Chad Nygren

It's Heavy

Preaching Sunday was a rush because a number of reasons, least of all was it was my birthday. The message was one of those ones you sweat over. Six verses. Some repetition. Lots of questions coming out of the passage--not many answers. When you prepare a message the preacher often experiences to a degree the subject matter they are preaching on that given week. It sure felt like I did but it did not hit until after Sunday. 

I praise God for the response we saw Sunday. It was amazing seeing people surrendering to God and seeking out people to pray with. A man I was honored to pray with said he has been gone for ten years. I asked him where he had been and he responded, "Away from Jesus." I said, "Welcome home!" It was humbling.

The other thing I do not take lightly is my role as equipper. It was also an honor to share the teaching responsibility with a great friend--Jonathan Schlender. When I first met Jonathan, he was a crazy paradox. One foot in the world and one foot in heaven. He was trying so hard to be a "Good Christian." But that is not Jonathan. Jonathan is a radicle, table tossing, gospel proclaiming, gifted passionate preacher man of God who has a message to be told. It has been amazing to see a guy like Jonathan mature in his life. Get married. Be a loving husband. Lean into his future fatherhood and continue to serve our King of kings.

Thursday, I asked Jonathan how he was doing and he was struggling, as was I. It was as if a dark cloud was raining down on us. There was no reason for it--but it was there. So we decided to meet and pray. Prayer is a game changer. It lifts our attitudes, it helps us identify areas of spiritual warfare, and primarily it allows us to tune our hearts to Gods. Discouragement and depression had set in and prayer was our weapon of choice. I eagerly anticipated my prayer time with Jonathan that afternoon and the dark spiritual cloud began to break up as I began to realize that a spiritual battle was being played out this week. 

God wants his servants to be weak on their own, so they can fully rely on Him for strength and provision. His plans are so much better than ours. I am still amazed at what God did Sunday, but I am learning the lesson that His provision is made perfect at my weakest moments when I cry out to him in a prayer of desperation. 

Learning to ride

My oldest son has fought learning to ride a bike for the past couple of years. Yeasterday I put air in his tires and said let's do this. He asked me if we need the helmet and pads that we had used before, and I figured he was not going to want to do this I said no to all the saftey gear. Much to my surprise he was motivated, he pedaled harder and focused more.

So I wonder if all the saftey gear got in the way? I know that sounds irresponsible but seat belts have been saving lives for only like fifty years. Putting on the pads and guards and helmet might be taking his focus off being successful. All these things remind him that he might get hurt.

I also wonder if we also focus too much on the getting hurt in life. And we start building in airbags to keep us safe so we won't feel pain. There is a scene in lethal weapon with Mel Gibson and Rene Rouseau where they start comparing scars and how they got those scars. God never wastes a hurt, and our scars serve a purpose.

So here's to riding without a helmet!

Starbucks closed for retraining!

While in Seattle I saw a blog where some one was complaining at the inconvenience that their Starbucks was closed for an afternoon for retraining. Last night I was driving through North Bend, Washington and popped in for my caffeine fix. I asked the very helpful barista Currin, who by the way made the most amazing white chocolate hazelnut mocha I have ever imbibed, what had gone on. Her response was simple and amazing. People who work at Starbucks are not simple employees they are partners in the corporation. She said that as partners they need to take pride in two things: customer service and pride in their product.

We can learn a lot from the Starbucks time out.
1. Their partners understood the importance of spending time corporately.
2. Starbucks understands that the quality of the product they produce is still important.
3. People are addicted to their Starbucks experience.
4. Other companies and organizations should try this strategy with the goal of offering their clients a better product or service.

Thanks Currin for an amazing Mocha!

Store Information:
North Bend
458 SW Mt Si Blvd
B-6
North Bend, WA 980458292
425-831-2288