Radically Happy

MIC Check

• Today’s Most Important Challenge is…
• Realizing when I feel myself stuck
• So I can trust the Spirit
• Versus doubling down on my Flesh

Immanuel Approach Memo

I am staring at a tree
Actually an enormous stump the size of a house

It is blocking my path
I can’t go around it
I can’t go over it

I am angry
Frustrated
Stressed
Anxious

Why did it have to be there?
Who put it there?
Is someone deliberately being difficult?

Belatedly
I look for Jesus.

He is sitting way up there on top of the stump
In plain sight

He’s been watching me
Waiting for me to look up
To make eye contact

When I do
Abashed
He grins

He planted the tree there
He chopped it down
He wanted me to stop
And see

He whistles

Like an obedient puppy
The stump climbs out of its hole

I see a tunnel
An expressway
That will get me where I am going
Much faster
Much safer
Much more comfortably

Than I ever imagined

Reflection

I feel…

• Stupid
• Blessed
• Amazed
• Humbled
• Excited

Scripture

“Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot— yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root. And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.”‭‭‬

Isaiah‬ ‭11‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭NLT‬