Views from The Ridge 7.19.23
Sunset Ridge is a church that desires to follow Jesus, reach people, and radiate God’s love and hope to all.
This Week…
Wednesday, July 19
5:45pm Story Swap
6:30pm Sunset Worship
7:30pm Teen Night
Saturday, July 22 Young Adult Night at Topgolf
Sunday, July 23
9:15am Life Groups, children’s Roots gathering, teen gathering (see website for more info)
10:30am Worship (Plus And Minas - Luke 19:11-27)
4:30pm Chapel Worship
Upcoming…
Tuesday, July 25, 9:30am Storytime on the lawn
July 26, 10am Wednesday Women’s Fellowship
August 2, 6-9pm Please join us for our quarterly Kids’ Night Out! This is one way that our family ministry hopes to serve caregivers in our community by spending a fun night with kids ages 6 weeks through incoming fifth grade and allowing their adults to have a night out or just rest. We will serve dinner, do crafts, and watch Horton Hears A Who. Please sign up using this link by July 30th so we can get prepared!
Game Time
Riley Stirman
I was always a mediocre football player at best.
I was a little bit faster than most people. I could catch relatively well. And I had a decent understanding of the game. I was also skinny as a rail, easy to knock around, and not particularly tough.
My freshman year of high school, I was a safety on our defense. These are the players who cover deep, making sure that nothing gets thrown behind them. At least in theory.
In practice, safeties focused on learning to quickly recognize whether an offense was passing or running, whether our receiver was trying to run in front of us or behind us, and whether the ball was actually going to be thrown to the receiver we were covering.
I won't lie, when it came to practice, I was pretty good. I used my speed to my advantage. It was tough to outrun me, and I was pretty good at recognizing where the ball was going to end up. For all intents and purposes, I should've been a pretty good safety when it came time for the actual games. At least in theory.
There's just too much going on during a football game. The noise, the movement, and the unexpected moves made by the offense all made it difficult for me to remember what in the world I was supposed to be doing. The made-up scenarios I was so good at during practice just didn't translate to a game. I would try to just anticipate where I thought the ball would end up so I could be there quickly to make a play. This worked well sometimes. But sometimes it meant that a player got open behind me. And of course it was my fault if they scored.
After one such instance, my coach took me aside and asked me, "Stirman, what's the point of practicing like a safety if you won't play like a safety?"
I think the same could be said about me as a Christian sometimes.
I've spent a pretty significant portion of my life in practice: Bible studies, church camps, ministry classes. I know a lot of answers. I can give you what I think is pretty good wisdom that Jesus or the Bible teaches.
But it's pretty rare for me to show up and make a play when it's game time. Even if we drilled generosity in Bible class, I'm still plenty selfish. Even if my sermon was about forgiveness, I can still hold a grudge with the best of them. And even if every minister I've ever heard has said that God loves me more than I can fathom, I will still have my moments of doubt.
Jesus doesn't teach us so that we will be smarter. And he certainly doesn't want us to spend the rest of our lives running practice drills with made-up scenarios. The entire point of Jesus telling his disciples to follow him is so that they will act like him when game day comes.
Every week, the clock on your game starts the second you leave your church family. What you believe and how you have been taught will be tested out in the world. And people are watching to see if you are going to play like a Christian after spending so long practicing like one.
Let's all challenge ourselves to try to look a little more like Jesus this week. It's game time.
Around the Community
Our shepherds had their second meeting this week and are hard at work putting together ways to care well for our community. They will be doing further training for this capacity in the coming weeks. If you have any questions or prayer concerns, please let them know!
Prayers & Praises
Jim Derickson, Kelly Alba’s father, has been diagnosed with lung fibrosis.
A memorial service will be held for Rudy Gaedke on Saturday, July 22nd at 11 AM at San Pedro Presbyterian Church (14900 San Pedro Ave.)
Do you follow us on Instagram? Find our Daily Bible Readings in our stories, and updates throughout the week in our feed.
God, we gather in gratitude, thankful for the ways you seek to revive us! Let the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts work together to praise you in this hour. Grant your Spirit to move our hearts and inspire each of us to share your steadfast love with all whom we encounter. Help us to join in giving only what is good, not only today, but every day. Amen
