-wall or bizarre thought that doesn’t seem to be rooted in anything the rest of us are talking about. I’m likely the most guilty of this in our home…Sarah can attest. I am sure you don’t do this…but you likely know someone who does, right?
Regularly, most of us are in our own thoughts instead of being fully present. We’re thinking something and, for some reason, we assume everyone else is thinking about the same thing or at least on the same page of curiosity as us or cares deeply about that seemingly random thing.
We are busy people with busy minds. And this scattered way of living isn’t just in our brains. We have busy and tired lives. We are constantly getting hit with an onslaught of information and misinformation, opinions and responses, push notifications, alerts, posts—the list goes on—that keep us from ever slowing our bodies and our minds down.
How in the world, will we ever be able to hear from Jesus if we never stop?
Following
Recently, my youngest son lost one of his last baby teeth at school. On the drive home, we started talking about what happens to all those teeth the tooth fairy collects. Let me just say, the variety of suggestions on that ride ranged from, “The tooth fairy uses them in her own mouth, like a shark tooth situation,” to “Santa moonlights as the tooth fairy to help pay the bills in the off-season.”
Of course, you’re asking, But wouldn’t that cost Santa money instead of making money?
Well, naturally, he then profits by selling the teeth on the black market.
I have never laughed so hard at such a ridiculous conversation.
In that moment, I realized: our kids are becoming like us, and even adopting our humor.
They’re taking on our ways as they grow into adulthood.
Faithfulness
When May hits, Sarah and I find ourselves absolutely wiped out. Life, work, church, a dog… I feel like I’m forgetting something… oh yeah, raising our kids. It’s like running a marathon where every step is good, every step matters, but every step also drains you. You’re further down the road, but something’s been poured out. Even elite ultra-runners eventually hit a wall where they just can’t keep putting one foot in front of the other.
Then summer hits.
The first few days of summer feel like stepping into a completely different world. We’re no longer waking up before sunrise, no longer sprinting from school to after-school activities to homework to that never-ending evening routine. No more late night cramming in extra work, replying to emails, prepping for Bible study, and collapsing into bed just so we can do it all again the next day. Suddenly, those days are gone.
For a few brief moments, summer feels like slower mornings, no strict schedule, no hustle.
But then… late July arrives.
21 Years Ago
21 years ago this week, I traveled up to the St. Louis area from my summer job to hang out with Sarah and her family for the Fourth of July. At that point, Sarah and I had only been on one date at the start of the summer… then she promptly left town for four weeks. (She actually went to the Emerald Coast, which felt a bit personal. I didn’t think our date went that badly—but apparently, she needed a month and a coastline to recover.)
13 Years Ago
Thirteen years ago, Sarah was nine months pregnant in a high-risk pregnancy with our son, Foster. We didn’t know the gender and hadn’t picked a name yet, so we just referred to the baby as… well, “Baby.”
Our friends were convinced we should name him “Steven Danger Beard.” (We did not.)
We had been trying to have a child for over five years, and only later discovered that Sarah had some health issues that made pregnancy especially difficult. Doctors told us the baby would undoubtedly come early. So, we were on high alert—weekly appointments, bags packed, life in a holding pattern, anxiously waiting.
Revisionist History
21 years ago, I was helping out this college girl everyone called “Welker” with a music event. She sang. I played guitar and sang badly. After rehearsal, we decided to check out this musician on campus for the May Day celebration.
We wandered over and listened to Howie Day sing Collide. Less than a month later, I awkwardly asked Welker if she wanted to grab coffee. I said, “I’ll pay”—which I figured was obviously code for this is a date…but apparently, she didn’t get the memo.