Generation Axis Blog

Merry Christmas from Jon Peacock

I was recently asked to write an entry for our Church's prepare/advent experience, so I wrote on Peace.  I hope you enjoy the entry and have a wonderful Christmas!

Blessings,

Jon Peacock

Today's Scripture Reading:

“ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus ”
—Philippians 4:4–7 (TNIV)

ENGAGE YOUR HEART

- by Jon Peacock, director of Willow’s Axis ministry

It was December 2002, and I was doing what I enjoyed more than anything—playing baseball. I’d had a strong baseball career at Illinois State University and was approaching my final collegiate season, at the end of which I was to be drafted to play in the minor leagues. I was slowly working my way toward my childhood dream of playing Major League Baseball.

During a routine workout, I felt a strange pain in my lower back, which a doctor later confirmed was a broken vertebra. In an instant, my dream of becoming a professional baseball player was shattered. During the days, weeks, and months that followed, a surprising thing happened. Somewhere deep within me, a groundswell of peace emerged. It defied all logic. Here I was, in physical pain from the injury and intense emotional pain from its dream-shattering consequences. And yet, I was blanketed in an indescribable peace that guarded my mind and heart, and provided the grace I needed to walk through those difficult days.

Releasing a dream—a dream of a lifetime— was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. But God walked with me through it, and today’s Scripture passage from Philippians came to life for me through that experience. I love the picture this passage paints when it comes to living and walking with a peace that transcends our human understanding. The apostle Paul writes to his original audience in Philippi that praise precedes peace. When we find ourselves in a posture of praise and admiration toward our great God, we are reminded of the certainty of his goodness and faithfulness. This line of sight helps us look beyond whatever circumstances may be directly in front of us, to see past our questions and pain—not ignoring them or reducing their reality, but looking at them through the lens of hope. In the midst of circumstantial uncertainty, we are able to hold fast to a God who is certain; we move from anxiety to peace.

This kind of peace isn’t just a nice feeling. It’s not like a cozy Christmas sweater or a warm winter blanket we cover up with. This kind of peace is a powerful shield that surrounds and protects our hearts and minds. As I think back on those days when I was wrecked by physical pain and shattered dreams, I can see how God used those circumstances to bring me to where I am today—with an incredible, beautiful wife I would not have met through professional baseball, with a job at a church I love, that allows me to see God’s hand at work in the lives of people every day. The peace he gave me was based on the certainty of his goodness, which I continue to experience every day.

May you rest in his peace—in spite of your circumstances—throughout this holiday season.

OPEN YOUR HANDS

Next Steps

Peace on Earth: With countries at war and our young servicemen and women in harm’s way as they serve their country overseas, set aside time to lift them up in prayer. Pray for God’s hand of protection on them. Pray for peace—peace among governments, peace among tribes, peace among people.

Breathe: The sense of smell has a unique ability to soothe and evoke strong, fond memories. Fill a room with the aroma of a scented candle, inhale the steam from a strong cup of coffee, bury your face among the branches of a fresh Christmas tree. Breathe deeply, and let the peace of God envelop you.

Prayer:

Dear God,
Help me praise you constantly, in spite of my circumstances. Help my worship and praise become as natural as breathing. Help me see you and your beauty all around me. In times of uncertainty, help me cling to what is certain, and in those moments, to rest in the peace you deliver.
Amen.

Further Resources:

Book: Praise Habit: Finding God in Sunsets and Sushi by David Crowder

Book: Knowing God by J. I. Packer

Book: Surrender to Love by David G. Benner

Scripture: The book of Psalms

Jon Peacock is the director of Willow’s Axis ministry for 18 to 20-somethings. “I have the privilege of leading a community of passionate Jesus followers,” Jon says, “who make up the future of Willow.” His responsibilities include strategic oversight, pastoral coaching, teaching, and leading the Axis staff. “I love watching the vision of the Acts 2 church take root within the Axis community,” he adds. Before coming to Willow, Jon was in the process of becoming a professional baseball player. Jon and his wife Kelly have been married “for two incredible years.” They have one “daughter”—Remi, their five-year-old chocolate Labrador retriever. Jon’s favorite thing to do during the Christmas season? “I love putting on my sweat pants, getting a tub of caramel corn, and watching Christmas Vacation, Home Alone, Elf, and the one and only It’s A Wonderful Life.”

