The Tower Vol 34
News from the Tower – 34
Explore this Tower to hear about our year, more about affiliate membership and new members, link to this years’ Advent Guide and get info on Christmas Eve.
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.
The Tower Vol 33
Explore this Tower to celebrate baptisms and dedications, engage in scripture, get excited about youth group, gear up for Christmas, learn about Affiliation membership, find out how you can participate in our Advent Guide and find out more about outreach partners!
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.