 

 

I think my ear fell off

Seriously?  I just got done walking 10 blocks from Union Station to the Willow Chicago offices and after about 2 blocks I'm pretty sure I lost an ear.

This weather is no joke.  However as I walked I noticed something.....everyone was noticeably miserable, head down, frowning, just trying to make it to their office.  As I walked I thought now this is a picture is of how people feel internally on a daily basis.  Cold, head down, just trying to make it.

It's during economic times like this that many are realizing that they had put their trust and hope in a pay check and a 401k, however with those only depleting the reservoir of their Hope seems to have done the same.

How about you?

I am praying that during this season of hardships we will be the reflection of Christ to the world around us.  The reality is our message has more weight in times like this and I pray that as we hike through the cold and snow that our heads can remain up and our eyes full of hope.

have a great day!

Jon Peacock

A Christmas Update from Prague

Hello from the Springers in Prague.  We have a few updates for you below.  God bless you and Merry Christmas!

 
(craig and sarah springer above, our prague partners)

Winter Newsletter
Our Winter Newsletter is attached to this email as a pdf document.  Enjoy! In addition to ministry updates, this newsletter includes our "Resource the Vision" year end fund drive.  We have outlined some of the additional ministry costs which we have for the upcoming year 2009.  Please consider making a contribution to our 2009 opportunities.  We believe that God is working in many clear ways through our work to build His Kingdom and bring people to know His hope and love.   We are glad to share with you about some of our relationships and our work here in the Czech Republic.  We desire to continue partnering with you to make all of this happen.

Remember Dagmar?
Some of you have been praying for her since we shared about her in a previous email.  She is an older student in the English/Social Work class which Sarah teaches. Dagmar does not yet believe that God exists and that we can have a relationship with Him through Jesus.  But she says she is really starting to read the Bible and look into finding out the truth.  Dagmar came to class recently and shared about a difficult situation she is facing with a friend of hers who is in prison.  Sarah led the class in prayer for Dagmar and her friend.  At the end of the prayer Dagmar said, "wait, I want to say something... God, if you exist please help my friend, God please if you exist, help my friend."  This might be the first time that Dagmar has directly communicated to God... no matter what she believes she is able to share her needs with a loving God who is there for her.  After class she thanked Sarah with tears for guiding her and helping her to pray.  We realize that Dagmar has no other place or other relationships to go to where she can learn to pray, search for God in openness, and be supported like this. 

Youth Center Christmas
Our house group is currently putting together gift boxes full of 40 dozen homemade cookies.  These will be gifts to the parents of children who attend the youth center where we serve on a regular basis.  Many of these parents struggle with drug addictions, have been in and out of prison, have been beaten or are abusers themselves, and struggle with unemployment and a spiraling cycle of poverty.  We are glad to give them a small gift which comes from our heart.  We hear that many of them do not receive anything for Christmas.  On Wednesday afternoon of this week some of us will go to the Christmas party for these families and help host the party as well as give the gifts.  We hope and pray that some of them can connect with God's grace during this party.  We also get to throw a fun Christmas party for the children of this youth center on Friday afternoon.  I am practicing a song and dance to perform to them right now :)

Web Updates
Want to hear about our December gathering, Thanksgiving parties, or our Advent Art Exhibition?  We just posted 4 new photo collections with updates on our website.  Go to www.SpringerFamilyJourney.com and click on "Photos n more" to see those.

Merry Christmas to you and thank you so much for being a part of this work with us in Prague!  Your interest, your prayers, your support, and your encouragement are incredibly valuable to us.  We thank God for you this Advent season. 

God bless you and be with you,
Craig, Sarah, and Isaiah Springer

Shoes of Justice and Compassion (click, watch, buy, impact)

Chuck Colsen on Blagojevich (great read)

Check this article out!!

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/10/colson.corruption/index.html

Thoughts??

Blessings.

Jon

Video from last Axis Experience (this is John Keyne)

Deck the halls with subverting consumerism

Deep Pockets and Auctioneering in Springfield

Is this a barn sale or a used car auction?  If you havent checked out the news on the Blagojevich's idea of how to raise a little bit of money for his personal end of year Christmas bonus, you may want to check it out.

I just read an article by Lynn Sweeton that stated "Federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald accused Gov. Blagojevich on Tuesday of trying to sell the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama "like a sports agent," auctioning it to the highest bidder, deluding himself that somehow he could even finagle his way into Obama's Cabinet".

Give me a five, gimme a five, gimme a five, gimme a five; SOLD to the guy in the front row!

I love seeing where our tax dollars are going!

Your thoughts???

Jon Peacock

 

You may not think it can hurt you

At times we can find ourselves in trouble with something or someone that started out so innocent right?  When we are crushed, overwhelmed, and our soul is in turmoil due to some decisions we have made, its often that we never thought it could happen to us, or that it started out with something we never thought could hurt us.

I just saw these two pictures (see below) that remind me to run from and rid my life at all costs of temptation that perhaps looks harmless, however if handled in-properly could cost me dearly.

 

keep scrolling.....

 

(Ouch)

How sad it that.......no not that he's wearing a Twins shirt, that was his 1st mistake, the fact that his nose has been completely forked.  You know he was thinking, man how did this fork cause me so much pain? 

Daily Thots:

1. what or who is a potential "fork" in your life?
2. are you willing to hand it over?

I'm praying for you Axis!

Blessings.

Jon Peacock

Unleash Justice

I love the quote, "become the change you want to see in the World" and from this past weekend at the Experience and from the weekend services I'm sure many of you are ready to revamp your focus to become increasingly more a people of Justice.

To help us and our friends in this quest of becoming a people of Justice I'm so pumped to inform you that our new website called unleash Justice is now up.

Please take some time to visit www.unleashjustice.com and our prayers are that this site will serve you and your sphere of influence as we continue to increase our awareness of the injustices in our world and what our next steps of engagement might look like.

 

Have a great week.

Blessings,

Jon Peacock 

Advent Begins

Advent:
-the period of great anticipatory joy, a period of expectation--a time of preparing oneself and community for the celebration of Christ's arrival in Bethlehem.

Today marks day 3 of the Advent season, and in a day where we rush everywhere we go, and in a day where speed is the key, its easy to let that be true of the Christmas season as well.  If you're like me its seems like I finish my last bite (or final plate) of Turkey and the next thing I know Kelly is coercing me to stand under the mistletoe, and then we're eating Easter candy. 

What!

How did that happened, what happened to Christmas?

This is the craziness of our Age, busyness, speed, hurry, microwaves, and tivo.  Listen it is a crime to speed through the Christmas Story, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation or Elf if you happen to have a Tivo.  Those are relics and you must show respect :) 
The 1st two days of Advent have been quite easy for me to slow down.  I've been on the couch, dominated by the flu.  Yesterday alone I watched close to 10 straight hours of AMC, its sad I know.  The one blessing though is that it has slowed me down to enter this Advent, how about you?

Daily Thots:

1. What will you do this week to slow down and think about the significance of Christmas? (I don't recommend the flu, solitude is a much better option)
2. Will  you enter into the Advent this year?
3. How will this Advent differ from the last?

(ps...if you go to http://prepare.willowcreek.org/#Introduction you can check out the daily devotional some staff members and friends of Willow have written)

Blessings,

Jon Peacock

This Friday and Saturday night

As we get into the car and head off on our road trip towards the adventure of Kingdom living, the first intersection we come to is that of social issues. So what does Jesus have to say when it comes to engaging in the social injustices that are all around us? What part have we played at perpetuating the social injustices of our day? Come this Friday night to Willow @ 7:30pm in room 392 or Saturday night @ 6pm down at the Union Station Fitness Formula Club as we dive into what it might look like to become a community that acts justly, loves mercy and walks humbly with our God.

I hope to see you there!

Blessings.

Jon Peacock